Rev Father John Baptist Attakruh has been appointed as the new Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sekondi Takoradi by Pope Francis.

This was communicated in a press statement released from the Apostolic Nunciature by Rev. Magistrate Maher Chammas.

Rev Father Attakruh was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Sekondi-Takoradi on 30th July 1989. His first appointment was to Immaculate Conception Parish as Assistant Priest from 1989 to 1991.

He was then appointed as Vice-Rector of St. Mary's Minor Seminary in Apowa, and at the same time, he was a tutor and Chaplain at St. Mary's Boys' Secondary School and Director of Vocations of the Diocese of Sekondi-Takoradi.

From 1992 to 1995 he studied at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of St. Anselm in Rome where he obtained a Licentiate in Sacred Liturgy.

Upon his return to Ghana, he was appointed as Director of St. Kizito Pastoral and Catechetical Center at Apowa and Director of Sacred Liturgy of the Diocese of Senkondi-Takoradi from 1996 to 1998.

From 1998 to 2004, he was appointed formator and lecturer at St. Peter's Regional Seminary, Cape Coast, where he taught Sacred Liturgy and Sacramental Theology.

From 2004 to 2014, Fr. Attakruh undertook a sabbatical and study leave. During this period he studied at St. John’s University, New York, USA, where he obtained a Master of Science in Educational Administration and Supervision of Instruction.

He also served in the Diocese of Rockville Center, New York, as Priest-Chaplain of Brookhaven Memorial Hospital and Medical Center, Patchogue, and as weekend Associate at St. John the Baptist Church in Wading, New York.

In 2015, Father Attakruh was appointed Co-ordinator of the First Synod of the Diocese of Sekondi-Takoradi by Most Rev John Bonaventure Kwofie, the then Bishop of the Diocese.

Among the assignments he serves in the Diocese from 2015 to the present is being the Director of St. Kizito Pastoral and Catechetical Centre; Diocesan Biblical Apostolate; Catechesis; and Sacred Liturgy.

On July 31, 2020, Father Attakruh was nominated as the Apostolic Administrator of the Sekondi-Takoradi Diocese with all the rights and faculties of a Local Ordinary, a position he held until he was appointed the new Bishop of Sekondi-Takoradi Diocese on June 24, on the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.