The Pope John XXIII Centre is the brainchild of the late Peter Cardinal Porekuu Dery. The late Cardinal was ordained the first Bishop of Wa by Pope John on 8th May 1960, and felt deeply inspired by the life and leadership of the Pope John. It is to continue this style of pastoral leadership that late Cardinal insisted that the centre be called Pope John XXIII Centre for Integral Human Development.

When the Government of Ghana established the University of Development Studies with a campus at Wa, late Cardinal felt it was very important for the Church to be present among staff and students. Therefore Pope John XXIII Centre wants a team to reside in the Centre and engage in campus ministry. The mission of the Centre is formulated as follows:

Ministering proactively to the students of our tertiary institutions and future leaders of our society and the sustainable promotion of the integral development of the human person through education, formation and personal life witness.

Its vision is expressed in the following way:

In the light of Jesus Christ´s own words:  `I came that they may have life and have it to the full`, we seek to proactively and collaboratively articulate and sustainably promote the integral development of all persons irrespective of ethnic background, religious affiliation, political association, gender or colour.  

Even though the Centre is still being developed, we have managed to complete the staff-house, the students´ hostel and the chapel. At the moment 120 students have found accommodation in the Centre. The library/lecture room is about to be completed and we have serious plans to construct a large meeting hall (seating about 1000). This infra-structure will enable the Centre to realize its goals as formulated above.

It does not mean that we are not already engaged in realizing the above vision and mission. We do so at different levels. We are the home to PAX ROMANA, the international Catholic student organisation, and organize services and meetings at the Centre and beyond. Since presently our meeting space is very limited, we organize seminars and workshops for Pope John students on topics, like `how to study`, `management of finances`, relationships etc. We also have 2 study groups at Pope John: one on inter-religious dialogue and one on AEFJN (Africa-European Faith and Justice Network)where we think about the impact of European legislation on Africa. Under auspices of Pope John we coordinate the annual Cardinal Dery Memorial Lecture and organize classes for catechumens (about 40 students have registered). At a wider level we conduct seminars on topics like `Peace building` in the country, `building community in diversity`, `challenges for youth from WYD`, etc.

We hope that if we continue to grow in this perspective we can build up a group of people who will make their influence felt in Church and society and above all make a positive contribution towards the growth of our Ghanaian society with a special attention n of the less privileged in that society.

Albert Ketelaars
Director Pope John XXIII.