SS. Thomas More & John Fisher
Catholic Church
Achimota
THE HISTORY OF ST. THOMAS MORE CHURCH
INTRODUCTION
The St. Thomas More Catholic Church, Achimota is in the Archdiocese of Accra. The church is presenting its history as the Roman Catholic Church celebrated its 125th Anniversary of commencement of evangelization in the Accra Archdiocese. St. Thomas More Catholic Church is situated on the Achimota School West Compound near the Achimota Primary School.
EVANGELIZATION IN THE GOLD COAST IN THE EARLY YEARS - (1471 - 1880)
The preaching of the Good News as proclaimed by Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ had been this world for more than 2000 years. The Acts of the Apostles has a vivid recording of early post-Jesus Christ period of evangelization. The day of Pentecost is accepted as the birthday of the Christianity. The Apostles, disciples and other followers of Jesus Christ continued the evangelization started by Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit had descended on them and a new breadth was given to the message Christ preached. Oral tradition, copious recording of activities of the Apostles are recorded in several available as well as the Bible having such records. The Apostle Thomas is known to have travelled all the way to Asia and St. Mark to modern day Egypt. The persecution of Christians, however, saw the eventual death of Peter, Paul, Stephen, and many more Christians.
West Africa was largely not a direct recipient of the Good News from any of such great followers of Christ. In modern day Ghana, it was the Portuguese explorers, traders and merchants whose activities brought the Christianity to modern day Ghana. The first Holy Mass was celebrated on the Elmina beach on January 10, 1482. The Portuguese explorers had landed in Elmina in 1479 and returned in 1482 to commence the construction of St. George’s Castle –now popularly known as Elmina Castle – and invariably the major merchant ships were owned and supported by the King of Portugal. A chaplain was on board such ships. The chaplains did undertake evangelization of inhabitants as the crew was busy with other activities. It is reported that such efforts yielded some benefits. In 1503, the chief of Effutu, together with a recorded 130 inhabitants were Baptized into the Roman Catholic faith by one such Portuguese chaplain. However, there were no follow up work on such new converts. Several reasons can be adduced for this. There were long periods between arrivals of ships and as such follow ups could not be sustained. Language barriers existed and there were lack of understanding of the cultural and traditional way of life by the missionaries and the local inhabitants alike. These conspired to make the evangelization process difficult and unproductive. Indeed after such a feat recorded in 1503, it was not until 1572 that the Portuguese Augustinian Missionaries arrived in the Gold Coast and worked successfully for five years and had 100 converts in the Elmina environs. The missionaries established schools and supported some social interventions such as provision of health services and education in the environs. This effort ended as the missionaries and the communities had disputes leading to physical attacks and eventual death of the missionaries. It took another sixty years, and in 1637 that a group of six French priests of the Capuchin Order landed in Assinie near Axim to begin some evangelization work. Assine lies in current Côte d’Ivorie. The scramble for Africa had also begun and the European presence in the various areas marked by heavy military fortifications such as forts and castles meant guarding of secured “territories”. The French missionaries were not allowed by the then occupants not to stray into each others territory. The Capuchins were unable to follow their work into Axim further. The gradual loss of power by the Portuguese state and its attendant unavailability of state funded merchant and exploratory activity meant that after 1642, there were no Roman Catholic missionaries or French Capuchins in the initially evangelized areas of Elmina. Other European nations such as the Danes and the Dutch had arrived in the modern day Ghana to possess the forts and castles as well as take over business activities commenced by the Portuguese such as trading in gold, ivory and human slaves. These nations buoyed by the introduction of Protestant movement in Europe got evangelization work as well. They introduced western form of education and founded schools in addition to churches. The British followed the early mainland European nations and competed for trade, territories and evangelization. The Gold Coast coastal area was littered with a number of schools and churches all of the Protestant faith. It is worthwhile noting that all these efforts did not yield major results due a variety to reason some of which have been mentioned above. However, the major reason for the failure of these efforts and the slow colonialization of the Gold Coast was the dreadful malaria fever which took its toll on the lives of missionaries, merchants, soldiers and all foreigners alike. The Gold Coast was named “The Whiteman’s Grave”.
