A priest of the diocese of Mamfe in the Southwest region of Cameroon has been kidnapped as the fighting in Southern Cameroons rages on and enters a critical phase.

Father Christopher Eboka was taken away by unknown gunmen on Friday, May 21, 2021 who have requested a huge ransom from the diocese. The kidnapping of members of the clergy is unfortunate and this underscores the need for all the factions involved in the conflict to seek ways of reaching a peaceful resolution.

The Cameroon Concord News Group correspondent in Mbonge has spoken with Father Christopher’s mother who is very devastated and is urging those responsible for the priest’s kidnapping to release him so that he can continue with the great job he has been doing.

Kidnapping a priest is not only despicable, it is the height of irresponsibility and the Cameroon Concord News Group is joining its voice to that of the mother of father Christopher Eboka to urge the kidnappers to release the man of God.

Those who kidnap men of God are crossing a dangerous red line and this must be condemned by all god-fearing Cameroonians.

The clergy in the two English-speaking regions of the country has been playing a significant role since the Southern Cameroons crisis started in 2016 with the objective of engineering a lasting peace in the two English-speaking regions of the country and to help alleviate the suffering of the population.

Over the last two weeks, the fighting in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions of the country had escalated, with army soldiers taking huge casualties.

Southern Cameroonian fighters who started out with dane guns have morphed into manufacturers of effective Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) which are sending many army soldiers to an early grave.

While the army soldiers have been brutal and successful in outgunning Southern Cameroonian fighters due to their superior weaponry, the use of IEDs by Southern Cameroonian fighters over the last year has left the government in an unfortunate quandary.

In the country’s northwest region where the fighting is escalating on a daily basis, the IEDs have been going off every day and many uniformed officers have not had the luck to return to their families.

The military has lost many of its fighting equipment and these new strategy developed by the Southern Cameroonian fighters has left many army soldiers with tones of butterflies in their stomachs.

The morale among the soldiers is down and many of them, especially those who have been to the battlefield, understand that this war will never be won on the battlefield, as Southern Cameroonian fighters have become deadlier and more determined to push the military out of Southern Cameroons.

Many of the young soldiers are from poor backgrounds and they need the salary from the military, but their belief in a conclusive military victory is diminishing on a daily basis as news of their wounded and dead colleagues spreads across the country like wildlife.

Many of those army soldiers would jump at any opportunity that would get them out of the military, but Cameroon is a country that is bereft of jobs and opportunities. The young soldiers are now caught between the rock and a hard place.

If they refuse to go to Southern Cameroons where Southern Cameroonian fighters are delivering death to many soldiers for free, they will end up in jail for a long time. If they head to Southern Cameroons, they are sure they will not be coming back to East Cameroon, or if they must return, it will either be in a body bag or with debilitating injuries that will make entirely dependent on their family members.

The situation in Southern Cameroons is dire. The world has to wake up from its sleep. The fighting in that part of the country has escalated and very many young Cameroonians are losing their lives because a government ruled by old and ailing leaders is still seeing negotiations as a weakness.

If the world does not stand up against the brutality playing out in Southern Cameroons now, it will one day regret its decision, as many young lives are being wasted due to the inflated ego of people who have prioritized war over peace.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Sounds of gunfire interrupted an anniversary Mass for the bishop of Kumbo, in Cameroon’s troubled North West Region.

Bishop George Nkuo was marking the 40th anniversary of his priestly ordination on the premises of St. Augustine College Nso on May 7 when gunshots were heard, sending participants to the ground. There had been an exchange of fire between government troops and separatist rebels near the facility.

The North West Region and the South West Region are the English-speaking parts of Cameroon, and a separatist revolt against the majority French-speaking central government has been raging for nearly five years.

Among the people attending the event were Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda and Adolphe Lele L’Afrique, the regional governor.

“The government is determined to bring long lasting peace in this division and in the whole region,” L’Afrique said afterwards.

“No stone will be left unturned to bring normalcy to Bui Division [the larger region surrounding the city] and to the city of Kumbo. The pacification effort of the administrative authorities, the operation to secure the division and the whole region will continue and will be stepped up to face the present situation,” he added.

Cecilia Vernyuy, a member of the Catholic Women’s Association, attended the anniversary Mass, and said the congregation was frightened by the gunfire.

“We all went lying on the ground,” she told Crux. “It was scary. It was as if the Church had come under attack.”

