Cameroon

Diocese of Buea: Bishop Bibi recognizes pastoral agents’ “hard work, sacrifices”

2, May 2024

Diocese of Buea: Bishop Bibi recognizes pastoral agents’ “hard work, sacrifices” 0

On the occasion of the annual celebration of the International Labor Day commemorated May 1, Bishop Michael Miabesue Bibi of Cameroon’s Buea Diocese has recognized with “gratitude and appreciation” the sacrificial efforts pastoral workers make in serving the people of God in his Episcopal See.

In a statement issued Wednesday, May 1, Bishop Bibi recalls that Labour Day “honors the contributions and achievements of workers worldwide and recognizes their importance in building societies and economies.”

“It’s a time to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of workers across various sectors and industries,” the Cameroonian Catholic Bishop says.

He thanks pastoral agents in Buea Diocese, saying, “As you celebrate Labour Day with your loved ones, I express gratitude and appreciation for your hard work and sacrifices to the Diocese.”

“Thank you for your endless support and commitment to your duties,” he said, and added, “I equally recognize your contributions to the growth of the different institutions in our Diocese.”

The Cameroonian Catholic Bishop, who started his Episcopal Ministry in March 2017 as Auxiliary Bishop of Cameroon’s Bamenda Archdiocese recognizes the May 1 Feast of St. Joseph the Worker.

“St. Joseph the worker whose memorial we celebrate today was loyal, hardworking and committed,” Bishop Bibi says, and implores, “May he intercede for us all to work devotedly with Joy.”

“May God Our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ in Communion with the Holy Spirit give you grace and peace,” he further implores in his May 1 message.

Celebrated every year on May 1 since 1890 in over 80 countries, Labor Day recalls the “contributions of workers”, seeking to promote “their rights, and commemorate the labor movement.”

This year, the focus is on ensuring safety and health at work in a changing climate, a theme that underscores the critical importance of addressing the impacts of climate change on workplace safety and occupational health.

Source: aciafrica

Bishop Francis T. Lysinge @ 25!

25, April 2024

Bishop Francis T. Lysinge @ 25! 0

Pastores dabo vobis, iuxtacor meum, the Lord says to the Prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 3:15) – I will give you shepherds after my own heart! Bishops are primarily, pastors, successors of the apostles. That is how the Catholic tradition understands them. And this process of self-understanding, of ecclesial maturation, has unfolded in the Church’s long history. At the First Vatican Council (1869-1870), in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Pastor Aeternus, the Council taught the infallibility of the Bishop of Rome. It taught that the Bishop of Rome as Supreme Pontiff, when he teaches ex cathedra, that is, from the chair, meaning in his capacity as Pope, Successor to the Apostle Peter, what he teaches, pertaining to faith and morals, is solemnly binding on the universal church and Catholics are expected to give an assent of mind and heart to such a proclamation. The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) interrupted the Council and prematurely ended it. That left Catholicism with an unbridled monarchical papacy, in which the Bishop of Rome was left hanging alone, as it where, above the Church.

With the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the Bishops gathered in Council, as Successors of the Apostles, sought to do an ecclesial balancing act of the unfinished business of the First Vatican Council. In the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, and in the Decree Concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church, Christus Dominus, the Bishops taught that as Successors of the Apostles, Bishops were not mere emissaries or ambassadors of the Pope. Pertaining to their local churches, they are proper pastors who, certainly, together with the Pope, sub et cum Petro, constitute an apostolic college charged with the governance of the universal Church. In this way, Vatican II enfleshed the monarchical character of governance of the Petrine ministry, with a collegial character of the Episcopate.

This is the body, the Episcopate, into which on April 21, 1999, Francis Teke Lysinge was called into, by the Grace of God and the Apostolic See. Born in Bokwango on December 28, 1938, to Albert Lysinge and Juliana JofiMbua, Francis Teke Lysinge is the second son in a family of four boys and three girls. His father was from Bokwango Village while his mother was from Buea Town. His father was a teacher in the Native Authority (NA) School of Muea and so eventually moved from Bokwango to Muea. His parents were Protestants, and so originally Bishop Lysinge was baptized in the Basel Mission Church Bimbia-Victoria where he started his Primary School in 1945 as Godwill Teke Lysinge (Agbaw-Ebai, 2013: Bishop Francis T. Lysinge, A Retrospective Legacy).

