By : Staff Writer
IPNews-Gbarnga City, Bong County: The Catholic Diocese of Gbarnga, has always come across as the model conclave of the Roman Catholic denomination in Liberia.
This has largely been so because of the quietude that punctuated the operations of the Church in the central and Northern regions of Liberia. But that situation now seems to have been washed away as the authoritative Independent Probe has uncovered that Priests at the Diocese have became very uneasy about the management of the church by Bishop Anthony Bowah .
Reports reaching the Independent Probe say Priests within the Gbarnga Diocese have threatened to abandon their duties over what they they called the ‘financially adventurous and mismanagement’ by Bishop Anthony Bowah.
” In fact, the Priests have refused to serve mass and have asked Bishop to move from one parish to another to go and serve the mass. ” An insider at the Gbarnga Diocese informed this paper .
” The priests are saying the Bishop is hovering over everything like a hawk . They think he is more a man concerned about himself than the congregation.” The source added .
When contacted a senior parishioner who elected to be anonymous confirmed
what he teemed “simmering tensions ” in the Diocese but was quick to come to the defense of Bishop Bowah .
” The Bishop is a good man and is doing his best to transform the Diocese .” The elderly parishioner claimed .
” Some of these actions are only intended to hampered the chance of Bishop Bowah as the Catholic faith in Liberia will soon be looking for a replacement for the current Archbishop Lewis Zeglar.”
“Bishop Bowah is expected to be one of the forerunners if the seat of the Archbishop becomes vacant and some of these people are just doing these things to put him out of the running ” Another parishioner intoned .
IPNews is yet to get any response from Bishop Anthony Bowah, Presiding Bishop, Diocese of Gbarnga, after frantic efforts.
Reports of a crisis at Gbarnga Diocese come as the Catholic Archdiocese of Monrovia has also been rocked by protest from teachers within its school system since October19,2020, over lack of salary payments and unjust wages.
The Gbarnga is an influential Diocese within the Roman Catholic Church in Liberia, which supervises all Parishes in Bong, Lofa and Nimba counties.
The Diocese of Gbarnga covers an area of 30,305 km² and is home to 21,440 Catholics (1.3% of 1,686,755 total), since 2017.
The Gbarnga Diocese has nine parishes, one mission with thirteen priests consisting of seven diocesan and six religious, twenty-four lay religious consisting of ten brothers and fourteen sisters.
