About Us

Richard Kuuia Baawobr was born on 21 June 1959 in Tom-Zendagangn, in the Nandom District of Ghana. He attended the village primary school, St. Francis Xavier Minor Seminary, and Nandom Secondary School. He entered the St. Victor major seminary in Tamale in 1979 for his philosophical studies. In 1981 he joined the Society of Missionaries of Africa and continued his preparation for the priesthood. From 1981 to 1982 he fulfilled his novitiate in Friborg, Switzerland. From 1982 to 1987, he completed his theological studies at the Missionary Institute London.

On 5 December 1986 he made his religious vows at St. Edward’s College in London and he was ordained a priest on 18 July 1987.

From 1987 to 1991 he was parish vicar in Livulu in the Archdiocese of Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. From 1991 to 1996 he studied exegesis at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and Ignatian spirituality at Le Chatelard in Lyon, France, earning a licentiate in sacred scripture and a doctorate in Biblical theology. From 1996 to 1999 he was his order’s formator in Kahangala, Tanzania. From 1999 to 2004 he was director of their Toulouse formation house. From 2004 to 2010 he was first assistant general of the order.

In 2010 he was elected to a six-year term as the order’s superior general, the first African to hold that position,[2] serving as well as Vice Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Institute for Arab-Islamic Studies (PISAI).[1] He was chosen by the Union of Superiors General to participate in the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family in October 2015.

On 17 February 2016, Pope Francis appointed him bishop of Wa in Ghana.[1] He received his episcopal consecration on 7 May 2016 from Cardinal Peter Turkson.[3] He is the first African to occupy that position.