Priests are “real men with silent wounds” – Archbishop Kwofie

Accra – Ghana, Selikem Norfegali – The Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, Most Rev. John Bonaventure Kwofie, C.S.Sp., has said priests may wear spotless vestments, but beneath them lie real human struggles and unspoken pain.

Speaking at the ordination Mass of twelve men into the priesthood earlier today, Archbishop Kwofie drew attention to the often hidden emotional and spiritual burdens priests carry as they serve the people of God.

“We are real men with real struggles. We are real men with silent wounds even to the point where they fester as if it has no cure,” the Archbishop stated.

Quoting the Letter to the Hebrews, he reminded the faithful that God calls not the perfect, but those who are weak yet willing. “Christ in selecting us did not consider us a macho or superhuman but because we are humans who are a subject to weakness (Heb 5:2).”

He urged both clergy and laity to acknowledge and support the humanity of priests, who often offer sacrifices not only for others, but also for their own brokenness. “When we are offering sacrifice, we offer it first for our sins and then for the sins of the world (Heb 5:3),” he said.

Drawing from Church tradition, he referenced Pope Leo’s observation that, “we often see priests wearing unblemished cassock and vestments but they are covering a weak body.”

Archbishop Kwofie called on the new priests to embrace their ministry not with illusions of perfection but with a sincere heart open to God’s grace. “This is our weakness, the weakness of the human person who becomes a priest,” he said, underscoring the sacred yet fragile nature of the priestly life.