A Home For Prayer: New Adoration Chapel at Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto, Ghana

Hyacinth NWANERI, OMI

In Agbenoxoe, a rural community in Ghana’s Volta Region, a new Adoration Chapel was opened on 15 August 2025, the Solemnity of the Assumption. The ceremony brought together local parishioners, clergy, and civic leaders to celebrate a project made possible through the support of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in the United States.

A chapel for prayer and mission

The most Rev. Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, SVD, Bishop of Ho, presided at the Mass and blessing. The chapel, financed by the OMI American Province, was built to provide space for quiet prayer and pastoral outreach at the Lourdes Grotto. It strengthens the link between the Oblate mission in Ghana and the broader Oblate family across the world.

From foundation stone to completion

The new chapel adds a quiet space for Eucharistic adoration to one of the region’s best-known places of pilgrimage. Construction began in November 2024, shortly after the blessing and laying of the foundation stone, which gathered the local Christian community, traditional chiefs, and engineers from Geo Civil Engineering and Quantity Surveyor. Rev. Fr. Hyacinth NWANERI, Superior of the Oblate Mission in Ghana, led the prayers that day, encouraging everyone involved to see the project as part of the mission to serve God’s people. Work moved steadily forward and was completed in June 2025.

A day of faith and gratitude

The bishop designated the celebration as a diocesan mini-pilgrimage. After the Mass, participants processed to the chapel, where the ribbon was cut by Fr. Nwaneri, Fr. Emmanuel Bwalya MULENGA, OMI, Vice Provincial of the American Province, and Fr. David URIBE, OMI, President of MAMI in the United States. The bishop blessed the chapel, and Fr. Daniel Aliou MANE, OMI, Director of the Grotto, placed the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle.

In his closing words, Fr. Nwaneri expressed gratitude to the American Province for funding the project, to Bishop Fianu for his guidance, and to the local community for their collaboration. For him and for the Oblates serving in Ghana, the new Adoration Chapel is a sign of unity across continents and a reminder of the Oblate call to bring people closer to Christ through prayer and presence.