Background
Amissah, John Kodwo was born on November 27, 1922 in Elmina, Ghana. Son of John Bentil and Mary Efua (Busumafi) Amissah.
archbishop bishop Catholic priest
Amissah, John Kodwo was born on November 27, 1922 in Elmina, Ghana. Son of John Bentil and Mary Efua (Busumafi) Amissah.
Doctor of Canon Law, Pontifical Urban University, Rome, 1954. Doctor of Divinity honoris causa, Doctor of Laws honoris causa, University Cape Coast, Ghana, 1972.
Born in Elmina, he was ordained to the priesthood on December 11, 1949. His thesis at Saint Peter"s College in Rome was on a comparison between canon law and the native customs of marriage. On March 7, 1957, Amissah was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Cape Coast and Titular Bishop of Bencenna, receiving his episcopal consecration on the following June 16 from Archbishop William Thomas Porter, Strategic Medical Alliances. Amissah replaced Porter as Archbishop of Cape Coast on December 19, 1959.
During the late 1950s, he also studied the native and controversial custom of pouring libations on important occasions.
Amissah explained that before Church leaders determine if this practice is good or bad, they must understand what villagers intend when they pour a libation. He died at age 68 and is buried at the Saint Francis de Sales Cathedral in Cape Coast, Ghana.
Member Council of State, Accra, Ghana, 1969-1972, Ghana Education, Service Council, Accra, 1973-1977. Member Canon Law Society of America.