By MATTHEW COLLINS //
Weekday Mass at St. Patrick’s Parish in Bedford is often a quiet affair, attended by devoted regulars while most parishioners go to work or attend school.
However, on the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 6, a crowd of parishioners arrived early on the front steps. They were there to say their goodbyes to the Rev. Joseph Domfeh, who was leaving later that day after 18 years of serving the flock, and to watch local officials recognize his service to Bedford and beyond.
There was scarcely a dry eye.
One parishioner noted the priest built a community and would leave a legacy of a welcoming spirit and encouragement.
Among the attendees were New York Assemblymember Chris Burdick and Bedford Town Supervisor Ellen Calves, who presented Domfeh with a proclamation recognizing his impact on religious and civic life in Bedford.
Domfeh offered convocations and benedictions in addition to celebrating Mass, and was a commonly-requested speaker at local remembrances and nonreligious commemorative services. He also regularly visited parishioners in the hospital and those too elderly or frail to attend church services.
Domfeh was born and raised in Badu, a small town in the western Bono Region of Ghana. He was ordained as a priest in the summer of 1995, and served in Ghana four years before being sent abroad to study canon law.
After beginning his studies at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario, he came to the U.S. in December 2001 and continued his academic journey at Fordham University. He would eventually obtain both a master’s degree and a doctorate in educational administration and leadership from Fordham.
While pursuing his degrees, Domfeh balanced his time between academics and more traditional priestly responsibilities, initially serving as a parochial vicar at St. Anne’s Parish in Nyack. In August 2006, he arrived at St. Patrick’s Church in Bedford, where he has been a fixture ever since.
The transition to life in Bedford “wasn’t easy,” he recalled, but St. Patrick’s churchgoers helped him settle in.
“It was a bit tough, but people accepted me with open hands, and with time I made a lot of friends in the parish and community,” Domfeh said.
Across his time at St. Patrick’s, during which multiple different pastors helmed the parish, Domfeh consistently took the lead at maintaining its everyday operations.
“I have a very good working relationship with almost everyone in the parish,” he remembered fondly.
The project dearest to his heart, though, is the Ghana-America Community Development Initiative, a nonprofit foundation he started to support developmental projects in his home diocese of Sunyani.
So far, the foundation has built two medical clinics and over a dozen wells, in addition to providing conflict resolution training. The parishioners of St. Patrick’s have consistently supported Domfeh and the foundation with generous donations.
Generosity is a running theme between Domfeh and the people of St. Patrick’s. Parishioners celebrated his availability and tirelessness, and could always count on him to hear their confessions or celebrate weddings or funerals. For younger parishioners, he was often the celebrant for the major milestones in their religious lives.
Domfeh recalled these journeys to spiritual adulthood as particularly important and moving, as he would baptize children, hear their first penance, offer them their first Communion, and celebrate their Confirmation.
In turn, St. Patrick’s parishioners made their appreciation of Domfeh’s hard work known by convening to celebrate him and his vocation at each opportunity. He was touched, for example, by how many people showed up to the Mass commemorating the 25th anniversary of his ordination in 2020, even though COVID-19 made organizing church services difficult.
On July 13, St. Patrick’s held a sendoff celebration for Domfeh and over 300 people attended. He was overwhelmed by the size of the gathering and the outpouring of mutual appreciation.
Now that Domfeh is returning to Ghana, the parish is preparing itself for a new chapter, while taking solace in the fact that there would always be opportunities to keep in touch through the internet.
Domfeh indicated that while he was sad to leave St. Patrick’s behind, he was looking forward to returning to his home country after a quarter-century abroad. Returning to Ghana will allow him to reconnect with the local culture, make new friends, and keep up with his work of preaching the gospel and spreading his faith.