How Fr. Jude Tachie overcame illness, memory loss and despair to answer his call to the priesthood

There was a time when Jude Tachie could not recall even the simplest prayers. Lying in a hospital bed, his body ravaged by illness, one word was all he had left, “Jesus.”

On Saturday,19th September, 2026, that same man was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Ho at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Ho-Kpevele.

The call began early. As a child, he shared a dream with a teacher who, though not Catholic, told him he might one day become a pastor. The example of his parish priest, Rev. Fr. Apollonaries Anyomi, deepened it. Fr. Anyomi ran a parish of seventeen outstations alone, and young Jude felt the burden was too great for one man. The priest was also an author of Catholic devotional books and prayers, and Jude longed to write the same. His parents did not oppose his choice.

After Nkonya Senior High School, he entered St. Mary’s Minor Seminary for Pre-Philosophy, then continued to St. Paul’s Major Seminary, Sowutuom, and St. Peter’s Regional Seminary, Pedu, Cape Coast.

The road was far from smooth but prayer was his weapon. He battled academic struggles throughout formation. Then, in Theology Two, his father, his chief support, suffered a stroke till date. “I was left to fend for myself,” he recalls. On holidays, he weeded on other people’s farms while tending his own, taking any work that could pay for his school necessities.

Worse was still to come. He was struck by Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a severe condition that left his body in terrible condition. “I was alive, but it was as if my body was rotting,” he says. His memory failed, and prayers he had known all his life slipped away. He spent a month at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and continued treatment at home. “I was almost dead.”

Yet he was not alone. He speaks with deep gratitude of Rev. Fr. Pharm. Francis Selase Kuse of the Jasikan Diocese whose timely interventions saved him; Dr. Abigail Cudjoe, who cared for him at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital and even when he was discharged; Fr. Augustine Osei of Ho Diocese, his brother seminarians from the Archdiocese of Accra; and his classmates.

Due to his illness he was ordained a year later than he should be. He expresses his deepest gratitude to his Bishop; Most Rev. Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, SVD and his formators for their support and the hope they also had in him. He credits all who supported him in prayer and in kind with keeping him alive to reach the altar.

“I almost lost hope along the way,” he said. “But one day at the Major Seminary, I sat somewhere on the compound, praying, when my eyes caught an anthill. Then a thought came to mind: ‘If God created the ants, and they raised this hill, and he caused the rain to wash it away, and the ants do not give up but build it again, why do I give up?’ After this thought, I felt as if some fresh energy had entered me”

For Fr. Tachie, the priesthood is pure gift. “Becoming a priest today is by divine grace and mercy, and I won’t take it for granted,” he says. “If God permitted me to be a priest, then he has a special task for me.”

That conviction shaped the theme of his ordination celebration, drawn from 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.”

As his parish processed to celebrate him after his ordination through the streets of Kpando, he stood in the back of the pickup and declared in gratitude: “Those who saw me with cutlass in hand, dirty in my farm clothes, will see me today in white. Thanks be to God.

Today, Fr. Jude is recounting his suffering not to feel the pain again but to glorify God and to count his blessings and graces of God. To every Christian who is facing challenges and trials on a journey, or in a project, don’t give up. Have faith, pray and keep working. You can make it with the help of God.