A History of Divine Word Missionaries in Ghana, 1938-2010

Abstract

The problem of this study was that, although the SVD missionaries have been a major partner in the evangelizing mission of the Roman Catholic Church in Ghana since their arrival in 1938, their specific contribution to the growth and development of the Catholic Church in Ghana has not been fully assessed. The objective of this thesis therefore is to appraise the missionary activities of the SVD within Ghanaian Catholic Church, and also assess their relevance in contemporary Ghanaian Christianity as a whole. Using the historical method and approach, chapter two traces the history of the SVD from the time of the arrival of the first two missionaries up to the time the mission was handed over to a diocesan bishop in 1971. In chapters three and four, qualitative, analytical and critical tools were employed using Andrew Walls‟ three test criteria to evaluate the work of the SVD. Our findings are that the SVDs have largely fulfilled the Church test as proposed by Andrew Walls. As far as the Kingdom and Gospel tests are concerned, these are still on- going. So to remain relevant in the contemporary Ghanaian Christian mission, the SVDs need to do more work in this direction.