AFRICA/SIERRA LEONE - Creation of the new diocese of Bo and the election of the first Bishop

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – The Holy Father Benedict XVI, on 15 January 2011, created the new diocese of Bo, in Sierra Leone, for the dissembled Archdioceses of Freetown and Bo, making it a suffragan of the same metropolitan see. The Holy Father nominated as the first Bishop of Bo, Father Charles Allieu Matthew Campbell, from the clergy of the Archdioceses of Freetown and Bo, Spiritual Director of St Paul’s Major Seminary, in Freetown.
The new diocese of Bo is made up of the four Districts of the Southern Province: Bo, Bonthe, Moyamba and Pujehune and will be a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Freetown. The parish church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, will become the Cathedral of the created diocese.
The first Bishop of the diocese of Bo, Father Charles Allieu Matthew Campbell was born on 25 January 1961 in Njala, Kori Chiefdom, in Moyamba District, Archdiocese of Freetown and Bo, to a Muslim family. After primary and secondary school, he completed studies in philosophy and theology at St Paul’s Major Seminary in Gbarnga. He was ordained to the priesthood in the parish church of the Immaculate Heart in Bo, on 9 April 1986. After his priestly ordination he carried out the following roles: 1986-1988: Assistant parish priest in the parishes of Njala, Komboya, Pujehun and Moyamba; 1988-1989: Vocations Director and Rector at St Augustine Minor Seminary; 1990-1992: Superior studies in Nigeria; 1992-1995: Parish priest in Damballa; 1995-2004: Professor at St Paul's Major Seminary in Makeni; 2004-2006: Course of religious formation at St Anselm’s, in England. Since 2004 he has been Spiritual Director at St Paul’s Major Seminary, Freetown. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 15/01/2011)