Ghanaian Catholic Priest Honored in U.S. for “devotion to residents” During Floods in Iowa

Members of the Iowa House of Representatives express gratitude to the Ghanaian Catholic Priest “for his service and designate him an honorary Iowan.”

The legislators say that “while flooding rivers devastated towns and villages along their banks, they also took a toll on the spirits of residents, but the raging Missouri and Nishnabotna River were no match for a 5-foot, 237-inch, sturdily built and energy-filled priest from the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, Ghana.” 

They add that when St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Catholic Church, Hamburg, was “completely flooded and was only accessible by boat or helicopter, and most items that residents attempted to salvage had to be disposed of”, the Ghanaian Priest “deployed” the three theological virtues.

“Fearing the devastation would lead his small parish to despair, Father Assamah deployed a power mightier than mere raging rivers: the power of faith, hope, and charity,” they say in the resolution that has been shared with the Local Ordinaries of Ghana's Accra Archdiocese and  DesMoines Diocese in the U.S.  

The Iowa legislators add, “Father Assamah knew that praying together would strengthen the community’s resolve to build together, hope would make the community’s future brighter, and charity would bring the community’s members together with the larger community of the Diocese of DesMoines.”

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“Despite the church building being under water, the members of the parish were not as Father Assamah kept the community together and moved the Catholic congregation to higher ground at the First Baptist Church, where they prayed, planned, and rebuilt their town despite the new challenge of COVID-19,” Iowa legislators say in the resolution adopted April 6.

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.