As a young man, Godwill Teke Lysinge, as he was then known, had gone to Sasse College, the Premier Secondary School in the then West Cameroon, to pursue the dreams of a brighter future, the aspiration of every young person. He studied in Sasse from 1953-1958. Bishop Lysinge did not go to Sasse to become a priest! It was in 1955, while in Sasse, that the young Lysinge felt that the Lord, whom he had always loved and knew, might have other plans for him. Living with Bishop Lysinge as his private secretary, he repeatedly told me that priesthood was never in his mind when he entered Sasse. He will later on say YES to the Lord, proceeding to Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu, Nigeria, for Major Seminary Studies in Philosophy and Theology. On April 17th, 1966, together with his lifelong friend, Christian Cardinal Tumi, and others, Godwill Teke Lysinge who, upon “converting” to Catholicism had taken the name Francis after St. Francis Xavier, said ad sum to the Lord’s call, and was ordained a priest of God, secundum ordine Melchizedek. His service as Spiritual Director in St. Thomas Aquinas’ Major Seminary is legendary.

Now is not the time to offer an assessment of the rich episcopacy of Francis Teke Lysinge. I will offer two indications that are pointers to what I consider to be the most enduring legacy of our beloved Bishop  Lysinge. And all are derived from the choices he made from the Word of God, first, at his ordination as priest, and second, at his episcopal appointment.

At his ordination as a priest, the young Fr. Francis Lysinge chose as his ordination motto, the self-effacing words of St. Paul: I am what I am, by the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:10). To Aquinas, no being can act beyond the limits of its specific nature since the cause must always be of a higher potency than its effect. The gift of grace therefore surpasses every capacity of created nature, since it is nothing other than a certain participation in the divine nature, which surpasses every other nature. For just as it is impossible for anything to make fiery but fire alone, so it is necessary that God alone should make Godlike, by communicating a share in his divine nature by participation and assimilation – Summa Theologica, I, II, Q. 112, 1.Anyone who has ever encountered Bishop Lysinge knows that it is never about Francis Lysinge. Meeting Bishop Lysinge, it is always about God. His instinctual temperament could best be described with the words of John the Baptist vis-à-vis Our Lord: He must increase, I must decrease (Jn. 3:30).As a teacher and spiritual director, Bishop Lysinge often repeated the classical maxim on grace: grace before, grace during, grace after, all is grace.

And this is what grace essentially does to nature, it brings nature to its fullest potential, which is, the Christification of nature. Human freedom is not God leaving me alone to get on with things. True freedom means my actions are caused by God without me ceasing to be free – gratia operans and gratis cooperans – as Aquinas teaches, Summa Theologica, I, II, q. 111, 2. Grace is the result of God’s action in me that draws me to God’s self. Grace is not just some help to my acting on my own. Hence, only God is the cause of grace, for only what is divine can impart divine life.As Karl Rahner explains, in receiving God, the human being does not cease to be human. Rather, God’s ontological, total, self-communication actualizes humanity’s deepest potential. We are spirit-in-the-world in that we are radically conditioned by matter and history, on the one hand, and radically opened to the absolute holy Mystery, on the other hand. That explains why Rahner describes the human being as  das übernatürlicheExistenzial, the supernatural existential. We are supernatural existential because we are intrinsically oriented to intimacy with the Absolute Mystery, God. Supernatural existential is the longing for God’s presence, longing to be with God, a longing that exists in us because God freely planted it there. (Foundationsof Christian Faith). In effect, the more we become like God through the gift of Grace, the more human we become. Our humanization takes place in direct, not inverse, proportion to our divinization. And this is the beauty of the witness of Bishop Lysinge that has attracted so many: with the grace of God, he has consistently chosen to live for God, and by so doing, live for all persons placed on his path by God. For to live for God is to live for our brothers and sisters.

If the date of one’s birth can have a significance for one’s life, then the birth of Francis Teke Lysinge on December 28, 1938, could very well be read as prophetically symbolic. December 28 is still within the Octave of Christmas, which is a time when the Church recalls in her liturgical and spiritual life, that at the fullness of time, God sent his Son into the world (Gal. 4:4). At the heart of Christmas is the basic, essential truth: God has entered the world. God is close to us. God is near us. We are not alone. I am not alone. God is hidden in the world, to reference Rahner once more. I am what I am, by the grace of God! Isn’t this essentially what the Christmas message causes to happen? Because God has entered history, I am! I am! I have being. I am someone. I am being, to cite Heidegger. I am not nothingness. I have a name. God knows my name. Even if the powerful of the world do not know me, do not acknowledge me, do not recognize me, I am, by God’s grace. In this priestly ordination motto of the young Lysinge, one encounters a deeper theological metaphysics. It is an affirmation that my life is grounded on the firmer ground of the Lord: “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Matthew 7:25).

