Ban on Catholic Father Lifted

Thirty-three months after being suspended by the Roman Catholic Church, the Rev Father Henry Frempong has now been recalled to exercise his priestly function.

He was prevented from holding a healing session at the Holy Spirit Cathedral on Sunday 26 March 2000 and suspended from the priestly order to ?safeguard the harm that his character and actions were causing to some members of the church.?

According to the church, his healing services, utterances and gross insubordination caused division among some of the faithful and that could not be allowed to continue.

A statement sighed by the Most Reverend Dominic Kojo Andoh, Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, explained that the decision to lift the suspension was for the good of the archdiocese. ?It will be in the interest of the entire faithfuls of the arch-diocese to act with caution and to realise that there are laws in the church which must be respected by the clergy, religious and the lay faithful,? the statement pointed out.

Meanwhile, the Assistant Administrator of the Holy Spirit Cathedral, the Rev Father Fredrick Agyeman, in a telephone interview, said that Fr. Frempong wrote to the Archbishop and apologised for his actions and asked to be allowed to return to the church. He said that the priest had upon that been accepted back into the church to perform his functions.

Father Frempong was alleged not only to have shown gross disrespect towards the Archbishop and his immediate superiors but also refused to participate in common priestly activities and carved for himself a healing service. The decision to suspend him form the priestly order, though, described by the Archbishop as ?painful? was to help Father Frempong to understand his vows of obedience.

Father Frempong told The Ghanaian Times in March 2000 that many Catholics needed healing hence his decision to conduct the services. A front-page story of the paper in April 2000, also quoted Father Frempong as saying that he would remain a Catholic Priest despite his suspension.