One of the fastest growing regions of the globe for Roman Catholics is not in the vicinity of Rome but away across the sea from there, in Africa.
And that surge of conversion in Africa is being reflected here in the diocese of Brooklyn, where African-born Catholic priests have been coming to study and serve for years now.
One recent example of an African Catholic transplanted from Africa to here in the Broken Land (Breukelen) was a humble priest from Ghana by the name of Dominic Yeboah Nyarko [see photo], who until recently was a pastoral associate at St. Columba Church in the Marine Park section of Brooklyn.
But that was before word came that he was selected by Pope Benedict to be a new bishop in Ghana.
He was in fact made a bishop in early April at services attended by members of Brooklyn's St. Columba Church.
One of those attending was Brooklyn College Journalism Professor Paul Moses, who has written for Brooklyn Ron and will be covering the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict in a special blog for Newsday.
Long live El Papa. Love live Blogs. As for now Bishop Nyarko, he was surprised and, indeed, overwhelmed by his being selected to be a bishop.
He told The Tablet, the newspaper of the Brooklyn diocese: “The Lord appointed me and He will give me the strength I need.”
[For interesting take on the explosion -- demographically speaking -- of Catholisim in Africa, see Los Angeles Times article from 2005, "African Catholics Seek a Voice to Match Their Growing Strength."]
[Note: Professor Moses took most of the photos being used here in a slide show. The accompanying music is the Kyrie, from the long-ago famous album called the Missa Luba.]
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