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Father Campbell: I’ll focus on humanitarian work after retirement

The Irish priest who has been in Ghana for the past 50 years retires in May and will dedicate the rest of his life to charity work

The Parish Priest of Christ the King Church, Rev Father Andrew Campbell, is looking at going into full time charity work when he retires as a priest next month.

Rev Father Campbell who doubles as founder of the Weija Leprosarium has over the years been active in championing the cause of the vulnerable and deprived in society.

He is expected to retire from active service in May as a priest in line with the Catholic Church’s procedure.

Speaking with Nana Yaa Mensah on Asaase Radio’s Sunday Night show, Rev Fr Campbell said he has been alarmed by the recent spike in leprosy cases in the country.

“Last year 260 new cases in Ghana which was a little frightening, because I thought they were gone. So, we will take care of those in Ho, Nkanchina and Kokofu,” he said.

“Wa has got many cases; 700 cases and they are living with their families and some of them don’t even know they have leprosy.”

Rev Fr Campbell said he finds it fulfilling to be a priest in Ghana after 50 years of service.

Watch the full interview below:

About Rev Fr Campbell

Rev Fr Campbell first arrived in Ghana in October 1971 to work as a member of the Society of the Divine Word.

The Society of the Divine Word or SVD is the single largest missionary congregation in the Roman Catholic Church, with over 6,000 clergy, and was founded by Arnold Janssen, a German-Dutch priest who also established the Holy Spirit Missionary and the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters. The SVD has a presence in over 70 countries across six continents and works in West Africa in Benin, Ghana, Liberia and Togo.

Campbell was born in Dublin, Ireland, in March 1946, the second of four children. His childhood was sheltered and deeply Catholic but his family was not well off, and his early life was marked by a struggle to find the means to further his education.

Entering the novitiate in 1964 at St Patrick’s College in County Roscommon, he took his first vows in September 1966. He studied philosophy between 1965 and 1967, earned a Bachelor’s degree in divinity and then undertook further studies in scripture, liturgy, church history, moral theology and canon law. He took his final vows in 1970 at the unusually early age of 24 (the stipulated age being 25) and was ordained a deacon the same year.

Out of his cohort of 31 novices in Ireland, 15 made it through to ordination. Of those 15, he is the only priest still in active service. Last year, he celebrated his golden jubilee – 50 years of ordained service to the Church.

He has served in five parishes in Ghana: St Peter’s Osu, Holy Spirit Cathedral Adabraka, Sacred Heart Derby Avenue, Good Shepherd in Tema Community 2 and now Christ the King in Cantonments. He is the founder of the Lepers Aid Committee, which runs four main leprosariums – in Ho, Kokofu, Nkanchina and Weija. A fifth lepers’ colony and laboratory has opened in Wa. He also established the Christ the King soup kitchen, which at the height of the COVID crisis fed up to 800 street children and young people a day.

Rev Fr Campbell turned 75 on 27 March.

Fred Dzakpata

Asaase Radio 99.5 – tune in or log on to broadcasts online.
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