A new era of European activities including evangelization work around 1850 and beyond. In Europe, there was mounting pressure for the abolishing of the slave trade. The Protestant movement in Europe had abated in growth and as such the Europeans were cooperating in trading terms. The Danes, for example, sold off all their interest to the British and left the Gold Coast. Other Europeans together with missionaries had commenced evangelization work in nearby communities such as modern day Volta Region, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, etc. Commercial and other interests were guiding the European nations. The Swiss Basel Missionaries, the Bremen Missionaries and Wesleyan Missionaries were prominent in their evangelization efforts. They continued with the establishment of schools, health provision facilities, agricultural projects such crop farming and animal husbandry. These missionaries, in spite of some amount of fierce local resistance culminating in battles with their national armies presence were able to penetrate into communities miles from the coastal areas. In all these, the Roma Catholic Church was conspicuously absent. None of the European nations and their agents present was interested in the propagation of the Roman Catholic faith.
The impetus for the Roman Catholic Church to establish its presence in the Gold Coast came from several sources but three are known to have convinced the Propaganda Fides to send missionaries to the Gold Coast. One Mr. Bonat, a merchant who had worked with the Bremen Missionaries had ventured to trade in the Asante Kingdom. He was captured and spent four years in captivity. After his release he was back in Europe and have prominent audiences in various places convincing the Roman Catholic Church of the need to establish its presence in the Gold Coast and beyond to the Asante kingdom. The Society of African Missionaries (SMA) had also begun its missionary activities in Nigeria and had requested Rome for permission to extend its work westwards to the Gold Coast. These efforts were not much impetus until Sir James Marshall, a former Anglican Priest and convert to the Roman Catholic Faith and a former Chief Justice of the Gold Coast added his voice to that of the SMA to the Propaganda Fides. This singular effort was enough to convince Rome to give the SMA the permission to commence missionary work in Ghana. On 18th May 1880, two SMA missionaries, Frs. Auguste Moreau and Eugene Murat arrived at Elmina aboard a British military ship. They were welcomed by Mr. Bonat. He introduced the two missionaries to the Chief of Elmina. The British Governor at the time was in Elmina soon after to meet them and discuss their plans. The Roman Catholic Faith had returned to the Gold Coast.
The return of Roman Catholic Missionaries and a year after, 1881 the following are recorded statistics of educational institutions founded by missionaries in the Gold Coast:-
Ironically, the Governor had established three Schools
EVANGELIZATION EFFORTS BY THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE ACCRA AREA FROM 1882 TO 1971
The brief summary of the history of the Church in the Gold Coast in this study of the history of St. Thomas More Church, Achimota is necessary to establish the work of early missionaries. “.. the good is often interred in their bones..” so said Mark Anthony during the famous oration at the death of Julius Caesar.
The tendency to consign efforts such brave and dedicated missionaries are often either discarded or not discussed. The living conditions of some these priests still exist and many a new evangelist are amazed at these. It is also important to recall these as evangelization is still an on-going process.
When Frs. Moreau and Murat arrived in the Gold Coast they did retrace some of early steps of missionaries who had visited in the past. In one vividly recorded incident of the two new missionaries, on a Friday in Elmina they met a procession of people called “Mariafo” in Elmina. A crucifix was at the lead of the procession and everyone was clad in white robe and holding a candle or some form of lights. These were the “Mary Devotees’ of a shrine with broken parts of St. Anthony Statue. They could recite the Pater Noster without any recourse to any formal document. Frs. Moraeu and Murat knew the time for evangelization into the Roman Catholic Faith had arrived and they were the agents. They did not interfere in this “Marifo” movement at all. The started work and established their presence in their new environment. Unfortunately, Fr. Eugene Murat, SMA died four months into their work. More missionaries were sent by the SMA to support the work which had begun in earnest. In 1882, at the instance of the British Governor (..) Fr Moreau visited Accra to explore the possibility of establishing the Roman Catholic Faith in the now new residence of the Governor.
