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Ayekooo Bishop Lodonu • 42 years of Episcopacy

Feature Article Ayekooo Bishop Lodonu  42 years of Episcopacy
AUG 10, 2015 LISTEN

On July 14, 2015, the Holy Father Pope Francis accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the Diocese of Ho, by Most. Francis Anani Kofi Lodonu, in accordance with canon 401 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law.

The Holy Father then appointed Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Fianu, S.V.D., Secretary General of the Council of the Divine Word Missionaries as the new Bishop of Ho.

There is no doubt the Bishop Lodonu had worked tirelessly and dedicatedly as a Bishop for 42 years(1973 to 2015).

On June 29, 2013 and May 17, 2014, members of the Catholic Church from all parts of the Volta Region and other parts of the country thronged the St. Francis of Assisi Parish of the Ho Diocese in the Volta Region of Ghana to attend the 40th anniversary and 50th anniversary celebrations of the Episcopal and Priestly ordinations respectively of the Most Rev. Francis Anani Kofi Lodonu.

Bishop Lodonu attained the age of 75 years in 2012, which is the compulsory retirement age for a Bishop of the Catholic Church but still served as an active Bishop of the dynamic Ho Diocese until July 14, 2015. His motto is “Facere Voluntatem Tuam”, which means, “To Do Your Will”.

It is a derivative from “Facere Voluntatem Tuam Domine” meaning “To Do Your Will Oh Lord”, captured in the Book of Psalms 40:8.

And for 51-years as a Priest (42 of them as a Bishop), Bishop Lodonu has carved a niche for himself by—doing the will of God, serving country and bettering spirituality and harmonious relations among the brethren.

He is the oldest serving Bishop of the Catholic Church in Ghana in active service until July 14, 2015, when Pope Francis accepted his resignation after attaining the canonical retiring age of 75 in 2012 in accordance with canon 401 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law. .

It was a beautiful scene as different groups in the Church came in their ceremonial attire to pay homage to the man who had headed the Catholic Church in the Volta Region for over four decades. Bishop Lodonu himself wore a calm disposition as he presided over the Mass to mark his 50th priestly anniversary. He was surrounded by a good number of the clergy who attended the event to pay respect to the oldest Ghanaian Bishop still in active service.

Prior to the Mass, Bishop Lodonu inspected a guard of honour mounted by his alma mater, the Bishop Hermann College and OLA Girls Cadet Corps who, with military precision, graced the celebration.

The Regional and Deputy Volta Regional Ministers, Hon. Hellen Notoso and Mr. Francis Ganyagloh, Traditional Leaders from the Region, and the clergy from other denominations were also in attendance to partake in the celebration.

Congratulatory messages from various groups and persons praised selfless service of Bishop Lodonu over the years and the strong bond that he fostered not only within the Catholic Church but with other religious denominations.

During the 40th anniversary as Bishop in 2013, a message from the Propaganda Fide of the Apostolic Nunciature in Rome said that “you have been serving in the vineyard of the Lord as ordained minister for about 49 years, of which 40 years as a successor of the Apostles and chief shepherd of the Diocese in Ho.

“During these years, you have devoted your energy, with apostolic zeal and total dedication for the growth and edification of the particular church entrusted to your care.

“In thanking God for all that have been achieved through your pastoral ministry, I pray that the Lord and Our Blessed Mother, Queen of Evangelisation, continue to guide and protect you in the years that lie ahead.”

The 40th episcopal ordination homily in June 2013 was delivered by Most Rev. Thomas K. Mensah, Archbishop Emeritus of Kumasi.

The occasion was also used to raise funds for the construction of residences for Bishop Lodonu and other Reverend Fathers who will retire in the future at Awudome–Bame.

50 years in Priesthood
The Golden Jubilee celebration of his priesthood marked on May 17, 2014 was attended by six Bishops including the Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, Most Rev. Jean Marie Speich, who presented a personal Letter from Pope Francis to Bishop Lodonu, written in Latin.

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The Nuncio said the Pope thanked Bishop Lodonu for the gift of his priesthood and his efforts in shepherding the people.

