‘Our Lady of the Forest’ Forest Row


This parish was closed some years ago. For the benefit of parishioners now attending other parishes, we have the following report;

On closure of the church, most of the furnishings from this much loved place of prayer and worship were sent in our shipments to the diocese of Yendi  in northern Ghana. These items were most gratefully received by Bishop Vincent Boi-Nai and have been used to furnish village churches. The statue of ‘Our Lady of the Forest’ which was particularly loved by the parishioners at Forest Row, was more recently sent to Kumasi Archdiocese.

Archbishop Gabriel Anokye  has let us know that the statue has now been received into his care and he has allocated it to the ‘Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish’ in Kwadaso-Kumasi, a parish that has a special devotion to Our Lady and that also has a Grotto. The Archbishop has been informed as to the history of ‘Our Lady of the Forest’, including the visit of President Kennedy to the church in 1963. The archbishop understands the importance to the parishioners of this now closed church to know where this statue has been located, particularly as some members of our parishes have links to the diocese of Kumasi and have asked for the above information so they can visit her.

The parish priest of ‘Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish’ Fr Dennis Barima has written to us to confirm that the statue is now safely in his parish and mentions that it could not have arrived at a better time. He assures us that ‘It is our belief therefore that together we will pray for each other as we promote devotion to our Blessed Mother.’