It is becoming a rather an early debate as to who the Vatican might appoint as the next Archbishop of the Monrovia Archdiocese as the retirement of Archbishop Lewis Ziegler makes the position open.The Vicar General, Reverend Father Charles Edmund Boyd was been announced on Monday as the Apostolic Administrator sede vacante et ad nutum sanctae sedis of the Archdiocese of Monrovia following the retirement of Archbishop Lewis Ziegler.
But so far, it was thought that priests can only be qualified to assume such post having reached the position of a bishop in the Catholic Church in Liberia but according to the Catholic canon, any priest above the age 35 and have been in the priesthood for over five years can be ordained as bishop and could serve as archbishop based upon appointment.
With the retirement of the Archbishop of Monrovia, the only two bishops who are qualified to become Archbishop are Anthony Fallah Borwah of the Gbarnga Diocese and Andrew J. Karnley of the Cape Palmas Diocese but the Vatican also has the authority to ordain any other priest who then is qualified as per the canon to be bishop of Monrovia and then automatically becomes the Archbishop.
Borwah, was appointed as Reverend Father by Pope Benedict XVI as the 3rd Bishop of the Gbarnga Diocese having returned from studies for the priesthood in Sierra Leone, Ghana and Liberia.
He was ordained priest of the Archdiocese of Monrovia on September 15, 1996 and thereafter served the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Monrovia from 1996-97; St Peter Claver in Buchanan from 1997-1998; Rome from 1998-2001; Christ the King in Monrovia from 2001-2005 and the St Anthony’s Parish in Gardnerville from 2005-2009.
While Karnley who studied at Pope John XXIII Minor Seminary from 1982 to 1986 and later completed his philosophy studies at the Major Seminary of Gbarnga and his theology studies at the Major Seminary of Cape Coast in Ghana was ordained to the priesthood on July 9, 1995.
He served as the Vicar of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish from 1995 to 1996; Vice-Rector and then Rector of the Queen of Apostles Minor Seminary of Monrovia from 1996 to 1998; parish priest of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Monrovia from 1998 to 2000 and Rector of the St. Charles Lwanga Pre-Major Seminary from 2000 to 2005.
In February 2005, Karnley was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Monrovia after Archbishop Michael Francis suffered a severe stroke and ended his term as apostolic administrator with the appointment of Bishop Lewis Zeigler, then as the Bishop Coadjutor of Gbarnga on July 11, 2009.
From 2009 to 2011, Karnley studied church history in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University and was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Cape Palmas on 5 January 2011 and received his Episcopal consecration on April 30 at the St. Theresa’s Cathedral (Harper) in the presence of archbishops from Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis has officially named the Vicar General, Reverend Father Charles Edmund Boyd, as the Acting Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese in Monrovia following the retirement of Archbishop Lewis Zeigler.
In a statement issued by the Apostolic Nunciature in Liberia on Monday announcing Father Boyd as Acting Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese, the Holy Father’s official acceptance of the resignation of Archbishop Zeigler from the pastoral care of the Archdiocese of Monrovia was in conformity of canon 401 c 1 of the code of canon law upon reaching the age limit.
Archbishop Zeigler now 78, who was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1974 and received his Episcopal concretion on November 9, 2002 from the late Archbishop Michael Kpakala Francis at the Gbarnga Cathedral.
He was then transferred to Monrovia in 2009 after Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as the Coadjutor Bishop to Francis which also meant that he would succeed Francis at once following the latter’s resignation or death and he ascended to head the diocese in 2011 after his predecessor died.
The conservative Catholic prelate who railed against same-sex marriage and abortion in Liberia, on June 11, 2018 made his first ‘ad limina apostolorum’ visit to Pope Francis and in the same year tendered in his resignation having reached the age of 75 but his retirement was made public on June 7, 2021 by the Vatican.
Reverend Father Boyd was appointed Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Monrovia and Dean of the Trinity Cathedral Episcopal Church of Liberia on May 3, 2018.