He said the all the things the jubilarian had done his life as a Shepherd could not be judged by anyone but by God, noting that the Golden Jubilee feast was for all Priests of the Diocese and not the jubilarian alone.

He commended Bishop Lodonu for trying to live an example of priesthood and asked for God’s blessings on him.

He urged the Priests to help the faithful to become good and holy people through they (Priests) their lifestyles and witnessing holiness.

The Nuncio asked the Priests and lay people to encourage the youth to respond to the call to the holy priesthood as Bishop Lodonu did f fifty years ago, saying that since he had been able to do it, young people could also do it by denying themselves the pleasures of life.

The homilist was the former Vicar General of Accra Archdiocese, Rev. Msgr. Pius Kpeglo, who praised Bishop Lodonu for his deep spirituality and for carrying out his priestly duties by not attending to his own concerns but those of Christ.

He added that “He surely brought comfort and compassion to many irrespective of their religion, ethnicity or political party affiliations.”

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He said he has taught us through his priestly ministry of 50 years that our Christian life and vocation is a life of love, a life of joy, a life of selflessness that should reflect peace and unity in the Christian and civil communities

The man Bishop Lodonu

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Bishop Anthony Konings ordaining the then Rev. Father Francis Lodonu as a Priest of the Catholic Church in 1964.

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Bishop Lodonu with St. Pope John Paul

The Most Rev. Francis A. K. Lodonu was born at Gbi-Atabu (Hohoe), Volta Region on 19th November 1937. He is the twelvefth and the last child of Mr. Emmanuel Koku Allala-Lodonu of Gbi-Atabu and Madam Akosua Lodonu (nee Tenge) of Alavanyo Agoxoe. Teacher Catechist Emmanuel Lodonu was one of the distinguished catechists who held the fort when the German Missionaries were deported. This is because, there were no priests to shepherd the church from 1917 to 1923. He was awarded the Papal Medal Bene Merente in 1955.

EDUCATION
Francis Kofi Anani grew up at Gbi Atabu, which is about three kilometers from Hohoe. He attended elementary school at Gbi-Atabu Roman Catholic School from 1944 to 1947. He attended the Roman Catholic Boys’ School at Gbi-Bla from Class 5 up to Class 6 from 1948 –1949 and from 1950 – 53 he attended the R. C. Boys Middle School, Form 1 – 4 also at Gbi-Bla.

He had his Secondary School Education at Bishop Herman College, Kpando from 1954 to1957. He attended St. Peter’s Regional Seminary, Cape Coast from 1958 to 1964 where he studied Philosophy and Theology.

Francis A. K. Lodonu was ordained a Priest on 18th May 1964 at St. Augustine’s Church at Gbi-Central by Bishop Anthony Konings who also baptized him in December 1937. After his ordination to the priesthood, Rev. Fr. Francis A. K. Lodonu was appointed Assistant Parish Priest to Ho Sacred Heart Church from June 1964 – August 1965.

He studied at the University College of Cork, Ireland from September 1965 to September 1968 where he obtained Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) General Degree in Geography, Sociology and History. He also studied Latin as a non-examinable subject in the university.

At election as Bishop, he was conferred with an honorary professional doctorate degree of Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa) by the Holy Father.

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APPOINTMENTS
From September 1968 to September 1970 he was Assistant Headmaster and Chaplain at St. Paul Secondary School, Viepe-Aflao (Denu).

1970 – 1972: Vice Rector of St. Mary’s Minor Seminary, Lolobi and Vicar General of Keta Diocese.

1972 – 1973: Rector and Headmaster of St. Mary’s Seminary Secondary School, Lolobi and the Vicar General of the Diocese.

From 1970 to June 1973 Fr. Lodonu was teaching Latin in form I, Geography, Ewe and Bible Knowledge in forms IV and V.