During his homily, Nkea said the exchange of gunfire so near the Mass showed the closeness Nkuo had with his people in Kumbo.

“The bishop is exercising his ministry especially as chief Shepherd of the Diocese of Kumbo in these difficult times,” the archbishop said.

“And we are witnesses to the fact that he is close to his sheep, he is standing near to his sheep and he is ready to die for his sheep, and this is a very big testimony to the Gospel message which he is preaching to the people and which is given out to the world,” he continued.

“The goodness of the shepherd is seen in his willingness and readiness to lay down his life for his sheep and this is a sign that the good shepherd’s first quality is to love his sheep … We have seen this love through our people and his readiness to lay down his life in his 40 years of service in priesthood.”

In his own remarks, Nkuo used the occasion to make the case for peace in his troubled region.

“Jesus Christ tells us that he is the Way, the Truth and the Light, and we need to be able to face the truth as it is, we need to be able to look at each other and say, ‘I am sorry’ and reconcile. Each of us must be able to look at his or her neighbor and say this is my brother, this is my sister,” the prelate said.

“My celebration in the heart of this reassures me that it is possible, if only we can break down the pride, and cultivate the love for truth and justice, and to care for one another.”

During a brief meeting about the security situation in Kumbo, Mayor Vernatius Mborong said the separatists have made life “very unbearable” for the people of the city.

“As I speak, there are six of my workers who were taken to the bush just four days ago. And you can bear with me that living under these kinds of circumstances is not easy. You cannot walk in town. You are moving somewhere, you look left, you look right. What kind of life is that? We are going through hell,” he said.

Vernyuy, the member of the CWA who attended the Mass, said all she needs is for peace to return to the community.

“All sides should put down the guns. All are dying on all sides, both military and separatists. They are all delivered by women,” she told Crux.

“We are crying for our land and we are also crying for our children. All of them are delivered by women. A woman can never abandon her child. All we pray for is that peace should return,” she added.

Political analyst Edwin Ebako says the government’s military-first approach to the Anglophone crisis is misguided, and lengthening the conflict.

“Before, the government knew that they were going to crack the separatists down using the military, but that method has not worked,” he told local news channel, Equinox TV.

“And every time the government has tried to use the wrong procedure that has only given the boys (separatists) room to evolve,” he added.

“When this issue began in 2016, the government would have known and would have quelled down this issue before it escalated. The crisis is only going to intensify if the government does not directly address the root causes of this problem and get into an all-inclusive dialogue to resolve the problem genuinely for the interest of the people of this nation,” Ebako said.

Source: Angelusnews

Several Catholic bishops in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions are sharply criticizing President Paul Biya’s violent, years long campaign to quell an independence movement in those regions. In recent NCR interviews, three prelates suggested that Biya’s government had initially underestimated the growing influence of those calling for the creation of a new, separate state and then responded with disproportionate force. Retired Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua, who led Cameroon’s Bamenda Archdiocese from 2006 to 2019, said Biya had erred drastically in late 2017 when he pledged to “eliminate” independence fighters. “Violence only begets violence,” Esua told NCR. “The moment the government started using live bullets on peaceful protesters, it was evident that things would simply go out of hand.”

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The conflict had erupted in Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest regions earlier in 2017 when protests against new government-appointed judges in the regions turned violent. As government forces responded with lethal force, tensions mounted and many English speakers in the predominantly French-speaking country started asking for independence. The ensuing conflict between separatist fighters and government forces has killed at least 3,000 civilians, according to Human Rights Watch. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre estimates that at least 460,000 have been forced to flee the affected areas, with tens of thousands seeking refuge in neighboring Nigeria. The Catholic bishops said the government has been too violent in its response to those seeking to form an English-speaking state. Esua said Biya’s 2017 pledge effectively made clear that “anybody who identified himself with the Anglophone cause was considered a terrorist.” After two years of fighting between the two sides, Biya called for a one-week “Major National Dialogue,” held Sept. 30-Oct. 4, 2019. However, the president said the dialogue would not only consider the insurgency but also “issues of national interest such as national unity, national integration and living together.” Bishop George Nkuo, who has headed the Kumbo Diocese in the Northwest Region since 2006, said that approach was wrong because it didn’t address the urgency of the Anglophone problem. Nkuo said the forum should have been used to discuss the Anglophone problem and not all the problems of the nation. He said it was necessary to use that dialogue to revisit the root causes of the conflict as the only possible way of bringing forth a sustainable solution. And the causes of the problem, he said, are rooted in Cameroon history. Initially colonized by Germany in 1884, Cameroon would be divided between Britain and France after the defeat of the Germans in World War I. Britain got one-fifth of the formerly German territory, which it administered as part of Nigeria until 1961 — when through a plebiscite, the British Southern Cameroons (as the British administered entity of Cameroon was then called) voted to reunite with the part formerly administered by France (which had gained its independence in 1960). The two entities went into a federal structure of government, with each entity allowed to freely run its affairs in line with the systems inherited from the colonial powers. But in recent years, some people in the English-speaking regions had accused the central government of trying to quash their traditions.

