SHORT HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF ACCRA (Adapted from Memoirs of an era;

Centenary Anniversary of the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Accra.)

Beginnings of the Catholic Church in the Gold Coast
May 18, 1880: Two SMA (Society of African Missions) Missionaries,
           Frs. Auguste Moreau and Eugene Murat stepped on the shores
           of Elmina, sent by Propaganda Fide, Rome to bring the Catholic
           Church anew to the Gold Coast.
1882: Fr. Moreau, SMA, visited Accra from Elmina to find out the
            possibility of starting a mission there.
1884:  He made another visit without much success.

Church in Accra under the SMA
January 31, 1893:  Frs. Otto Hilberer and Eugene Raes, both SMAs, started the Catholic Mission in Accra and offered the first Holy Mass in the house of Chief Quartey on High Street.
May 25, 1893:  First Baptism of Louis James Buckle.
August 24, 1894:  First Marriage between Herbert Cheetham and Rose Mary Quaye.
1895:  Frs. Hilberer and Raes were asked to leave Accra for Elmina as a result of the death of five SMA missionary priests there. The small Catholic community in Accra was left in the care of Messrs. Brown, Andoh and Yankah and a Church committee.
1895-1925:  Twenty different SMA missionaries paid casual visits to care for the Catholics in Accra, some of whom joined other religious denominations for lack of priestly care.
November 02, 1924:  Fr. Stauffer, SMA, visited Accra to buy a cocoa shed to be used for a place of worship.
February 11, 1925:  The cocoa shed was dedicated by Frs. Stauffer, Strebler, Baumann and Br. Clement, SMA, as Sacred Heart Church.  In November the same year, Frs. Stauffer and V.D. Hout, SMA, were appointed resident priests and they began the evangelization work in and around Accra.
January 1933:  Fr. Guerts SMA renovated the cocoa shed church and The church was solemnly dedicated by Fr. Sevriens SMA.
1938:  At the request of Propaganda Fide in Rome the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) sends Missionaries to take over the Accra Mission from the SMA in the Gold Coast.
Accra Mission under SVD
July 01, 1939:  The Society of African Missions (SMA) ceded the eastern portion of the Vicariate of Cape Coast to the pastoral care and administration of the SVD.
December 03, 1939:  Fr. Adolph A. Noser SVD became the first Superior of the Accra Mission along with Fr. John Dauphine SVD, the first African-American from U.S.A.
January 1940:  Fr. Joseph O. Bowers SVD, from Dominica, was the second priest of African descent to be sent to the Accra Mission.
1941:  Several other SVD Missionaries followed to the Mission.
October 30, 1944:  Fr. Gerard Fini, a Togolese diocesan priest arrived in Accra also to work in the Mission side by side with the SVD.
February 11, 1945:  Bishop Porter SMA of Cape Coast invested Rev. Monsignor Adolph Noser SVD as Prefect Apostolic of the newly erected Prefecture of Accra.
November, 1946: Accra was elevated into Vicariate and Msgr. A. Noser was named the first bishop of Accra.
August 22, 1947:  Bishop-elect Noser was consecrated in the U.S.A.
September 29, 1948:  Bishop Porter of Cape Coast installed Bishop Noser as Vicar Apostolic of Accra in the pro-Cathedral of Sacred Heart.