EPISCOPAL ORDINATION
Rt. Rev. Monsignor Francis Kofi Anani Lodonu was elected as Bishop on 14th May 1973 as the Titular Bishop of Mascula. He was subsequently ordained a Bishop on 29th June, 1973 in St. Peters Basilica, Rome by Pope Paul VI. He was among ten bishops ordained in commemoration of the 10th Pontificate of Pope Paul VI. Msgr. Francis A. K. Lodonu was thirty-five and a half years old and nine years as a priest when he was ordained a Bishop with the title, Bishop of the Titular See of Mascula and the Auxiliary Bishop of Keta. This is the reason for the 40th Anniversary celebration on 29th June 2013. He was therefore Auxiliary Bishop to the Rt. Rev. Anthony Konings, the Bishop of Keta Diocese, from 1973 to 1976.

As the Diocesan See was moved from Keta to Ho in 1975, there was turmoil and misunderstanding. At Easter 1975, the Cathedral Church doors were closed to Bishop Konings in Keta and he could not celebrate the Easter Triduum there.

On 15th August, 1976 Bishop Lodonu was installed the Bishop of Keta-Ho Diocese. It was a grand historic event at Ho. This marked the beginning of developing Ho as a See and the reason for a Thanksgiving Celebration in 2006.

In 1979 there was turmoil and conflict in Kpando Immaculate Conception Church. Two factions developed: the “No Father Group” and the” Yes Father group” the conflict ended in 1983. The power of God over evil prevailed and peace returned to the church.

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Cutting of the 50th priestly anniversary cake at Ho on Saturday May 17, 2014.

ACTS, POSITIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF BISHOP LODONU

From 1974 – 1984, he became the Episcopal Chairman responsible for the Department of Socio-Economic Development of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

From 1984 – 1992, He was the Chairman of the Department of Education in the Bishops’ Conference or National Catholic Secretariat.

He attended several meetings and conferences abroad: Dodoma (Tanzania) on the Socialist Theory of Ujamaa (1975), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) on Refugees in Africa (1978); Manila (Philippines) for a two-week pastoral congress (1978); Rome (Italy) several years; Freiburg, (Germany) on Diocesan Organisation (1979) and Nairobi (Kenya) about the World Situation of Conflict (1979); in a small town of Takamori Soan - Tokyo (Japan) on a two-week conference to pray with the world religions. He was at the conference in Freiburg (Germany) when the June 4 uprising took place in Ghana.

From September to October 1983, he represented the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference in the Synod of Bishops from every country of the world in Rome. This synod discussed “Penitence and Conversion” in Catholic Theology. Bishop Lodonu delivered a paper on behalf of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

He also attended other conferences: an International Conference on Catholic Education in Kigali (Rwanda) in 1987; with delegates from the Keta-Ho Diocese through Iowa State (USA) in 1987; to Mexico City on Catholic Education Development (1987); in Dakar (Senegal) on Adult Education in Africa in 1990.

In 1992, he was elected at Wa as the President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference. This presidency is significant since it coincided with one important period of Ghana’s political history. This was the period of the transition from Military rule to democratic rule.

As President of the Conference, he documented the petition to Rome for an increment of the number of Dioceses that consequently brought about the creation of five new Dioceses in 1994/1995.

As President of Conference, he appointed and inaugurated the first Board of Directors of the Quality Insurance Company in 1995. This Catholic Insurance Company was the brainchild of Bishop Lodonu, Msgr. Anthony Balee as the then Secretary General of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference and Archbishop (Emeritus) Thomas Mensah of Kumasi who then succeeded Msgr. Anthony Balee as Secretary General. Archbishop Mensah then worked closely with Bishop Lodonu as Secretary General.

In 1994, Bishop Lodonu appointed and inaugurated the Preparatory Committee to help the Catholic Church start a Catholic University in Ghana.

Already in 1993, in his speech to the then Holy Father, Blessed Pope John Paul II in the Vatican during the Ad Limina Visit of the Catholic Bishops of Ghana, Bishop Francis made a plea to Our Holy Father that the Ghanaian Catholic Church needed a Catholic University and must be helped to get it. Since the beginning of the Catholic University of Ghana at Fiapre (Sunyani Diocese) in 2002, Bishop Lodonu has been a member of the Board of Trustees up to 2011.