Tobin_View_of_the_Cathedral CROP.jpg

A view of the Catholic cathedral of Kumbo, in Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest Region In 2016, four Catholic bishops in the English-speaking regions accused Biya’s government of trying to strangle their culture. “Anglophone Cameroonians are slowly being asphyxiated as every element of their culture is systematically targeted and absorbed into the Francophone Cameroon culture and way of doing things,” they wrote at the time. Nkuo said the 2019 dialogue should have revisited these historical perspectives to come up with the right answers to the problem. The current archbishop of Bamenda, Andrew Nkea Fuanya, criticized the format of the dialogue, saying it didn’t involve the appropriate representatives of the English-speaking regions. “That wasn’t a dialogue at all,” Fuanya told NCR. Esua was invited to participate in the dialogue. “To be frank, it was a monologue,” he said. “In a dialogue, you take two people to dialogue. And in a dialogue, you have different opinions. You have to listen to the other person and the other person listens to you, and gradually you come to an agreement.” “Ninety percent of the participants at the National Dialogue were all government people, or people with government allegiance, but the real persons with whom you had to dialogue were not there,” said Esua. Separatist leaders weren’t part of the dialogue. Sesseku Ayuk Tabe, the recognized leader of the movement to form a new country of Ambazonia, was arrested in 2018 and is now serving a life sentence. “You couldn’t talk of a dialogue if these people weren’t there,” Esua said of the separatist leaders’ absence at the negotiating table. Nevertheless, the dialogue came up with a number of recommendations, including the adoption of a special status for the two Anglophone regions, the immediate relaunch of certain airport and seaport projects in the regions, the rapid integration of ex-combatants into society, and a hastening of decentralization of power away from the central government.

Esua said none of these recommendations responds to the demands of Cameroon’s English speakers.

“The whole problem of Cameroon and the sociopolitical situation in the Northwest and Southwest regions is about the form of government. It’s about the two systems of education, it’s about the two systems of law, the two systems of administration. That was not part of the discussion,” the cleric told NCR.

He said he was frustrated that a “special status” for Anglophone regions should even come up as a recommendation, since it’s something already enshrined in the country’s 1996 Constitution.

“It’s not a question of a special status, because it’s not a gift they are giving to the Anglophones. The Anglophones have a right to organize themselves according to their customs and cultures as inherited from the British,” said Esua.

He also blasted the recommendation about hastening the decentralization process, noting that it was paradoxical that the government keeps the centralized structures in place and continues talking about decentralization.

“I’m afraid they are not giving the right solutions to the problem,” said the retired archbishop.

Culled from ncronline.org

The Primate of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon and other clerics of the Christian Church have expressed their prayerful condolences on the death of Most Revered Nyansako Ni Nku, Emeritus Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC).

The office of the Synod Clerk in Buea, Southern Cameroons said the pastors of the entire PCC were saddened by the news of his passing as he held, over many years, several roles of leadership and responsibility in the PCC and also in the All African Conference of Churches (AACC).

Cameroon Concord News understands that for many years Rev. Nyansako Ni Nku served the PCC faithfully in a number of pastoral responsibilities and was elected president of the AACC in 2003.

“At this sad time for Rev. Nyansako Ni Nku’s family, we pray for all those who mourn him and for the happy repose of his soul,” Leonie Awu a member of PCC Bastos Yaoundé contacted by Cameroon Concord News said.

The Most Revered Nyansako Ni Nku, who was Moderator of the PCC from 1999-2009, was one of the most prophetic voices within the Cameroonian Christian Church alongside the late Roman Catholic Cardinal, Christian Tumi.

In his homilies, he will always say “Quit the stage when the ovation is loudest! Do not leave when the people no longer want you.”

Though he reportedly died in Douala on Tuesday April 27, 2021, Nyansako Ni Nku lived the latter years of his retirement in the South West Region.

