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The first Divine Word Missionaries arrive in what is now Ghana

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The history of the Society of the Divine Word in Ghana begins in the late 1930s, when it was an British colony called the Gold Coast. After the Society of African Missions (SMA) could no longer staff its mission in Accra, the Propaganda Fide handed responsibility to the SVDs. The only requirement was for it to be staffed by English-speaking missionaries as they would be working in a British colony. This mission would mark the Society’s second foray into Africa. The first, its missions in Togo and Mozambique, were abandoned after German religious were expelled in 1914 due to World War I.

Rev. August Gehring, SVD, a German ex-Togo missionary, was the first priest selected to be assigned to the Ghana. But in keeping with the requirement from the Propaganda Fide, as Gehring’s English had a heavy German accent, an American priest, Rev. Alphonse Elsbernd, SVD, was sent to assist him. Elsbernd recalled learning of his new assignment two days before his official appointment: “One evening, at meal, I sat next to a visiting Father. He enquired whether anyone knew of a certain Father Elsbernd, who was to accompany him to the Gold Coast. I was sitting next to him – and that’s how I learned of it.”

They arrived in Accra on 1938, but health problems forced Gehring to depart that December to seek treatment. This left Elsbernd as the sole SVD on the continent for over six months. But his reinforcements arrived in toward the end of 1939: Rev. Harold Rigney, SVD; Rev. Adolf Noser, SVD; and Brother John Dauphine, SVD, the first Black SVD to mission overseas.


In the beginning, the mission faced resistance due to an established Anglican presence, but the SVDs were able to lay the groundwork of their mission by establishing elementary schools in Accra and the nearby villages. The popularity of the schools helped the mission to grow and flourish. Noser, who was previously given six months to live by a doctor if he was sent to the Ghana, was named apostolic prefect in 1944 and vicar in 1947. He founded the Accra Catholic Press, and in 1948 Brother Cletus Lesage, SVD was transferred to Accra to manage it. Rev. Charles Erb, SVD was assigned to Ghana and became well known for traveling in a mobile van to visit the villages near Accra.

In April 1950, Accra was officially made a diocese with Noser as bishop. Rev. Joseph Bowers, SVD, succeeded him in 1953. Bowers, from the island of Dominica in the Caribbean, was largely educated for the priesthood at St. Augustine’s in Bay St. Louis. His first assignment post-ordination was to Ghana and he had been working there for 13 years before being appointed bishop. It was during his tenure Ghana attained independence. The Society continued its educational apostolate, founding high schools, technical schools, and teaching colleges. Seminaries were also founded to train Ghanaian men to become Divine Word Missionaries.

In the decades following Ghana’s independence, the Catholic Church in the country began to Africanize. The mission began to be turned over to Ghanaian SVDs from the American SVDs. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the older American SVDs began to step down and retire from their positions in the mission to allow for Ghanaian SVDs to fill them. In 1971, Bowers resigned from his position as bishop so a native bishop could lead the Diocese of Accra.
 

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