Fiat VoluntasTua – Thy Will be Done!On April 21,1999, Francis Teke Lysinge who all along had always seen himself as a being, thanks to grace of God, -I am what I am by the grace of God,-  entered into a new consciousness of what it means to live by the grace of God. For his episcopal motto, he chose, Fiat VoluntasTua(Matthew 6:10). This is taken from the prayer of Jesus to the Father. The Our Father mirrors the relationship of intimacy between the Father and the Son. With this choice, Francis Teke Lysinge, in his unassuming way, manifested the core of his rich spiritual life: God is the center. My responsibility is to follow God. But what does it mean to follow God? Essentially, and Bishop Lysinge’s life is a testimony to this, it is not a calculatedness in which I fashion God into my own image and likeness. To follow God is to place my life in the hands of God, knowing that it will ultimately end well, for even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for your shepherd rod and staff protects me (Ps. 23:4). Bishop Lysinge often repeated to me, “God will vindicate the innocent man.” And again, “every priest has his own unique calling. If priests were to realize that each one has his own unique calling, there won’t be wrangling amongst priests.” As if to drive home his point, he surprised me with a gift, a book by Jesuit, Herbert Alphonso, The Personal Vocation. He repeatedly stressed to me, Maurice, discover your personal calling, find out why the Lord called you to the priesthood. In many ways, these words of Bishop Lysinge have never left me. As I mature in the priesthood, it is increasingly becoming clear to me that every priest has three vocations: the vocation of a being a Christian; the vocation of the priesthood; and the specific vocation that God assigns to that priest within the priestly vocation. How I love these words of John Henry Cardinal Newman: God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I have a part in a great work. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught (…) Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, where ever I am, I can never be thrown away. I firmly believe that once a priest finds out the specific mission the Lord has assigned to him in the priesthood, he becomes truly happy. All else ceases to matter. And that is how Boethius defines happiness in the Consolation of Philosophy, an understanding of happiness that I continue to find most beautiful and compelling.

I am what I am by the grace of God! Thy Will Be Done!In these two texts from Scripture, and the consistent and admirable way in which Bishop Lysinge is living them, we can be sure, that in Bishop Lysinge, the Diocese of Mamfe and the Church in Africa, is offering the universal Church a sign of God’s presence, a mark of lowliness and humility, a presence of translucent holiness. I grew in my appreciation of the holiness and saintliness of Bishop Lysinge. I remember one particular incident that has stayed with me ever since. Shortly after he ordained me priest, we were sitting in the chapel one Friday morning, when he turned to me and asked me to hear his confession. I spontaneously protested: Domine, non sum Dignus. I am not worthy to hear your confession, My Lord, I told him. He won’t take no for an answer! He insisted. He said to me: I ordained you a priest. You were validly ordained. And before I realized it, he imposed a purple stole over my shoulders, and began his confession! And that started a Friday rendezvous that became mutual. Living with Bishop Lysinge, I increasingly became convinced that I was living with a living saint. If sainthood is found in the little things that are really the big things, then God has blessed us with a saintly witness in Bishop Lysinge. I have always felt it one of the greatest blessings of my life, to have begun my priesthood with Bishop Lysinge in the same house. He put up with my failures, weaknesses and youthfulness, with a graciousness that could only be the mark of a saint. I never for once doubted that his father love. And the remarkable thing about Bishop Lysinge is that everyone that encounters him, can say the same thing. He has this capacity for loving everyone, of supporting everyone, that left all those who met him feeling cared for. After he retired and his sight began deteriorating faster, his successor, now Archbishop Andrew Nkea, sent him to Rome, Italy, for medical attention. I left next door Germany to visit him. I can never forget one of the statements he made to me:Fr Maurice, though I am retired, I am not retired from prayers. I pray for you daily. The only work I do now for Mamfe is to pray for Mamfe and for my successor, so that Mamfe diocese will continue to grow. It was a deeply emotional moment for me, listening to him utter those words. I am not retired from the work of prayer. So Ratzingerian a choice of words! Only saints like Lysinge and Ratzinger speak with such spiritual succinctness and depthness.

We can be sure, that now that his sight has failed him, Bishop Lysinge is seeing much more now with the heart, like Blessed John Henry Newman – Cor ad cor loquitur – Heart speaks to heart. The one who throughout his life has spent countless hours before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, gazing at the Lord, looking at him, listening to him, falling in love with the Lord, speaking with the Lord, now has those biological eyes that give him physical sight, taken away. Bishop Lysinge, like the saints before him, has entered into his own via Crucis. And like most of the saints, has accepted the crosses that come with aging:

“O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup; it is you yourself who are my prize.
The lot marked out for me is my delight: welcome indeed the heritage that falls to me! I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel, who even at night directs my heart. I keep the Lord ever in my sight:since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm. And so, my heart rejoices, my soul is glad;even my body shall rest in safety.For you will not leave my soul among the dead, nor let your beloved know decay. You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence, at your right-hand happiness forever” (Ps 16:5-11).