No date has been made public for the funeral of the man who raised the profile of the PCC at home and abroad.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The late Archbishop Emeritus of Douala His Eminence Cardinal Christian Tumi, has embarked on his final journey home to rest. The funeral ceremony of the 91-year-old cleric, who died on Saturday, April 3, 2021 in Douala, is spread over two days.

The funeral rites started today Monday at 11am at the Douala Military Hospital in the Bonanjo district in Douala. The vigil mass will be held at 8pm at the Cathedral of Saints Paul and Peter in Bonadibong, and a Eucharistic Celebration on Tuesday 20 April 2021 at 10am.

All the bishops of Cameroon have converged in Douala, after they recently met at the 46th Plenary Assembly of the National Episcopal Conference in Yaoundé.

In his opening remarks, Bishop Abraham Kome, Bishop of Bafang and President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, expressed the sorrow of the entire Church of Cameroon, following the passing to eternity of His Eminence Cardinal Christian Tumi and invited the Bishops and all Christians to continue to pray to the Risen Lord to open the gates of the Kingdom to this dedicated pastor.

By Rita Akana in Douala

As millions of Muslims commenced the Ramadan fasting, the leader of the Ambazonian nation and head of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe shared a warm message to welcome the holy month expressing wishes to all Muslims in Southern Cameroons and around the world.

To the Muslim community,

Dear brothers and sisters of the Muslim community,

During this Holy month of Ramadan, know that we are together. As you sacrifice in fasting and prayer, it is our hope that Allah will meet you/us at the point of need. He is faithful and will give our people the freedom they deserve. Be strong and courageous in the pursuit of the goals that you set for yourself, your family and our nation, insha’Allah. Amen

Ramadan Mubarak

Sisiku AyukTabe

Baptisms, first Communions, confirmation and convalidation of a marriage.

All happened one day last August at Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul among members of the Larry and Judith Ngonu family. The couple and their oldest of three sons, Joe Carlyn, are natives of Cameroon. They were strengthened by their faith in a long path to the United States and full communion with the Catholic Church.

The journey was made as a close, strong and persevering family, one that prays the rosary together every evening.

“You pray a rosary with all your heart, you will see like miracles,” Judith said. “The boys will remind me that it’s time to pray.”

A lottery win in 1999 enabled Larry, then a resident of Cameroon, to start a path to a new life. No, he didn’t win a large cash prize. He won the chance to move to the United States and pursue education and career opportunities. And raise a family.

Judith, who married Larry in a civil ceremony during a brief visit that he made to Cameroon after he emigrated, would say that her biggest “win” happened last summer, when the couple’s marriage was convalidated on the same day their three sons received sacraments including first Communion.

“That was my best day ever,” she said.

Larry won his immigration opportunity through the U.S.-sponsored Diversity Immigrant Visa Program. Winning applicants’ names are drawn at random each year. After interviewing for the visa process, choosing a sponsor and waiting for paperwork to be processed, he moved to the U.S. in November 2000.

Jaden, left, and his brother Tyrick lead the procession at the start of Palm Sunday Mass March 28 at Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

As children, Larry, 50, and Judith, 44, were baptized and received the Eucharist and the sacrament of reconciliation in Cameroon, where Judith was also confirmed. Joe Carlyn, 15, was baptized in Cameroon. Larry said his home country has a lot of religions, but the Catholic faith is predominant.

It took about eight years of waiting and paperwork before Judith and Joe Carlyn could join Larry in the U.S. Their two youngest sons, Jaden, 11, and Tyrick, 8, were born in the U.S.

Larry first lived in Minnesota, where he trained to become a nursing assistant. He moved to Maryland, where he completed his education to become a nurse, and then back to Minnesota.

Living in Maplewood today, the family felt welcomed when they visited Blessed Sacrament. “People said ‘welcome, where are you from?’” Judith said, adding that it quickly felt like home.

All five attended the Rite of Initiation of Catholic Adults (and Children) at Blessed Sacrament starting in fall 2019 as they prepared to receive more sacraments.

Connie Hill, faith formation director at Blessed Sacrament, described the Ngonus as a fervent and faith-filled family that perseveres.

“It was so humbling and such an honor to work with them because they were so faithful and so committed to the many preparations,” she said. She noted “all the things that the boys did” to complete the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and prepare for their sacraments.