In 1994, Bishop Lodonu, chaired the Committee which prepared the response to the Questionnaire on the great Synod for Africa in Rome. He also attended that Synod as President of the Ghana Catholic Bishop’s Conference. In 1995 he was in Yaounde (Cameroun) where Bl. Pope John Paul II promulgated the Documents of the Special Synod for Africa.

From 1997 – 2004, Bishop Francis was the Chairman of the National Catholic Laity Council. In 2004, he became the Chairman of the Department of Ecumenism and Inter-Religious Dialogue.

BISHOP LODONU’S ROLE IN THE UNION OF THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS OF WEST AFRICA

In 1975, he attended together with three other Bishops from Ghana a special study session in Ibadan University in union with the Nigerian Bishops on Management for two weeks. In that seminar in 1975, the Bishops took a firm decision to establish the Association of Episcopal Conferences of Anglophone West Africa (AECAWA). Bishop Lodonu was therefore a member of the Founding Fathers of AECAWA in 1977.

In 1983, Bishop Lodonu became a member of the Governing Council of the first Institution of AECAWA: The Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA) Port Harcourt, Nigeria up to the year 1993. In the same period, 1983 to 1993, Bishop Lodonu was Chairman of the Anglophone West Africa Catechetical Commission (AWACC). During these years, Bishop Lodonu had to travel round English-speaking West African countries several times a year.

From 1997 to 2003, Bishop Lodonu was a member of the Standing Committee of the Association of Episcopal Conferences of Anglophone West Africa (AECAWA). In 2004 (21 – 20 August), Ho Diocese hosted the 10th AECAWA Plenary Assembly. This was a successful event hosted by Bishop Lodonu in Ho.

From 2004 – 2011 he was the Chairman of AECAWA Commission on Inter-Religious Dialogue. So he became a member of the Standing Committee which oversaw the formal merger between AECAWA, CERAO (i.e. English and French speaking West African Bishops’ Conferences) and Portuguese Speaking Bishops into the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA) in January 2012.

BISHOP LODONU’S WORK IN THE VOLTA REGION

After his consecration on the 29th of June 1973, Bishop Lodonu as the Auxiliary Bishop had to travel round the whole Diocese visiting and strengthening Catholics and administering the Sacraments as Bishop Konings was sick and could not travel round. From 1973 to 1995, he was virtually in charge of the Catholic Church in the Volta Region, from Keta to Kete Krachi.

It was in 1976, that his predecessor, Bishop Konings left for good and Bishop Lodonu was enthroned as the Bishop of Keta-Ho in Ho in the presence of all the faithful, the then Head of State, Col. I. K. Acheampong and almost all the Ministers of State and Parliamentarians on 15th August 1976.

The Bishop of Keta-Ho at that time was living in Kpando in Bishop Herman College. In 1977 he began to build in Ho. On May 31st 1980, the Bishop and his administration moved from Kpando to Ho.

Ho has now become the headquarters of the Catholic Church here with a spacious Catholic Secretariat. The Catholic Secretariat was blessed and dedicated on 13th April 1985. It has offices of all departments in the Diocese.

In 1982, Bishop Lodonu called a meeting of the great chiefs of the Volta Region and under the direction of Frs. Jacob Hevi and Francis Amuh began a serious study into African traditional practices with a view to inculturating some of them. Thus he established the Faith and Culture Commission.

The number of Catholic Priests in Keta-Ho Diocese in 1976 was just 25. In 1995, when Keta-Ho Diocese was divided into three, the population of diocesan priests was 117 in number. Ho Diocese had just 52 priests.

The Diocese of Ho covers an area of 5,893 square kilometers. The total population of the territory of Ho Diocese in 2012 was 658,845 with 200,670 Catholics.

On July 14, the Diocese of Ho which erected in 1994, a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Accra, has an area of 5,893 square kilometers and a population of 658,845 inhabitants, of whom 200,670 are Catholics. There are 28 Parishes, 82 Priests (78 diocesan and 4 religious), 11 religious brothers, 81 nuns and 19 seminarians.

