Meet the Archbishop

Archbishop Philip Naameh

Most Rev. Philip Naameh, Archbishop of Tamale has been elected the new President of the Ghana Catholic Bishop’s Conference (GCBC). The new Vice President of the Conference is Most Rev. Charles G. Palmer-Buckle, Archbishop of Accra.

Most Rev. Naameh was born on 8 September, 1948, in Nandom-Ko in the Upper West Region. He had his elementary education from 1957 to 1962. He then continued to St. Charles Minor Seminary and Government Secondary School in Tamale, where he had his Secondary School and Sixth Form Education respectively. In 1971, he entered St. Victor’s Major Seminary in Tamale for his Philosophical and Theological studies. He was matriculated into the University of Ghana, Legon, in 1973, where he later obtained a Diploma in Theology in 1976.

In December 1977, he was ordained as a Catholic priest for the Archdiocese of Tamale. In the same year, after his ordination, he did his Pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Tamale at the Cathedral. While in the Archdiocese of Tamale, he was in charge of the Laity council, was the Local Manger for Catholic Schools, and the Diocesan Vocations Director. From 1981 to 1986, he left for Germany for studies and obtained a PhD in Theology from the Westfälische Wilhelms Universität, Germany.

He came back to Ghana in 1986 after his PhD. From 1986 to 1995, he was a Lecturer at St. Victor’s Major Seminary. He entered the school of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London in the UK for an MA in African History in 1992.

He was appointed bishop of the then newly created Diocese of Damongo by St. John Paul II in 1995 and was ordained as the first bishop of Damongo on 28 May 1995. He shepherded the Diocese of Damongo from 1995 to 2009.

On 12 February, Bishop Philip Naameh was appointed the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Tamale by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. He was enthroned Archbishop on 25 April 2009.