Because the COVID-19 pandemic canceled Easter Masses in 2020, the Ngonus were unable to receive sacraments at the Easter Vigil. But the pastor of Blessed Sacrament, Father Benny Mekkatt, a member of the Congregation of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception who is known to parishioners as Father Benny, held a special Mass for the family and their guests last August, and administered sacraments.

Ngonu family members and friends from Maryland and Ohio attended the church service celebrating the convalidation of Judith and Larry’s marriage and to see Larry confirmed, the two younger boys baptized and all three boys receive their first Communion. “It was a beautiful celebration,” Father Benny said. “It was a great thing,” Larry added.

Judith said she felt a big change that day physically, spiritually and emotionally. “I was so happy standing in front of God, to watch all those things,” she said.

After the service and to help prevent spread of the novel coronavirus in the midst of the pandemic, the family and guests celebrated with a socially distanced barbecue in a local park.

Joe Carlyn will be confirmed in May. The other four family members usually attend his confirmation classes because they follow Sunday Mass and it’s a chance to learn more, Judith said.

The two youngest boys serve at Mass every other Sunday, and they assisted with Stations of the Cross during Lent. Larry said he served at Mass when he was younger; he and his wife explained to their children that it was a privilege to serve.

Coming all the way from Africa, the journey was not easy for the family, Father Benny said. “But they persevere with a strong faith and also to keep their faith strong and bring that beautiful tradition from back home and bring up the children in a strong faith,” he said.

Asked what it means to be Catholic, Larry said that with Christianity in general, it means feeling close to God. “It builds you up, it makes you stronger,” he said. “It gives you a moral compass. It helps you do the right thing.”

Judith described frequently praying to Mary and the saints, such as St. Jude when facing difficult situations, and praying the rosary together as a family each evening. Larry joins when he is not working.

“I think God is your companion, like my everything,” Judith said. “When I need something, I just go down on my knees. When I want to do anything, I’m like, please God, just show me the direction. And he always answers my prayers.”

Culled from The Catholic Spirit

Archbishop Andrew Nkea ordained seven new priests for the diocese of Mamfe this morning. This is the first ordination by a metropolitan Archbishop in the entire South West Region.

Cameroon Concord News correspondent in Mamfe, the chief town in Manyu reported that the areas of ministry entrusted to the new priests fall under three general headings, Altar, Word and Charity.

The new clerics will work in parish teams in the diocese of Mamfe. They will join deacons and lay parish pastoral workers in parishes.

“Today is a great day for the Diocese of Mamfe,” said Dr Andrew Nkea.

“It is a great day for this lively diocese, which sees seven of its sons called to the priesthood. This is a great day for the Presbyterium of Mamfe.”

The seven priests ordained are: Paul Ajong, John Etta, Carole Thcinda, Patrick Tabot, Niver Lengue, Peter Atem and Alfred Vetam.

In his homily, Archbishop Andrew Nkea said the priesthood is a gift from God through the bishop.

The hands of the priests will be laid on the candidates but the gesture will be meaningful if and only if those hands are united with the hands of the bishop who is the principal celebrant at every ordination ceremony.

This collaboration with the bishop is depicted at every ordination ceremony when the candidates on making the promise of obedience to the bishop. In the rite, it is only at the moment of the promise of obedience that the candidate kneels before the bishop surrenders his hands between those of the bishop who questions his obedience to him and his legitimate successor.

Such is a spiritual connection based on respect and obedience. Respect and obedience are priestly virtues which enables the bishop to do his duty in overseeing the afford of the diocese whereas obedience enables the priest to collaborate with the bishop in the same ministry.

Between the bishop and his priests, there exists a communio sacramentalis as quoted from Pastres Gregis.

Bishops ordain priests out of love and nothing else. It would therefore be a contradiction in terms for a priest to say his bishop does not love him. Every priest must be ready to see the love of God in his bishop. At no point should a priest think he is better than his bishop irrespective of the talents they display. Illustrating from the Gospel text, the Prelate identifies the strict obedience of the disciples who put out their nets without questioning.

Many young priests get into the priesthood with their own ambitions and if they don’t get them they threaten to leave the priesthood. A bishop can never satisfy all his priests.

Each diocesan Priest has as one of his duties the spiritual care of the presbyterate.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Rev Father Eboka

Thousands of people are expected to take part in the Ruby Jubilee of the priestly ordination of the Bishop of the Kumbo Diocese Mgr. George Nkuo scheduled for Friday May 7, 2021 at the Kumbo Cathedral.

