BISHOP BOWERS – GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF MOST REV. JOSEPH OLIVER BOWERS SVD, BISHOP EMERITUS OF ACCRA AND OF ANTIGUA IN THE WEST INDIES BY THE GHANA CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE (GCBC)
Saturday, 3rd November, 2012 was the last time we saw him alive. As we began our Annual Plenary Assembly in Koforidua, on Friday, 2nd November, all of us including four retired bishops visited Bishop Bowers at his residence in Agormanya for a moment of reunion and sharing. We presented a citation to him in which we acknowledged his tireless promotion of the Kingdom of God in the then Gold Coast and present day Ghana from 1953 to 1971 as bishop of Accra. He received it with a smile and gratitude. Such was his hallmark: gentle humility. Even at 102, he knew how to express his hearty thank you.
Bishop Joseph Oliver Bowers, SVD was born on the 28th of March, 1910 in the Leeward Island of the Commonwealth of Dominica. He was ordained a Priest on the 22nd April, 1940 and became Bishop on 23rd October, 1953.
As a young and energetic missionary priest and later as the first bishop of African descent in the church, his missionary zeal was exemplary. He literally walked the length and breadth of Krobo, Kwahu, New Juaben and Akyem lands planting parishes and saving souls.
Those who still remember him recall a tall, handsome and holy bishop who was also a great singer. The fruit of his pastoral care are indeed myriad. A number of educational and health facilities in the Archdiocese of Accra, the Diocese of Koforidua and the Apostolic Vicariate of Donkorkrom were started by him: St. Paul Technical School, Kukurantumi; Mount Mary College, Somanya; Holy Family Hospital, Nkawkaw, Battor Catholic Hospital, St. Dominic Hospital, Akwatia are some examples on the long list of accomplishments. It is on record that the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Accra was completed during his stewardship as bishop.
His warmth and simplicity were legendary. Even though he was well advanced in age, he was endowed with accurate good memories of places, people and of catechists he used to work with, and anytime you visited him, he would bless you.
He lived his last days in the Mother House of the Handmaids of the Divine Redeemer, (HDR Sisters) a Congregation he himself had founded in 1957.
In recognition of these accomplishments the Government of Ghana decorated him two years ago with the ORDER OF THE VOLTA.
We wish to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt condolences to his family and people in the Commonwealth of Dominica. We thank them very sincerely for giving Ghana and the world such a great man of faith.
We wish to thank the Society of the Divine Word Missions (SVD) for allowing him to spend his years of retirement with us in Ghana.
We wish to thank the HDR Sisters and the Diocese of Koforidua for their tender loving care for our departed Bishop and to Very Rev. Msgr. Pius Kpeglo for the assistance and support provided during his years of retirement.
Before his death he was the oldest bishop in the world. His life was a gift from God to the world. He is gone but he will never be forgotten.
May his soul rest in perfect peace.
MOST REV. JOSEPH OSEI-BONSU
BISHOP OF KONONGO-MAMPONG DIOCESE AND
PRESIDENT OF THE GHANA CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE