Over 200,000 Catholics in Liberia Saturday May 4, witnessed the dawn of a new era when the Very Rev. Monsignor Dr. Blamo Jubwe was ordained as the Archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Monrovia.
The 65-year-old cleric will be filling the position left vacant by the retirement and passing of his predecessor, Lewis Jerome Zeigler, in August 2022.
He has promised to be a selfless leader who will reconcile and unite the Church in Liberia and pursue healing and national unity. Under his reign the Church is open to serve as guardian and good counsel to the country’s political leadership, the Archbishop said.
“We assure you that together we can restore the hopes and the various aspirations of our people throughout the country.”
“While the church relies on you for single protection, you can rely on the grace of the church for guardian for the work that you do. We will collaborate with you to bring about the much desired healing and reconciliation for all our people.”
The Ordination ceremony was led by the Most Revered Walter Erbit, Apostolic Nuncio to Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Gambia. He admonished the new Archbishop to be a leader who will listen and the serve his people.
Pope Francis on Feb. 28 named Jubwe as head of the Catholic Church in Liberia.
The new Archbishop of Monrovia was ordained as a priest in 1983. He has shown a deep commitment to the Church throughout his 40-year career, serving in various capacities. Known for his conservative values, he opposes same-sex marriage and abortion in Liberia.
Prior to his ascendency to the throne, the Archbishop served as Pastor of St Pius X Parish in Firestone, Margibi County, and the Diocesan Administrator of the Archdiocese of Monrovia.
Reforming the Church and engaging with the country’s authorities to foster national unity and promote social and economic development for the well-being of the 5.5 million people of Liberia will be his primary focus, he said. These priorities align with the Church’s mission of salvation, peace, and reconciliation.
About the Archbishop of Monrovia
The son of a diplomat, Monsignor Gabriel Blamo Snosio Jubwe was born to Liberian parents from Sasstown (Grand kru County, Liberia) in Lagos (Nigeria) on September 7, 1958. The youngest of five children, he received the Sacraments of Initiation and attended Holy Cross Cathedral School and Nigeria Premier College in Lagos respectively.
Providentially, it was while serving as Altar Server at SS. Mulumba & Daavid Catholic Church in Surulere (Lagos), especially at the elevation of consecrated host at Mass, that the young Gabriel felt the urge to offer his life as a Priest, emulating his parish Priest, Monsignor Patrick Somide (RIP).
Although he had but one year to complete secondary school education, his devout Catholic father preferred he terminated his studies to start training for the priesthood at the St. Theresa’s Minor’ Seminary, (Oke-Are, Nigeria), since Liberian seminarians were at the time sent outside of Liberia for priestly training in Nigeria and Ghana.
But, with the establishment of the Major Seminary in Gbarnga (Liberia) by the Inter-Territorial Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Gambia, the late Rev. Fr. James Bryne, SMS, the then Vocations’ Director in Liberia advised that the young Gabriel should first complete the normal secondary school in Nigeria.
Then, returning to Liberia, young Gabriel discerned the genuineness of his vocation to the Priesthood and completed his college education at the St. Paul’ College-Seminary in Philosophy and Theology.
The late Archbishop Michael Kpakala Francis ordained Msgr. Jubwe a priest on December 18, 1983 in his home parish of the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Monrovia.
At 25 years of age he was at the time the youngest Liberian-born priest. After two years of priestly service in rural and urban setting, he completed his Licentiate and Doctorate degrees with specialization in Liturgical Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Anselm in Rome in 1991.
Talented in many ways, Monsignor Jubwe was assigned to St. Joseph Parish (Voinjama, Lofa County), with oversight responsibility of St. Agnes Catholic School (Kolahun, Lofa County), St. John Vianney Parish (Foya, Lofa County),and Sacred Heart Cathedral in Monrovia.
Besides his parochial assignments, he held the post of vocation’ Director and Chaplain/Financial Administrator in the 1990s, he was named Administrator of the Sacred Heart Cathedral and appointed to the College of Consultors.
He also served as Vicar General, Rector of the Minor and Pre-Major Seminaries, Executive Member of Liberia Council of Churches and Inter-Religious Council of Liberia, Director of St. John Vianney Continuing Fromation of Priests, Director of Religious Affairs at Radio ELCM 9later Radio Veritas), Director of Archdiocesan Theological School, as well as chairman of several Boards (Justice & Peace Commission, Stella Maris Polytechnic, Archdiocesan Education Council, and Catholic Archdiocese of Monrovia Communication Centre).
Liberian Catholics owe Msgr. Jubwe a permanent debt of gratitude for the skillful way he transformed the traditional Roman-style liturgy he inherited at the Sacred Heart Cathedral into the more spontaneous and celebrative liturgy we now enjoy with its incorporation of African values suitable for Liberian settings.
He also empowered the laity to participate in his pastoral and administrative responsibilities at the Sacred Heart Cathedral. Listeners of Radio ELCM, now known as Radio Maria, learned a great deal about their Faith and socio-political issues from the “Catholic Half –Hour” which as Director of Religious Affairs Msgr. Jubwe began.
Apart from playing a pivotal role in the establishment of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Liberia (CABICOL), and while serving as its First Secretary General, a second permanent contribution of Msgr. Jubwe to the Church in Liberia was in persuading the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Liberia (CABICOL) to return St. Paul’s Seminary from Sierra Leone to Gbarnga, where he served as Rector-President from 2001 to 2007.
From Gbarnga, he made significant contributions to the peace process as an executive member of the Liberian Council of Churches and the Inter-Religious Council of Liberia, formely inter-faith Mediation Committee.
Additionally, recognizing the pivotal role he played during the peace process, the then Chairman Gyude Bryant of the national Iterim Government appointed his as a member of the National Commission of October 28-31, 2005 rioting and Violence in Paynesville Monrovia (Red Light, Paynesville).
The late Pope John Paul II was aware of Msgr. Jubwe’s importance and his Holiness and the late Archbishop-Emeritus Michael Kpakala Francis underlined this in 1999 when the Bishop of Rome bestowed on him the title of ‘Monsignor’ on February 12, 1999. Having shared his professional expertise for a few years at the Harbel College (Margibi County), he received Academic Award with the Conferral of Distinguished Professor Emeritus on February 04, 2022.
Besides his pastoral responsibilities as Pastor of St. Pius X Parish, Msgr. Jubwe taught English at St. Pius X Catholic High School and gave a few courses at the Trinity College of Professional Studies and Harbel College respectively until his appointment as the Diocesan Administrator of the Archdiocese of Monrovia on October 1, 2021.
On February 28, 2024, Pope Francis nominated Monsignor Jubwe as Archbishop of Monrovia, which makes him the THIRD Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of Monrovia on May 4, 2024.
