125 Years Of Catholicism In Denu Three-Town

Thousands of Catholics all over the Catholic Diocese of Keta-Akatsi and beyond will be converging at the St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church at Three-Town, Denu in the Volta Region for a the celebration of the125 years of Catholicism and 105 years of the dedication of first Church building.

The one-year Anniversary was launched last year Sunday June 11, 2017 at a special ceremony at the St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church under the theme: Enter His gates with thanksgiving, His Courts with Songs of Praises (Ps. 100:4).

The Church established on April 1, 1893, has organised a series of activities to mark the Anniversary including Health Walk and Talk, Youth Quiz Competition, Variety and Socialization activities, Skills Training in Catering for the Youth, Cultural Festival, Retreat and Pilgrimage, Clean up exercises, Visit to the sick and the needy, Tree planting exercise, Home coming for Priest, Religious from the Parish, Clean-up and a Jubilee Mass presided over by the Vicar General of the Keta-Akatsi Diocese, Rev. Msgr. Peter Huletey and Memorial Mass for the Clergy and lay faithful, presided over by Most Rev. Anthony Adanuty, Bishop Emeritus of Keta-Akatsi.

A durbar of Chiefs and people of the Three Town Communities- Denu, Hedzranawo and Adafienu- will be held on Saturday, June 16 and climaxed the year-long activities the next day June 17 with a Pontifical Thanksgiving Mass to be presided over by Most Rev. Gabriel Edoe Kumordji, SVD Bishop of Keta-Akatsi.

Faith Deepening
In an interview, Mr. Cephas Afornu, Vice Chairman of the Anniversary Planning Committee, lamented that the faithful had not deepened their faith as witnessed during the early days of the faith as some are still involved in multiple allegiance ending up in misconstruing the faith in Christ with other traditional believes.

He also observed that the very spiritual wounds that the missionaries came to heal for the people of the Three-Town communities is still bleeding and need to be diagnosed. He recalled that Catholic Schools were established to be pacesetters for spiritual, moral and disciplinary issues of the youth.

He questioned the Clergy, the religious, pastoral care givers, educationist and the lay faithful to cross-examine how much they fare and so re-visit their pastoral approach, vision and focus, stating that the fear and all forms of enslavement that entangle the faithful and also make them live the Christian life in freedom. By this we would hold high the values with which the missionaries lay the foundations of the Church.

He, therefore, called on pastoral care givers to accept the fact that it is time for the Parish to re-examine the evangelisation mission of the Church by going back to the roots of its foundation as well as repackage the pastoral activities especially the issues about formation of the lay faithful, of the Parish, Spirituality and Self-reliance.

Mr. Afornu stated that the time has come for the Parish to look into building up its own resource in view of its continued mission of evangelization. He called on the church to organize a parish pastoral congress to have a concrete and workable pastoral plan to guide the future of the Church.

He also suggested a strategic plan for the Church to make her a model Church worthy of emulation. He also suggested that as a parish of St Anthony of Padua, the Spirituality of St. Anthony should be part of the way of life of parishioners.

Historical background
The establishment of the Catholic Church in the Three-Town communities dates back to the 1890s according to available records. The 1890s could be termed as the period of preparatory work by some of the early Missionaries towards the establishment of the Church and Schools in the area. These preliminary works culminated in the birth of the present church, the St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in a classroom at Adafienu.

On May 25, 1890, Frs. Michael Wade and Jean-Baptist Thuet arrived at Keta and regularly visited the towns along the coast including the Three-Town communities to serve what was termed “stranded Catholics among Protestants. In 1891, Fr. Wade started the first School at Adafienu where he obtained a land from the Equagoo family but this School did not last. The definite establishment of the Catholic Church in the Three-Town was based on the Baptism of the first three Christians by Fr. Thuet on April 1, 1893. They were Joseph Amewozu Gbogbo of Adina, John Serge Gbogbo of Adafienu and Alfred Agbenu Tsikata of Adafienu.

The solemn blessing of the first Church building took place on Sunday August 3, 1913, by Prefect N. Schoeng, SVD of Lome. All the Priests who had worked in the St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church have done and are still doing marvelous work in the areas of evangelisation and the administration of the Sacraments. The early white Fathers sowed the seeds of missionary work, won the initial converts for the Church, built the first Chapel and built three Schools in the three communities: Adafienu, Denu and Hedzranawo. It was from the St. Anthony Church that the stations like Aflao, Viepe, Dzodze and Agbozume, now Parishes on their own were established.

Role of Priests
Historically, all the priests who had worked in the St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church Parish had done and still doing marvelous work in the area of evangelization and the administration of the sacraments.