Bishop Lodonu convened the first-ever Synod for the Diocese of Ho from 7th to 17th September 2000. It was under the theme: “Effective Evangelization for Living Fully the Christian Calling in the Third Millennium: “What Shall We Do Brothers” (Acts 2:37)”. The Acts promulgated from the Synod became the blueprint for pastoral work after 2002.

There is now a well-functioning Social Centre behind the Catholic Secretariat where Regional and National Conferences – religious as well as civic ones take place. The Social Centre has now grown to become Bishop Konings’ Guest House, Restaurant and Conference Centre. The 10th Plenary Assembly of the Association of Episcopal Conferences of Anglophone (English Speaking) West Africa (AECAWA) was held at this Social Centre in 2004.

There is also a Retreat Centre in Sokode-Gbogame near Ho. The Centre has evolved to become a Centre of learning known as Bishop Holland Memorial Pastoral and Formation Centre. This was formally commissioned by the former Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, Most Rev Leon B. Kalenga on 7th October 2010 and courses formally started here on March 11, 2011. Currently this Centre runs courses for church lay leaders and religious in the theological sciences, scripture and philosophy. There is as well continuing formation programmes for clergy of the diocese of Ho at this Centre.

There is a large convent for Sisters, with a large private basic boarding school (Mater Ecclesiae School), a clinic (Mater Ecclesiae Clinic) and a Centre for handicapped children, for rehabilitation and massage.

The Parishes in Ho Township have increased from one in 1976 to five in 2005.

In 1989 he founded the Volta Friars which has developed into a Diocesan Religious Institute of Active and Contemplative Religious Men known as Franciscan Friars of Africa (FFA). The members pronounce public Vows (Chastity, Poverty and Obedience) and live fraternal (community) life in common and are dedicated to apostolic work integrating prayer and work. Their house is now located behind the Secretariat but may soon move to a permanent site.

The diocese of Ho has a very beautiful Centre for spiritual renewal, called Foyer de Charite. The Foyer was established on 21st March 1995 with Msgr. Gregory Daniels-Akata as the first Foyer Father. Initially located on Bishop Herman College campus it has moved to its permanent site at Alavanyo. This is a great Centre in Alavanyo-Abehenease built above a Waterfall. Many Christians go there for retreat and prayers. It is one of the centres of the Foyer de Chariteheadquartered in France.

He oversaw the growth and development of great Catholic institutions like Bishop Herman College of which he is an old boy (BHOBU), OLA Senior High School in Ho (that was just 20 years when Bishop Lodonu was made Bishop). He nurtured St Mary’s Seminary SHS, Lolobi; St Teresa’s College of Education – Hohoe and St Francis College of Education – Hohoe, to become centers of excellence. During his administration, he bought an old College and turned it into St Agatha’s Commercial College and SHS at Hohoe. He founded the Rijnbeek School at Have that was officially opened on 30th September 2002. It is an Academic Centre of excellence for children at the basic level.

The Bishop already in 1978 was appointed as a member of a Committee by the government to help bring peace between the Pekis and Awudomes in the Volta Region. Since 1980 he was involved in striving to settle the dispute between the Alavanyos and the Nkonyas. In June 2004, the Bishop was officially appointed to help bring peace between the Nkonyas and the Alavanyos as a Member and Vice Chairman of the Mediation Committee.

Through the efforts of the Catholic Diocesan Peace Building & Conflict Transformation Centre, the Mediation Committee received the necessary material and technical support enabling the communities of Nkonya and Alavanyo to reach a level of peace until February 2013 when events changed the peaceful situation to what it is now.

He has been a strong advocate for dialogue in resolving disputes. He promotes the Alternative Dispute Resolution process and so established the St Francis Peace Centre, located at the premises of the Catholic Secretariat in Ho. The Centre has helped to resolve several family disputes.

