Born to the late Mr. John Kogyan Kwofie and Madam Agnes Ama Tokwah Kwofie on 26th
April 1958. Archbishop John B. Kwofie, CSSp is the first of ten siblings. He hails from
Apowa in the Ahanta West District of the Western Region.
Most Rev. John B. Kwofie, CSSp started schooling at Apowa Roman Catholic Primary in
- Hereceived baptism from Rev. Fr. Joseph Kwofie and enrolled as a Knight of the
Altar. Inspired by the dedication exhibited by Rev. Fr. Kwofie in the discharge of his
pastoral duties, he gradually developed interest in the priesthood and entered St.
Theresa’s Junior Seminary, Amisano, for his secondary education and to pursue his
vocation.
At Amisano, he felt the call to the religious-missionary priesthood. He therefore sought to
enter the Congregation of the Holy Spirit also known as the Spiritans. After his Sixth Form
studies, the Spiritan Fathers sent him to Seminaire Jean XXIII, Ebolowa in Cameroun for
his postulancy formation and to prepare himself for the bilingual formation program a
year later at the Spiritan Novitiate in The Gambia.
th
studies in Philosophy at the Spiritan Institute of Philosophy at Isienu-Nsukka. He did his
pastoral year at the Holy Rosary Parish, Suame in Kumasi and then proceeded to St. Paul’s
College Seminary in Gbarnga, Liberia for Theology. He was ordained to the Catholic
rd
Bantama in Kumasi. He was sent immediately after his priestly ordination to do a short
course on Pastoral Leadership at the Lumko Institute of South Africa.
As a response to his desire to serve the world-church as a missionary priest, his Superiors
sent him to The Gambia on his first missionary assignment. After three years in the
mission area of Basse and Bansang, a mission he loved so much and gave himself totally
to, he was sent to Rome in 1991 for studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute where he
attained Licentiate in Sacred Scriptures in 1995. As a student of the Pontifical Biblical
Institute, he also had the opportunity to do part of his studies at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem.
Elected Superior of the Spiritan West African Foundation, he returned to Ghana and
served the Spiritan Fathers and Brothers working in The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia,
Benin and parts of Nigeria for six years. He combined his service as Spiritan Superior with
lectureship in biblical studies at the Spiritan Theologate in Enugu, Nigeria. When the
Spiritan West African Foundation was raised to the status of a Province, he was elected its
first Provincial Superior and served for another three years.
During these years of leadership of his Religious Congregation, he also served the
8
Conference of Major Superiors (Men) as Vice-President for a term of three years and then
as President for two terms. When the Continental Conference of Religious Major
Superiors of Africa was at its inception stage, he was appointed its first Coordinator with a
mandate to organize the Conferences of Religious Major Superiors into an Association of
Conferences of Major Superiors of Africa and Madagascar. He carried out this mandate
until the African Religious Continental Conference (COSMAM) was inaugurated. He
handed over to an elected executive board after two years.
During his nine years of service as Superior of his Religious Congregation, he engaged in
pastoral work especially on Sundays in the following parishes – Holy Spirit Parish,
Bantama; Corpus Christi Parish, New Tafo and St. John’s Church, Bohyen Ampabame all in
the Archdiocese of Kumasi and at St. Maurice Parish, La; St. Catherine, Burma Camp and
St. Michael at Michel Camp in the Archdiocese of Accra.
He also loved facilitating Chapters of Religious Congregations. Thinking of helping the
growth of Religious Congregations in Africa, he did a course in Monitoring and Evaluation
at GIMPA with the hope of applying some of the principles of this discipline to the life of
Religious Congregations. Soon after this short program, he was elected the first Assistant
to the Superior General of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit and so relocated to the
Headquarters of the Spiritan Congregation in Rome where he lived and served the Spiritan
family worldwide from 2004 to 2012.
As a General Councillor of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, he had special
responsibility, among others, for the Spiritan circumscriptions in West, East and North
Africa accompanying them in matters concerning presence, mission, administration and
relationship with local Dioceses and in-charge of Inter-Religious Dialogue and
Ecumenical Relations. He also served on the Board of the Centre of Spiritan Studies at
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, USA.
When he completed his term on the General Council of the Spiritans in Rome in 2012, he
took a sabbatical year at Fribourg University in Switzerland. He then became a lecturer at
the Theology Department of Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, in July 2013 and was
appointed Bishop of Sekondi-Takoradi on 3rd July, 2014. He returned to Ghana and was
ordained as the fourth Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sekondi-Takoradi, on 13th
September, 2014.
On 2nd January, 2019, he was appointed the Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of
Accra.