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"My Christian family facilitated my religious upbringing."

Name: Oloutchegoun Christian Akpona.
Age: 39 years old.
Situation: Priest
Origin: Dassa-Zoumé, Benin.
Study: Institutional Communication at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.

"I was born in Benin on May 17, 1984, in Dassa-Zoumé, in a polygamous Christian family of which I am the only child. I grew up in a Christian family. This facilitated my religious education. 

It was in this religious family environment that I felt the call of the Lord to his holy service, to the service of my brothers and sisters. I soon entered the minor seminary of St. Joseph of Adjatokpa to deepen my knowledge and learn to respond to the Lord after several years of formation and vocational discernment. 

After this seminary, I went to the middle seminary of Djimè, which later became the major seminary of Philosophat. These years of philosophy prepared me for the canonical formation course that took place at the minor seminary of St. Joseph of Lake Adjatopka.

After the Philosophy cycle leading to a canonical year according to the ratio formalis in force, I attended the Monsignor Louis Parisot Major Seminary in Benin where I did four years of Theology resulting in a Licentiate in Theology from the Pontifical Urbaniana University. 

I was ordained a priest on June 10, 2017 at the shrine of Notre-Dame d'Agrigbo, in Dassa-Zoumé. After my ordination, I exercised my ministry between parishes and chaplaincies. The first parish was that of Notre-Dame de l'Assomption in Savalou, then that of Saint Joseph in Bantè. I finished my stay in Paouignan as parochial vicar in the parish of Notre-Dame de l'Assomption in Paouignan. I also worked in the chaplaincy of the Legion of Mary and in the chaplaincy of the National University of Biosciences and Applied Biotechnologies of Dassa-Zoumé".