The Most Rev. Francis Kofi Anani Lodonu was awarded the “ORDER OF THE VOLTA” (COMPANION) by the Government of Ghana on 1st July 2006 for distinguishing himself in the CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

Bishop Lodonu was appointed by the President of Ghana through the Ministry of the Interior as a member of the Ghana National Peace Council, from 27th July 2007 to November 2011. He dutifully served on this Council, travelled the length and breadth of Ghana to give lectures or to help resolve conflict wherever the Council was moving to. It was this Council that was succeeded by National Peace Council with a new legislative instrument Act 818 of 16th May 2011 gazetted20th May 2011.

In 1998 he started the Bishop’s Gbevivi Choir and Cultural Troupe which was inaugurated in July 1999 at Kpetoe. The group was formed to help young people discover their potentials through education and to promote Ewe culture and music. The Group has travelled several times with the direct support of the Bishop through his friends, to Germany to display Ewe and African Music and dance. After one such journey in September – October 2012, the group adopted Wli-Todzi, known locally as “Bishop’s village”, to help solicit funds to develop this beautiful but deprived town located above the Wli Waterfalls and on the Afadjamountains. In recognition of his effort to promote Ewe Gospel Music and Culture in and beyond the Volta Region, Bishop Lodonu was given an Honorary Award at the First Ewe Gospel Awards organized by Kafli Events Consult on 2nd December 2011.

The year 2006, the Bishop with Ho Diocese celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the installation of the Bishop in Ho and the public declaration of Ho as the Episcopal See of Keta-Ho Diocese (which comprised, at that time, virtually the whole Volta Region.)

Bishop Lodonu saw to the human resource development of his diocese. He sent several priests, religious and lay men and women abroad to study and specialize in theological, human and physical sciences. Many of these work in the academia, schools and colleges, health institutions, the military and in parishes.

On 19th November 2012, at his 75th birthday, his biological family outdoored the Bishop Lodonu Educational Endowment Fund to solicit funds to help needy children in education after his great desire as bishop.

REMARKABLE CHARACTER
Of many good things which could be said about Bishop Francis A. K. Lodonu, there are some which are immediately noticeable on encountering the Bishop.

Bishop Lodonu has been known as being naturally kind, gentle, outgoing, and easy to approach and he has a listening ear for everyone irrespective of rank or status.

He is especially known for his honesty and frankness. If he is displeased, he makes it known straight away and thereafter forgets about it. In the same manner, he expresses in high praises whoever impresses him. Being of a generous heart, he openly gives credit to whom it is due.

Bishop Lodonu’s humility cannot be divorced from his hospitality. He detests the excessive bureaucracy which could hinder people from seeing him whether at home or in the office. Anyone who goes to him feels really at home. From records in his Visitor’s books, he received between 1973 and 1993 (a period of 20 years) about 4,900 visitors.

Being the last born of 12 of his parents, it has been his duty to serve his seniors, and Bishop Lodonu cannot be weaned of this service-mentality, even as a priest or Bishop. Indeed, this natural character of service makes him a true leader after the manner of Christ who came to serve and not to be served.

His total devotion to work is one thing no one can miss about him. He draws up a heavy itinerary, which he faithfully follows. His indefatigable energy which defies his childhood susceptibility to ill-health is a marvel not only to his co-workers but also to his family members.

Pastoral excellence is one description by which Bishop Lodonu can be identified. He is most often on trek, visiting the parishes and the outstations, energizing the faithful, planning, counseling, encouraging, teaching and preaching. He has a personal love especially for children, the sick and the elderly.

Bishop Lodonu is known for his intense prayer life which alone has sustained him through difficult moments and has ensured his immeasurable success during his whole life, most especially throughout the past forty years of his Episcopacy.

He promoted a lot of educational activities in the diocese. He is convinced that Christianity and a sound education are the two pillars on which he could build the youth for a better future; hence the establishment of vocational centers throughout the diocese. This is a result of his idea of a “Youth Village” conceived already at the beginning of his episcopacy.

He has been very instrumental in the provision of social amenities for his people. Schools, health institutions, water projects, church buildings, Retired Priests Home and a Retreat House – all these have been on his list of priorities.

