By Dan McWilliams
Father John Appiah made a return trip to East Tennessee to visit the Oktoberfest sponsored by the Knights of Columbus of St. Alphonsus Parish in Crossville, and he met Bishop Mark Beckman for the first time at the event Oct. 18.
Father Appiah, ordained a priest at St. Mary Church in Oak Ridge in 1998, is a major in the U.S. Air Force and has served as a military chaplain since 2013. He is currently based in Adana, Turkey.
He stopped in Crossville and also attended the Diocese of Knoxville priests’ retreat with the bishop held Oct. 21-24 in Kingsport before heading back to Turkey.
The native of Ghana said the last few years have been “exciting” as he left an assignment in Hawaii to go to Turkey.
“Turkey is part of NATO, so we support the NATO mission. We have the Spanish, we have the Polish, and we have the U.S. there,” he said.
Father Appiah attended St. Mary School in Oak Ridge and graduated from Knoxville Catholic High School in 1990.
After his priestly ordination, Father Appiah served at Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Stephen parishes in Chattanooga and as a chaplain at Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga. He served at his home parish of St. Mary-Oak Ridge and filled in for Father Joe Campbell at OLPH in LaFollette, Christ the King in Tazewell, and St. Jude in Helenwood. He also served at St. John Neumann in Farragut and All Saints in Knoxville.
He became a pastor for the first time at Notre Dame in Greeneville and built an education complex there. While at Notre Dame, he led medical missions to his home village of Nkonya-Wurupong in Ghana.
“Then I went to Knoxville Catholic High School before the military,” he said.
Father Appiah’s first assignment as a chaplain was at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, home of the 366th Fighter Wing.
“I deployed to Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and then I went to Kadena (Air Base), Japan. I deployed to Afghanistan, and then I went to Turkey for a year, and then I went to Lackland (AFB in Texas) for basic military training, and I deployed from there to the United Arab Emirates. Then I went to Hawaii, and I deployed to Kuwait, and now I’m back to Turkey,” Father Appiah said.
“Turkey is interesting because, one, St. Nicholas was born in Turkey, and St. Paul of Tarsus was born in Turkey, and St. Paul’s hometown of Tarsus is exactly 36.6 miles from our base,” he added.
Father Appiah plans to complete 20 years with the Air Force so that he can earn military benefits.
“The future is to finish my 20 because I intend to retire then and collect a paycheck from Uncle Sam. Eleven years, I have nine to go,” he said.
He enjoyed his first visit to the Crossville Oktoberfest.
“This is fantastic. To meet the bishop here, my first encounter with the bishop—absolutely fantastic,” he said.
St. Alphonsus pastor Father Mark Schuster said meeting Father Appiah was a plus to go along with having the bishop, the St. Alphonsus deacon, and the pastor of St. Francis of Assisi in Fairfield Glade all there at the same time.
“That was a great surprise. I remember Father Appiah before I was even in seminary, so to have him here and Father Michael Woods and the bishop and Deacon Peter Minneci, it’s not too bad,” Father Schuster said with a laugh.