Early Efforts by SMA Missionaries: The capital town of the Gold Coast and the residence of the British Governor had moved from Cape Coast to Accra…There had began an influx of people from various parts of the Gold Coast and other parts of the West African Coast to Accra. The Protestant denominations had been quick off the blocks to establish their churches and schools in Accra. Fr Moreau was unsuccessful in his efforts to find a suitable location to operate from. He returned to Accra in 1884 without much success again. On December 7, 1891 another SMA priest Fr. Otto Hilberer followed up and even though not successful in his maiden visit was back in 1893. This time, he returned with Rev. Fr. Eugene Raess, SMA to commence evangelization work in Accra. On January 31, 1893, they said the first Holy Mass on the soil of Accra. This was in a rented house of Chief Quartey situated on the current High Street of Accra. The evangelization work began in earnest with the first Baptism recorded on Louis James Buckle on May 25, 1893. The first Holy Matrimony celebrated was between Herbert Cheetham and Rose Mary Quaye on August 24, 1894. The work of the two priests was given a boost when early 1895, Rev. Fr. Houtman joined them. Unfortunately, there were several recorded deaths of SMA missionaries in the Gold Coast and all the priests were recalled to Elmina and redeployed elsewhere. Accra became an outstation of Elmina.
Accra as an Outstation of Elmina-1895 to 1924: The care of he Church was left in the able hands of some lay faithful, namely, Joseph Andoh, George Yankah, Ruhle, Henry Kwakume and Brown. The church moved from the rented house of Chief Quartey to other locations. The private residences of the Andohs and Ms. Quaye among others housed activities of the church. Several SMA priests visited from established SMA posts such as Elmina, Saltpond, Kumasi and Keta for short periods. The dairies of the church indicate that Bishop Hummel Bishop of the Gold Coast Vicariate and also an SMA missionary visited Accra for longer period from 1916 and did baptize a number of lay faithful as well. Efforts were made to find suitable sites for the church to acquire but lack of regular follow ups and prohibitive prices were sited as major impediments for the firm establishment of the church then. The small Catholic community had to continue its efforts with these missionaries from long distances.
The Second Effort by the SMA 1924-1938: There was renewed interest in the missionary activities in Accra. Frs. Stelber and Staffuer visited more regularly and were able to acquire an abandoned cocoa warehouse for use as a church after remodeling it. It was dedicated by Frs. Stelber (later Bishop of Lome), Staffuer, Strebber and Bauman. Rev. Br. Clement, SMA was also present. Later Frs. Staffuer and John van der Hulst, SMA were appointed Parish Priest and Assistant respectively. They began evangelization work in Accra. The church now stands as the Sacred Heart Church, Derby Avenue, Accra. Frs. Staffuer and van der Hulst established a school at Sacred Heart Church. The numbers of new converts and pupils grew rapidly in Derby Avenue. The two SMA missionaries at the time of their appointed had only Ada Catholic Church as an outstation established by their society. Ada was a major sea port. The evangelization work of two missionaries led to the establishment of another Catholic School at Adabraka. Some Catholic living in the area had begun prayer sessions there and acquisition of land for the purpose was relatively easy. A new school popularly called “Adabraka Roman”- now St. Joseph’s School, was to follow quickly from Derby Avenue. The residence at Derby Avenue became the central place for other missionaries to dwell and continue with evangelization. In 1934 Rev. Fr. Andrew van der Bronk, SMA was posted there to begin teaching at Achimota School. From this “mother Church” the SMA missionaries worked to establish several outstations in addition to Ada. In 1938, the Propaganda Fides in Rome requested the SMA to hand over the administration of the Accra Area to the Society of the Divine Word SVD Missionaries. On July 1, 1939, this directive was effectively carried out.
