Fr Paul Dogba SVD’s recent arrival at Dorish Maru College in Melbourne has fulfilled a long-held desire to work in the SVD Australia Province.
Fr Paul, who is from Ghana, has been assigned to work in theological formation in the AUS Province, teaching theology, missiology and homiletics at Yarra Theological Union.
He originally chose Australia as his preferred mission ground before taking his final vows in 2000, however his province in Ghana requested that he be assigned to his home country for some years first.
“I followed that advice and, eventually, applied to work in the Australia Province,” he said.
Fr Paul was born and raised in Dzodze in the Volta region of Ghana and, at his father’s behest, studied to be a school teacher after leaving school.
“At the College of Education, I felt a persistent call to a religious missionary priestly ministry,” he said.
This led him to relinquish his career in the Ghana Education Service and pursue his priestly formation at St Victor’s Major Seminary in Tamale in 1992.
After completing his philosophical studies in 1995, he entered the Divine Word Missionaries novitiate at Kwahu-Nkwatia and took his first vows on August 6, 1996. Following studies in Theology, Mission Studies and Religious Studies he took his final vows on August 15, 2000 at the Divine Word Missionaries Common Formation Centre in Langata, Kenya. He was ordained to the priesthood on July 28, 2001.
Fr Paul went on to earn a Master of Arts in Theology and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology, majoring in Moral Theology, from the Pontifical University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines, followed by a Doctorate in Sacred Theology, also majoring in Moral Theology.
Following his ordination in 2001, Fr Paul served as an Assistant Priest at St Maria Goretti Parish, Battor, in the Archdiocese of Accra until 2005, and also undertook chaplaincy work at Battor Catholic Hospital.
In addition to his parish ministry, he served as the Coordinator of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, Coordinator of the Charismatic Renewal Movement, and Secretary of the Tema-Battor SVD District, all within the Archdiocese of Accra. In 2005 he served as Assistant Priest at St Francis Xavier Parish in Donkorkrom and then Parish Priest of St Mary Mother of the Church Parish at Adeemmra, as well as Director of JPIC for both the SVD District and the Donkorkrom Apostolic Vicariate. Fr Paul was also Director of the Pontifical Missionary Societies in his area, board member of St Fidelis Senior High School and a Councillor of the Bishop of the Donkorkrom Apostolic Vicariate from 2007 to 2012.
Fr Paul was elected District Superior of the SVDs working in the Afram Plains District for two terms as well as President of the Ghanaian SVD confreres from 2008-2011. And, while studying in the Philippines, he was elected president of the student priests and religious from different SVD provinces residing at the SVD community Tayuman, Manila from 2013-2015.
Since September 2017, Fr Paul’s focus has been on theological formation, serving as a lecturer in Moral Theology, Missiology and Sermon Practice at St Victor’s Major Seminary in Tamale, while also working as a formator and spiritual director for seminarians, religious and the lay faithful at the SVD Common Formation Centre and St Joseph Freinademetz Formation House. He was Dean of Studies at the seminary and secretary of the Academic Committee.
Fr Paul said that having first applied to be a missionary in Australia more than 25 years ago, he is delighted to finally be taking up his ministry in formation and theology at Dorish Maru College and Yarra Theological Union.
“As a newcomer to the Province, I hope to learn more about the Province’s theological formation and to contribute where I can,” he said.
PHOTO: Fr Paul Dogba SVD, from Ghana, on his arrival at Dorish Maru College, Melbourne