Today we’d like to introduce you to Father Peter Wiafe Akenteng.
Father Peter Wiafe, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
His parents were diehard Catholics and everyone had to go to church. If you didn’t go to church, you did not eat. As early as 5-6 years old, he desired to become a priest. When he became an altar server, the priest encouraged them to become priest. After high school he went to major seminary where he studied philosophy for 2 years and theology for 4 years. Following that he became ordained as a priest. After ordination, he went St. Peter’s Cathedral in Ghana, which is where he is from, for two years where he served as an assist priest. Following that he went to a rural parish for 3 years where he served as the co-priest for 56 different villages where sometime he had to walk to get from one to the other. After the 3rd year, he was asked by his Bishop to go to Rome to study social science courses for 3 years. He later returned to Ghana where he desired to go to a parish again. Instead the Bishop assigned him to his alma mater where he started as a student. He served as a vice rector and vursar where he taught, geography, latin and social studies. Following that, he was assigned to the financial office as the administrator where he served for 10 years. Meanwhile he was still taking care of a parish in the diocese and giving part classes to the seminarians and the students at the Spiritan University that belonged to the Holy Ghost Fathers, where he taught African philosophy and sociology. After the financial office, he asked for a sabbatical and went to the UK where he studied a course in education for 3 years. After the 3 years, he returned and served in the pastoral and catechetical center. for 13 years. During that time, he was still teach at the newly established provincial major seminary and the Spiritan University and new established college of education where they prepared individuals to become teachers. Following that, he came to the United States to work as a pastoral vicar at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church to work with the Ghanian Community at that church. After 4 years, he was assigned to the lead pastor position at Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church in Tarrant County. With deep Catholic family roots, he has a younger brother who is religious Brother in the Catholic Faith back home in Ghana, another brother who is a priest in Boston and a sister who is a nun in Ireland.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It is not been that smooth at all. His grew up poor in a farming family of 13 children of which he was the oldest so he had a lot of responsibilities. As a family, they had to rely on other family members for support, which was not always very reliable. Working as a priest in the rural parishes was very difficult. He was very happy to become a priest and embraced the circumstances that prepared him for the future and to weather any storms.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
In the beginning of his professional, he did not to teach. He loved to work in the parish alone but as time went on, he developed the interest to teach, which is why he did a course in education in the UK so that coming back to Ghana he would be allowed to teach in schools. Unfortunately, instead of going to schools, he was asked to go to the pastoral center; however, he still found ways to teach in schools. He has so far enjoyed his life as a teacher and as a priest
How do you define success?
His aim as a priest is to bring people to Christ. When people express their acceptance of Christ and do what the Lord wants them to do, in his eyes, that is success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.omomftworth.org
- Facebook: Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church Fort Worth
- Youtube: Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church Fort Worth