The Evangelization work 1939-1971: The SVD took over when the Second World War drums were beating. The SVD worked like weaving looms from the very first day with Rev. Fr. Adolph Noser as the Superior of Accra. Other SVD missionaries were posted to Accra some of African descent such Fr. John Dauphine, SVD and Fr. Joseph Oliver Bowers, SVD who arrived in January 1940. Accra became a Prefecture on February 11, 1945 and a Vicariate in November 1946. Bishop A. A. Noser was appointed the first Bishop and installed in the pro-Cathedral of Sacred Heart Church, Derby Avenue on September 29, 1948. Bishop Noser handed over to Bishop J. O. Bowers in September 1953 after the former’s transfer to Papua New Guinea. Bishop Noser began the construction of the Holy Spirit Cathedral and Bishop Bowers ensured its completion and declared it open for public worship on January 5, 1957. Bishop Bowers was transferred to the West Indies and Bishop Dominic Andoh appointed new Bishop. He took canonical possession f the Accra Diocese on October 3, 1971. This event officially ended the administration of the Accra Diocese. The following statistics ended the 1971 era of missionaries work in Accra:-
There statistics for educational institutional established were as shown below:-
127,500 new Baptisms had been recorded during the same period in Accra.
EVANGELIZATION OF THE ACCRA DIOCESE 1972 TO 2011
The assumption of office by Bishop Dominic Andoh in late 1971 marked the beginning of Ghanaian Bishop in Accra at the helm of affairs in the Republic of Ghana. The new Bishop like his predecessor was the host of Pope John Paul II when he arrived in Ghana on May 8, 1980 to celebrate the 100 anniversary of the current evangelization efforts of Frs. Auguste Moreau and Eugene Murat, SMA. The arrival of the Pope in Ghana and the celebration of Holy Mass at the Independence Square, Accra was a major activity of the church in Accra and Ghana. In August 1962 Cardinal Giovanni Montini (later Pope Paul VI) had visited Ghana to dedicate the Akosombo Hydro dam at Akosombo. These two events are important to record as the Accra Diocese is situated at this all important location. In November 1992, the Catholic Diocese of Koforidua was carved out of the Accra Diocese and the Metropolitan Archdiocese was erected with Archbishop Dominic Andoh as the first Metropolitan Archbishop. In November 1993 yet another high profile personality of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Tomko celebrated Holy Mass at the Independence Square to mark the Centenary of the evangelization of the Accra Church. This Holy Mass was attended by His Excellency J. J. Rawlings, President of the Republic of Ghana and a product of St. Joseph Catholic School, Adabraka. On the attainment of the age of 75 years, the Archbishop retired and Archbishop Gabriel Charles Palmer Buckle was appointed Archbishop of Accra.
The statistics of the Accra Archdiocese as at the end of 2011 and recorded in the Catholic Diary and Directory 2012 is as follows:-
There statistics for educational institutional established were as shown below:-
The number of basic schools that are Catholic biased could be many but for the ‘absorption” into the Public school system. Other social services provided are :
There are over 400 Catholics in the Metropolis.
The Archdiocese hosts a number of facilities for the Religious Orders \, the National Catholic Secretariat, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM).
The Apostolic Nuncio for Ghana is hosted by Accra
ST. THOMAS MORE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Early beginnings: The St. Thomas More Catholic Church, Achimota, Accra has its beginnings from the posting of Roman Catholic Priests to the Achimota College and Secondary School. The recording of the history of the Roman Catholic Church in the Accra Area as it developed from a rented Mission House on the High Street – as is known now-, to outstation of Elmina and later a Prefecture and a Vicariate during the early 1900s clearly indicate that the evangelization efforts of the Catholic Church took a nose dive in 1895 when the resident priests, Rev. Fr. Otto Hilberer George Raess and Houtman were requested to return to Elmina following the death of a number of their fellow SMA priests. The Church was in the care of a committee and Messrs. Joseph Andoh, George Yankah, Ruhle, Henry Kwakume and Brown. The Catholic Church had a re-awakening in 1924.