He introduced a new pastoral concept for newly-ordained priests in 2007 in his diocese. Newly-ordained priests were appointed as associate pastors to man outstations. They undertook intensive pastoral care of one station or a cluster of stations, with the support of the parish priest. The parish priests as well as a team of Diocesan coordinators and the station pastoral council were the three main facilitators of the model.

It is through him that God has brought in the famous Madonna House Apostolate, which is found in Ho as the first and only House in Africa. They left only in 2010. The Foyer de Charité also arrived in Ghana through him. The Redemptorists’ Congregation has made his diocese one of their few homes in Africa. The Spiritans also work in his diocese. Recently he invited the Couples of Christ from the Philippines into Ho Diocese.

For the past forty years he has striven to do the will of God in his life. His life and work reflects his motto, “facere voluntatem tuam (To do your will, O Lord, is my delight):

As he celebrates his 40th Anniversary, we congratulate him and wish him many more years of fruitful service in the Lord’s vineyard.

SPIRITUALITY
His patron saints are St Francis of Assisi and St Clare. True to his patron saint, he loves nature, plants, flowers, birds and domestic animals. His house located at the outskirts of the Regional Capital Ho is called Assisi-kofe; named after the city of St Francis. It is one of the most beautiful places symbolizing his love for nature. Notable here are the peacocks and peahen that welcome anyone who visited the house with their particular brand of sound.

Many new parishes were named after St Francis of Assisi and the Religious Institute of Brothers he founded follow after the lifestyle and spirituality of St Francis, Franciscan Friars of Africa.

The choice of and his preoccupation with the life of St Francis made him a ‘prophet’ of our times. Pope Francis would in 2013 take after Bishop Lodonu’s most beloved patron saint, as the lifestyle which the church requires at this time to become witnesses to the gospel message.

He believes that the Mass should be celebrated with much solemnity so as to bring out the mystery (what he would always call amlima in Ewe) that is being celebrated. Liturgical celebrations are real celebrations and so must not be done casually. We must have time for this and so several hours spent celebrating an event that comes once a year is worth it.

He is a strong devotee of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Sacred Heart. All who live with him in his house would join him pray the Rosary every day. His famous prayer is Anima Christi. This summarizes the need of the Christian in sorrow and in joy. As a Marian devotee he makes a pilgrimage often to the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Kpando-Agbenoxoe.

As if to glorify fruitful years of service to God and to humanity under the mantle of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the long years of service have been crowned with some spectacular events: the phenomenon of the dancing sun at the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Kpando Agbenoxoe on the feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec 9, 2007 and Dec 11, 2011 and the gushing water on August 13, 2011 all at the Grotto.

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Bishop Lodonu in an army jeep following his return to Ghana after his episcopal ordination in Rome

“There was a lot of motivation in the country at the time when we had ‘Operation Feed Yourself’ and others. That was the period too when we enjoyed high cocoa price but the spending trend or just extravagance led us to problems”, he lamented.

This situation, he said, dovetailed into the bigger problem of national planning noting that “I am looking forward to the day when a political party will come and say ‘I will not borrow but only rely on internally generated fund’ stressing that issue of national borrowing for him had become too much.

He recollects that when Dr. Abrefa Busia came, he had the plan to construct the Eastern Corridor Road Project with a projection to construct 10 to 20 miles each year till it reached Tamale and he could have done that without borrowing but we would still have had a solid road.

Addressing a durbar of teachers in Ho to mark this year's Catholic Education Week celebration on the theme, Improving discipline and academic performance in Basic Schools, Bishop Lodonu appealed to Heads of Catholic Basic Schools in the Volta Region which had zero to 20 percent in the 2012 BECE to undertake performance audits to reverse their standing.

A report on the performance of Schools in 2012 BECE in the region showed that a total of nine catholic schools recorded zero per cent with eight scoring 100 per cent.

Bishop Lodonu said it was unacceptable for any Catholic school to present pupils for examination with all the pupils failing and urged the teachers to sit up.

He asked them to show 'love and interest' in the academic progress of pupils and 'spend' their energy on them.

'Teachers have to learn to be concerned about what pupils do after school. You must simply follow your pupil after school to know how he or she performs,' Bishop Lodonu said.

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