Dr. Joseph Arko, Chairman of the National Catholic Laity Council (NCLC), was elected President of the Regional Council of the Laity in West Africa (RCLWA) at the third General Assembly of the RCLWA in Abidjan, La Cote d‘Ivoire recently under the theme: Be Merciful as Your Father is Merciful.
Other elected Officers were Mr. Leon Okioh from Benin, Vice President; Mr. Philippe A. B. Tine, Senegal, General Secretary; Mr. Paul Guilavogui, Guinea, Deputy General Secretary; Mr. Daniel Kouako Diebi, La Cote d’Ivoire, Treasurer and Rev. Fr. Benu Penoukou, Togo, Regional Chaplain.
Announcing the election at the 39th Plenary Assembly of the NCLC at Bibiani in the Wiawso Diocese from March 30 to April 2, Dr. Arko was grateful to the delegates for their prayerful support and assured that he would serve the Church in the Region with commitment and dedication.
As National Chairman for the Ghanaian Laity, Dr. Arko has always been the leader of Ghana’s delegation to the Assemblies of the Regional Council which has its Headquarters in Abidjan, La Cote d‘Ivoire.
At the 2013 National Plenary of the Laity Council, Dr. Arko was elected National Chairman of the NCLC for a first term of three years, and re-elected for a second term at the 2016 Plenary at Ho.
At the 2010 National Plenary of the NCLC, he was elected the National Vice Chairman for the Ecclesiastical Province of Cape Coast, becoming a National Officer of the NCLC and a crucial player in laity affairs at the National, Provincial and Diocesan levels.
Dr. Arko is an English Lecturer at the Department of English, University of Cape Coast and has been involved in the activities of Catholic Action from his student days. He served first as the Secretary of the IMCS Pax Romana, (1989/90), and then as the local President of the Movement (1990/91).
When he graduated in 1992, he taught at the Mfantsipim School, and made the Christian Education and formation of the Catholic student community at the School one of his top concerns.
It was that same concern that led him to work closely with the then Archbishop of Cape Coast, in 1994, to found and run the Archdiocese’s Summer School Programme.
On his return from his Doctoral Studies at the University of Edinburgh, in 2007, Dr. Arko continued to express concern with laity education and formation. In 2008, he was appointed by His Eminence Peter Cardinal Kodwo Appiah Turkson as the Lay Director of the Archdiocese of Cape Coast.
Dr. Arko was in charge of Spiritual, Education and Christian Formation of the laity in the Archdiocese. He became the Archbishop’s Advisor on issues relating to the laity.
He also worked as the Co-ordinator of all Lay groups, societies and associations in the Archdiocese. As the Archdiocesan Lay Director, he worked with the National Catholic Laity Council (NCLC).