The Achimota educational facilities were built during this period of Roman Catholicism’s inactivity in the Gold Coast. The Achimota School records indicate that the staff for the school arrived in October 1924. The core staff of Achimota School began teaching at the then Government Training College in addition to other assignments. In August 1926, the Achimota School kindergarten school commenced. August 1927, Achimota School began at the current location. In 1928, students of the Accra Training College moved to the premises of the school as well. In 1929 the Achimota School had the Primary School, Secondary School and pre-University classes as well. It was the desire of one the founding fathers of Achimota School Sir Gordon Guggisberg to make Christian education very much part of the school. The very first day of establishment saw the inclusion or Reverend Ministers as members of staff. The Roman Catholic Church had barely taken off its evangelization work in the Accra area. Indeed by 1927, the Roman Catholic Church in the Gold Coast had only eight (8) outstations. Four of these were along the Accra-Kumasi railway (completed in 1923); one station was in Kibi, one in Ada and two along the commercial areas of the Volta River. There was therefore little the church could do about bringing a Minister of Religion to the School. The Roman Catholic Church, however, had elementary schools established alongside the creation of more outstations.
The Role of the Achimota School in the establishment of St. Thomas More Church: The first Baptism recorded at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church with candidates from Achimota and its environs was 1930. This was an SMA station.
The major incursion was in JANUARY 1934. Rev. Fr. Andrew van der Bronk, SMA (later Bishop of Kumasi) was posted to the Achimota School on the granting of the request of the Roman Catholic Church to have a Roman Catholic Minister of Religion teach in the school. He was resident at the Sacred Heart Parish, Derby Avenue. He initially used a bicycle and peddled everyday to Achimota School to teach Scripture and Doctrine. He said Mass for the students and staff of the school as well as residents living within the environs of the school, Achimota, Kissehman, Anumle, Legon, etc. He used the premises of the Music School of Achimota School for this purpose. Rev. Fr. Andrew van der Bronk, SMA served as a tutor in Achimota School from 1934 to 1938. He was replaced by a fellow Dutchman Rev. Fr. J. de Bronk, SMA and he worked from 1938 to 1939. As recorded above, the Propaganda Fides in Rome, requested the SMA to handover the management of the Roman Catholic Church in the Accra Area to the SVD in 1938. Rev. Fr. J. de Bronk left the school during this period and handed over the teaching assignment to Rev. Fr. Alphonse Elsbernd, SVD.
The Handing Over to the SVD Missionaries: Fr. Elsbernd held the post for six months until in August 1939, Fr. Harold Rigney, SVD an American, took over the teaching position. The Achimota School and College at the time had nearly a 100 student and staff Roman Catholics. He also took residence at Derby Avenue and commuted to work at the school but with a small vehicle he had brought down to the Gold Coast. He continued with evangelization and said Mass for the growing Catholic Community. In 1940 he was assigned an official bungalow on the School campus as a tutor. Fr. Rigney left in 1941 to join the United States Armed Forces as a Chaplain during the Second World War. He was commissioned an officer after the mandatory military training in the US Armed Forces and returned to the Gold Coast in December 1942 to serve as a Chaplain for the US Forces who were constructing the Accra Airport for military and other purposes before leaving finally for Senegal. When Fr. Rigney left the Achimota School, Rev. Fr. Andrew van der Bronk, SMA who had returned to the Gold Coast but stationed in the Kumasi area, returned to the school and continued his work as a tutor and chaplain until October 1946 when he was posted to Egypt. The SVD had no readily available replacement for the position of tutor and chaplain. Rev. Fr. Alphonse Elsbernd replaced him for six month then Rev. Sister Bertille S. Sp.S. took over the teaching assignment and religious instructions duties at the school. The Achimota School was an important post for the Church and efforts were made to retain a Catholic Priest at the school all the time. Rev.Fr. Leslie Hartfield, SVD, an Englishman and former Army Chaplain became the next priest posted to the school from the 1947 academic year.