Every diocese in the English speaking regions and several parishes will be involved in some form of local pilgrimages as part of the major event organized by the church for the Jubilee.

The liturgy will be focused on our hope for the coming of Jesus Christ and the cry of John the Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord.

Major activities will be cancelled as parishes in the Kumbo Diocese joined forces to celebrate the life of a Good Shepherd.

Cameroon Concord News Group understands that the Bishop George Nkuo Ruby Jubilee is not just going to be a religious celebration but also a community event and in many parishes it will be ecumenical.

Concord Group Chairman Soter Agbaw-Ebai said it will be the most significant public celebration of a Man of God by the entire Christian community.

George Nkuo the founding father of the Cameroon Catholic Community in Mulheim an der Ruhr, Federal Republic of Germany was born on the 28 January 1953 in Njinikom, Boyo Division in the Archdiocese of Bamenda – North West Region of Cameroon. He did his Secondary and high school education in Bishop Rogan Minor Seminary, Small Soppo, Buea, from 1967-1974 where he obtained the General Certificate of Education, Ordinary and Advanced Levels.

He was then admitted in the Regional Major Seminary, Bambui, where he studied for the priesthood from 1974-1981. He completed his priestly formation in philosophical and theological studies with a Bachelors Degree in Philosophy in 1977 and a Bachelor Degree in Divinity in 1981 respectively.

He was ordained priest for the Diocese of Buea on the 26th of April 1981 at Small Soppo, Buea by the Right Reverend Pius Suh Awa, Bishop of Buea. He is of the second batch of priests trained in the present St. Thomas Aquinas’ Major Seminary, Bambui.

He did postgraduate studies in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, National University of Ireland (1989-1991) where he specialized in Education and obtained a Master’s Degree in the Science of Education.

Bishop George is known for his time spent as the Curate and Manager of Catholic Schools in the St. Joseph’s Parish, Mamfe and Kumba Town. He was Chancellor for the Diocese of Buea and Principal of St. Francis’ College, Fiango, Kumba. Before coming to the Diocese of Kumbo he was Catholic Education Secretary for the Diocese of Buea From 1994 to 2006.

Previous assignments include Provincial Chairman of the Association of Diocesan Priests, Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province; National/Diocesan Chaplain of the Catholic Women’s Association. Bishop George was also Member of the Council of Cameroon General Certificate of Education Examination Supervisory Board, member of Presbyteral Council and College of Consultors of the Diocese of Buea.

He was ordained a bishop and installed as the second Bishop of the Diocese of Kumbo on September 8, 2006.

After his appointed as Bishop, he became Chairman of the Episcopal Commission for Education in the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (CNEC) and in 2009; he became member of the Study Week of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences in Rome as well as member of the Permanent Committee of the Cameroon Episcopal Conference.

From the beginning of his episcopacy, Bishop George Nkuo expressed the hope that a Bishop’s responsibilities are first to the Diocese where he is ordained to oversee. This he makes visible in the way he is available to the Priests, Religious, Seminarians and Faithful in the Diocese of Kumbo. In his first meeting with his priests upon his appointment as Bishop of Kumbo, he insisted that the priests, his co-workers were to be seen as his main collaborators and emphasized on team work/collaborative ministry. Today, he recognizes the talents and abilities of the priests, religious, and laity and is ever more willing to work with them at all levels for the evangelization of the Church in Kumbo.

Bishop George is working very hard to build Catholic education, in the Catholic schools in the Diocese as well as in the religious education programs of the parishes. He has introduced the Catholic Education Week and the Bishop’s Education Fund which contributes in forming young people to become integral and holistic scholars. He is planning for the future construction of the Medical Department of the newly created Catholic University of Cameroon, Bamenda, and also carrying out improvements in the existing Schools in the Diocese.

One of the landmarks was the celebration of the centenary of the faith in the diocese of Kumbo in 2012. It was 100 years since the German Sacred Heart Fathers of St. Quentin arrived Kumbo. It was celebrated under the theme “We no longer believe because of what you told us” (John 4:42).

What is even more important for him, is pastoral plans, to be able to reach out to the people of God not only to preach the Gospel but also to be close to them in their needs is effectively being carried out. He has been trying to meet the Christians in their Parishes every year during pastoral visits and to set up little projects in the area of health and education to reassure the people of Kumbo and especially those in the remotest parts that they are not abandoned.

By Patience Ngwacalar Atanga in Essen in Germany