Archbishop Palmer-Buckle marks 30 years as a Bishop

Now Ghana’s longest serving Catholic prelate in active service, Most Rev. Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle Metropolitan Archbishop of Cape Coast on Friday, January 6, 2023, marked his 30^th Episcopal Ordination anniversary.

The Archbishop presided over a thanksgiving Mass at the forecourt of the newly built Pastoral Center at Brafoyaw in Cape Coast in the presence of family, fellow bishops and priests, religious and lay faithful from the Cape Coast Archdiocese and beyond.

In a goodwill message to Archbishop Palmer-Buckle from the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, the Ghanaian bishops congratulated him for being the longest member of the conference and on his anniversary celebration “We, your brother Bishops of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, wish to congratulate you, our Senior Brother of the Conference on the occasion of your Pearl Jubilee Celebration as a Bishop. We say to God be the glory for His faithfulness.”

The Bishops Conference extolled him for serving the Conference in the capacity of Vice-President for four terms amounting to 12 years.

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“You served as the Vice President of the Conference for four terms totalling 12 years: 2004-2010 and 2016-2022. You are currently, the longest active member of the Conference by virtue of episcopal ordination, making you a repository of knowledge and our institutional memory. The selfless services you rendered to the Conference and contributions towards the growth of the church in Ghana are enormous” the goodwill message read.

He was also lauded for bringing his wealth of experience and exposure to the benefit of the Conference “You bring your rich store of experience to bear on our deliberations through your contributions” the GCBC intimated.

The 30^th Episcopal Anniversary celebration and Thanksgiving Mass was intended to raise funds for the completion of the new Cape Coast Archdiocesan Pastoral Center.

The Mass was also graced by the President of the Republic, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo together with some members of his cabinet, Ministers and Members of Parliament and representatives from the Regional and Metropolitan Assembly.

In November 1992, Fr. Palmer-Buckle was nominated first Bishop of the newly created Catholic Diocese of Koforidua, carved out of the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, and was ordained to the Episcopacy in the St. Peter’s Basilica, in the Vatican City, Italy, on January 6, 1993, by His Holiness, Pope John Paul II of blessed memory. On March 30, 2005, he was appointed Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra by His Holiness Pope John Paul II, serving in this capacity until 2018.

On May 11, 2018, following the acceptance of the resignation of Most Rev. Matthias Kobena Nketsiah from the Episcopal See of Cape Coast upon attainment of the age of retirement, His Holiness, Pope Francis, appointed Most Rev. Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle as the new Metropolitan Archbishop of Cape Coast.

Most Rev. Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle has a unique story of being the only Ghanaian prelate to have had the rare privilege of being Bishop of different dioceses: Koforidua, Accra, and Cape Coast