Under the Accra Vicar Apostolic: Bishop A. A. Noser, SVD.
April 18, 1950:  Pope Pius XII raised the Vicariates Apostolic of the Gold Coast to the status of “Dioceses” and the Accra Diocese became suffragan diocese of the new Archdiocese of Cape Coast.
1951:  Bishop Noser started building the Holy Spirit Cathedral at Adabraka, Accra.
January 13, 1953:  Bishop Noser was transferred from Accra to Papua New Guinea as Archbishop of Alexishafen and was succeeded by Bishop Bowers as the new Bishop of Accra.  
April 22, 1953:  Bishop-elect Bowers was ordained by Cardinal Spellman in Bay St. Louis, USA.
Accra Diocese under Bishop Joseph O. Bowers, SVD, DD, JCL:
September 27, 1953:  Bishop Bowers took canonical possession of the Diocese of Accra in the partially completed Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.
January 05, 1957:  Bishop Bowers completed the Holy Spirit Cathedral and declared it open for public divine worship.
March 06, 1957:  The independent nation Ghana was born from the Gold Coast and the thanksgiving Mass held in the Cathedral.
August 1962:  Cardinal Giovanni Montini (later Pope Paul VI) of Milan, Italy visited Ghana, celebrated Holy Mass in the Holy Spirit Cathedral and blessed the Akosombo Hydro-Electric Dam.
June 16-23, 1968:  Accra celebrated its Diamond Jubilee and that of the Sacred Heart Parish.
1971:  In the same year, Very Rev. Fr. Dominic K. Andoh, then Rector of St. Peter’s Regional Seminary, Pedu near Cape Coast was made Bishop-elect for the Diocese of Accra, with the transfer of Bishop Bowers back home to the West Indies.
October 03, 1971:  Bishop Andoh was consecrated in the Holy Spirit Cathedral, as the First Ghanaian Bishop of Accra, by Archbishop John K. Amissah of Cape Coast, assisted by Bishops Peter Dery of Wa and Joseph A. Essuah of Sekondi-Takoradi.

Accra Diocese under Bishop Dominic K. Andoh DD. JCD:
June 02, 1974:  Solemn dedication of the Holy Spirit Cathedral by Bishop Andoh, assisted by Bishops Bowers, SVD., of the Leeward Islands of the West Indies and Francis A.K. Lodonu of Keta-Ho Diocese.
May 08, 1980:  Pope John Paul II arrived in Accra to begin a three-day Papal Visit to Ghana and to climax the Centenary Celebrations of the Catholic Church in Ghana.  He also blessed the National Catholic Secretariat of Ghana in Accra, known as Centenary House.
August 29, 1992:  Bishop Andoh launched the year-long celebration of the Centenary at the Holy Spirit Cathedral, during Holy Mass under the theme: “Shine in the world” (Phil. 2:15-16).
November 21, 1992:  The Catholic Diocese of Koforidua was carved out of Accra by His Holiness John Paul II; Accra was elevated to Metropolitan See, Bishop Andoh made Metropolitan Archbishop and Fr. Gabriel Charles Palmer-Buckle nominated Bishop-elect for Koforidua.
January 06, 1993: Fr. Palmer-Buckle was ordained Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Koforidua by His Holiness John Paul II at the St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome during the Feast of Epiphany.
June 29, 1993:  Archbishop Andoh received the Sacred Pallium of Office as Metropolitan Archbishop in Rome from the hands of His Holiness John Paul II.
July 06, 1993:  Archbishop Andoh was installed the first Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra.
August 22, 1993:  Cardinal Jozef Tomko, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples led the Thanksgiving Holy Mass of the Centenary Celebrations at the Independence Square in the presence of His Excellency, Flt. Lt. J. J. Rawlings.  Concelebrating were nearly all the Archbishops and Bishops of Ghana and others.
March 30, 2005:  At 75, Archbishop Andoh retires and Pope John Paul II appointed Bishop Palmer-Buckle as the new Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, thus transferring him from Koforidua.
May 28, 2005:  Archbishop Palmer-Buckle took canonical possession of the Metropoitan See of Accra.  The ceremony was attended by the President of the Republic of Ghana, Mr. J. A. Kufuor.
June 29, 2005:  Archbishop Palmer-Buckle received the Sacred Pallium from His Holiness Benedict XVI in Rome.
August 22, 2005:  Archbishop Emeritus Dominic K. Andoh, DD.,JCD., said farewell to the Archdiocese of Accra and at the same Holy Mass, Archbishop Palmer-Buckle outdoored the Sacred Pallium of office, thus completing the rite of taking of canonical possession of the Metropolitan See of Accra.