AFRICA/GHANA - Appointment of the Bishop of Damongo

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy Father Benedict XVI, on 17 December, 2010, appointed as Bishop of Damongo (Ghana), Mons. Peter Paul Angkyier, former Vicar General and diocesan consultant of Damongo.
The new Bishop was born on 26 November, 1961, in Nandone in the Wa district of the Upper West Region, Diocese of Wa. He attended the Minor Seminary of St Charles in Tamale (1977-1984), and later completed his studies in philosophy and theology at St Victor's Major Seminary in Tamale. He was ordained a priest on 15 August, 1992, in the Archdiocese of Tamale, before moving to the Diocese of Damongo at the time of its creation (1995). After his priestly ordination he held the following positions: 1992-1993: assistant priest in the parish of Martyrs of Uganda in Bole; 1993-1994: pastor of the parish of St Anne; 1994-1996: Chaplain for the African students in the the Archdiocese of Vienna, Austria; 1996-2000: Studies for the Degree in Religious Psychology at the Gregorian University in Rome; 2000-2003: Teacher and Spiritual Director at the St Augustine Major Seminary in Tamale; 2002-2009: Vicar General in Damongo and professor at the St Augustine Major Seminary.
The Diocese of Damongo (1995), suffragan of the Archdiocese of Tamale, has an area of 29,000 sq. km and a population of 440,000 inhabitants, of whom 22,700 are Catholic. There are nine parishes, 42 priests (39 diocesan and three religious), six religious brothers, 26 sisters and eight major seminarians. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 20/12/2010)