The early white Fathers sowed the seeds of missionary work, won the initial converts for the church, built the first chapel and built three basic schools in the three communities: Adafienu, Denu and Hedzranawo. It was from the St. Anthony Church that the stations like Aflao, Viepe and Agbozume, now Parishes on their own were established.

During his second coming, Rev. Fr. G. Hebben bought a set of brass instruments for the youth and a tractor for farming in the parish. He also procured material for the choir robes for both the St. Cecilia and the Angelic Choirs.

Rev. Fr. Arnold Kotah worked tirelessly to start the project on the New Church Building. Mgr. Leonard Hope Hormeku in his time built what has come to be known as “the great wall of Three-Town” to stop further encroachment n the church’s property. He built a canteen for the church and laid the foundation for the multi-purposed classroom block dubbed “C” block. A parcel of land was also bought at Detokope for a cemetery for the church.

During the same period Rev. Fr. Yohanese Dedo started the project on our Lady of Lourdes Chapel at Tetekope and the St. Jude Chapel at Nogokpo. During the time of Rev. Frs. William Techie and Anthony Asinyo the new church building started by Rev. Fr. Arnold Kotah was completed and dedicated by his Lordship, Most Rev. Anthony Kwame Adanuty on 31^st December 2005. A new presbytery was built and the “C” block started by Mgr. Leonard Hope Hormeku was raised from the foundation to the first floor.

The Married Couples Association during the same period, was formed upon the advice of the priests to strengthen the marriage institution in the church and two people were trained as marriage counselors to support the priests in preparing couples for the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. The Funeral Society was transformed into Welfare Society to be of more benefit to the members.

Rev. Fr. Gustave Adzaho would be fondly remembered for a long time for his mobilization encouragement and personal involvement in youth activities. In his brief stay, Rev. Fr. Allen Genou started weekly morning Masses in Denu and Adafienu Communities. The Mass is celebrated in the two communities on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.

Msgr. Joseph Gbortsu Agoha worked hard to also add a Junior High School to the Primary in Adafienu and revived the extinct Church at Wudoaba and named, St. Teresa of Avila in addition to the existing ones such as Blekusu, Adina, Tetekope, Hatsukope, Kpoglu and Amedzikope. Blekusu and Hatsukope, however, assumed resident churches. He has trained six couples into Extra-ordinary Ministers of the Holy Communion to be visiting the sick and the aged with the Holy Eucharist in the communities.

The Parish has succeed in buying a brand new double cabin Nissan Pick-up which was outdoored on the 1^st July, 2012 to facilitate easy movement of priests in the parish. This project was greatly supported by Fraga Oil Ghana Ltd through the Chief Executive Officer Torgbui Francis Nyonyo Agboada.

Rev. Fr. Felix Senyo took over the administration of the Parish in November 2013. The St. Teresa of Avila Church was officially re-inaugurated. An electric generator was purchased to forestall power outages. The frontage of the presbytery which was built by Rev. Fr. William Tachie was fenced. Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Kpodo and Robert Vedenku assisted Fr. Felix Senyo to shepherd the parish.

Rev.Fr. James Mikado arrived for pastoral work Saturday, November 14, 2015 together with Rev.Fr. James Gbleh. He was keen in the spiritual growth of the congregation and then quickly introduced the Eucharistic Adoration and crusades. Plans are underway to make the old Church a permanent Eucharistic Adoration Chapel.

The floor of the whole presbytery was tiled and the Great Wall of Three-Town was given a face lift. Also the idea of a Parish Hall Complex which was the outcome of the 120^th Anniversary celebration is now being implemented by Rev.Fr. James Mikado. The desire by the congregation to expand the existing Church is also being seriously pursued.

Priests produced by the Church
The Church has produced many Priests and Religious for Diocesan and Missionary work over the years including Rev. Frs. Gabriel Afagbegee, SVD (1982), Edmond Afagbegee SVD (1986), Moses Attah Debre (1984), Jean Augustine Zakli (1998), Richard Fini (1988), Anthony Ocloo (1992), Christopher Vordzorgbe (1994), Dominic Amegashitsi (1994), Yohanese Dedo (2000), Blaise Attachie (2002).

The rest are Frs. Innocent Philip Eshun (2002), Asser Clement Mensah (2003), Damien Dewornu (2004), Justin Harry Barawusu (2004), Johnson Emmanuel Hoeglah ( 2007), Vincent Agboli (2007), Peter Ashiagbor (2008), Paul Davor (2010), Hans-Gerber Juluis Agbenafa SVD ( 2010), Robert Vedenku (2010), Courage Ahashie (2011), George Amegashitsi (2012); Franklin Kuwornu (2013), Cosmos Dewornu, SIJ (2014), Delight Cabonu (2014), Stanley Azameti (2017)