An important aspect of the Roman Catholic Church in Achimota occurred during this period. During the Second World War and specifically in 1940 the Achimota School was chosen as one of the premises the Allied Forces needed to prosecute the War in the West African Coast. There was the need for the School re-adjust to this need. The students of the Secondary School had to be evacuated in 1940 to Aburi for short periods. In 1942, the Kindergarten and Lower Primary Departments were moved out of Accra to Aburi and other parts of Ghana. This was to make room for the Armed Forces. The Allied Forces Army literally occupied the entire Western Compound. The Secondary School was crammed into the Eastern Compound and had to share their already congested accommodation with students from a Higher High School of Yaba, Nigeria whose premises had equally been occupied by the Allied Forces for the purposes of the prosecuting the Second World War. The Allied Forces left in 1945 at the end of the Second World War and their facilities such as the Dining Hall on the Western Compound were taken over by Achimota School. Rev. Fr. Hartfield who was the Catholic Church Chaplain ensured that the Roman Catholic Church was also a beneficiary of some these structures. For example, the current Girls Gymnasium in the Eastern Compound became the new premises for the Roman Catholic Church. The Sacristy was the Guard House and the main gymnasium was the main church itself. Later, Rev. Fr. Hartfied began discussions to use a disused armory for the growing community of workers and other nearby inhabitants such as Anumle, Kissehman, Achimota, Lego, etc. as a Church. He was instrumental in naming the new premises St. Thomas More Church. This was simply to spite his compatriots -the British. For him, if the British murdered such a great man, the Roman Catholic Church was honouring him with the very edifice of their power- the Armory. THE FIRST MASS TO DEDICATE THE CHURCH WAS CELEBRATED IN THE DISUSED ARMORY on SUNDAY, June 22, 1947., Rev. Fr. Maurice Lesage, SVD took over from Fr. Hartfield in 1948 and intensified the use of the disused armory and the adjoining wash rooms as well.
Rev. Fr. Maurice Lesage, SVD was a Biology Teacher in addition to being a teacher of Religious Studies and Doctrine just like his predecessors. He was popularly called “snake Father” due to his interest in keeping live snakes as well as keeping dead samples in the laboratory. Fr. Lesage was posted to Mount Mary Training College in 1955 and was replaced by Rev. Fr. Franz Huber, SVD. In 1950, Rev. Fr. Dr. Koster, SVD joined Fr. Lesage in residence to begin work at the University College of the Gold Coast. They were thus in charge of the church community in Achimota School and for St. Thomas More Church. In September 1950, Fr. Koster left the residence to the University College of the Gold Coast, to lecture in Physics. He was a brilliant lecturer. Fr. Huber continued with serving the church community for non-students of the Achimota School now in St. Thomas More Church until he was replaced by Rev. Fr. John O’Sullivan, SVD in 1962. Fr. Lessage was instrumental in raising funds to accelerate the completion of the roofing of Aggrey Chapel in 1954 and thereby the Protestant denominations ceded the chapel situated on the third floor of the Administration Building of the school to the Roman Catholic Church. This situation exists to date. Rev. Fr. O’Sullivan, SVD was the last SVD Chaplain for the Achimota School and the St. Thomas More Community as the SVD handed the administration of the Accra Diocese in 1971. Rev. Fr. Joseph Addy, a Diocesan Priest of the Accra Diocese in 1970. He was a French Tutor of the Achimota School and did introduce French Masses in the School.
The Diocesan Priests and St. Thomas More Church:
St. Thomas More Under Pastoral care of St. Francis Xavier, Kotobabi initially under Fr. Fr. Seth Arwo Doqu (he worked with Frs. Dominic Amegashiti, Donkor-Baine, Henry Frimpong) and later under Fr. Isaac Maugner (he worked with Fr. Lassey).
Rev. Fr. Benjamin Ohene (working with Fr. David Amissah-Andoh) returned to the tradition of St. Thomas More and Achimota School,
Rev. Fr. George Obeng-Appah (working with Fr. Blaise Attachie).