Thank you, God, for the gift of your priest, holy Bishop Francis Teke Lysinge. May your grace sustain him during this Nunc Dimittis period of his life. And may his prayers for Mamfe, for his successor, for Church, and for  the world, continue to keep the window of the world open to the life-giving breath of God, saving us from a suffocating despairing nihilism! As your servant, Benedict XVI reminded us in his Bundestag Address, a world without God is a life in a bunker with no widows! Thank you that Bishop Lysinge is such a window of you, God. Thank you for giving him to us as a gift, and may his prayers continue to sustain us, transforming our world into something beautiful for you, Trice Holy God, Amen.

Concluding Unscientific Post-Script

When the very dear Fr Christopher Eboka of the Communications Office of Mamfe Diocese contacted me to write a few words to mark the 25th anniversary of the episcopal ordination of Bishop Lysinge, I immediately protested. I told him I was in the middle of a conference on Ratzinger and the Philosophical Tradition at the Panamericana University, Mexico City, Mexico, and that, given time constraints, I did not think I could do justice to the task he was assigning me, especially if he has to go to Press by Monday, April 22, 2024. If you find the words above insufficient and inadequate, I crave your indulgence and I understand your feelings. And I ask to be forgiven, trusting that Providence will give me another opportunity to write a more substantial tribute to this future saint of the Church.

Rev. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai

Sunday, April 21, 2024.

Cameroonian Catholic Priest Who Died in Rome Remembered for His “serenity in accepting the Lord’s will in suffering”

13, April 2024

Cameroonian Catholic Priest Who Died in Rome Remembered for His “serenity in accepting the Lord’s will in suffering” 0

Fr. René Gaston Ayihi Tsimi, a member of the Clergy of Cameroon’s Catholic Diocese of Obala, who died on Monday, April 8 in Rome after an illness, is being remembered for his “serenity in accepting” the will of God in his life amid suffering. He was aged 31.

In a statement issued Friday, April 12, the Local Ordinary of Obala Diocese, Bishop Sosthène Léopold Bayemi Matjei, expresses his “sincere condolences” to Fr. Tsimi’s “family and to all those who knew him during the exercise of his Priestly ministry.”

Bishop Bayemi invites the People of God to pray for the eternal repose of the soul of Fr. Tsimi, who, until his passing on, was a student at the Rome-based Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.

In a Wednesday, April 10 Vatican News report, the President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy eulogizes the late Cameroonian Catholic Priest as serene.

“Fr. René made a great impression on me. He was a son of the Church in Cameroon. What struck us was his serenity in accepting the Lord’s will in suffering,” Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio has been quoted as saying.

Archbishop Pennacchio recalls Fr. Tsimi as one who “always had a smile from beginning to end, despite the suffering.”

Referring to the remarks of one of the nurses attending to the late Catholic Priest, the Archbishop says, “He suffers, but he doesn’t say it. He really suffered a lot.”

“The Holy Father was close to him with a beautiful letter, encouraging him to face this trial and to offer his sufferings for the good of the Church,” Archbishop Pennacchio recalls.

He continues, “When he was taken to Gemelli, I gave him an image of St. John Paul II, and he kept it on his bedside table the whole time next to the image he already had, along with the image of Our Lady of Pompeii.”

“It was truly a moment of witness even for the Academy alumni. I saw a family united, as when a family (suffering) for a brother who is in pain,” the President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy has been quoted as saying.

Born in July 1992 in Mbandjock in the Diocese of Obala, Fr. Tsimi, alumni of Mary Queen of the Apostles Major Seminary, was ordained a Priest in August 2020.

The holder of a Licentiate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome served as curate at Mary Admirable Mother Nkomotou Parish until July 2021, when he was appointed Deputy Chancellor of Obala Diocese, a position he held until his return to Rome.

He was a holder of a Doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.

The Funeral Mass for the late Catholic Priest is to take place at the Santa Maria Sopra Minerva Basilica in Rome on Saturday, April 13. His body is expected in Cameroon on April 17, ahead of his burial, scheduled for April 19.

Source: Aciafrica

Yaoundé: Cardinal Sarah urges 12 newly ordained Catholic Priests in Obala Diocese to “be attentive to the flock”

7, April 2024

Yaoundé: Cardinal Sarah urges 12 newly ordained Catholic Priests in Obala Diocese to “be attentive to the flock” 0

Robert Cardinal Sarah has called upon the 12 newly ordained Priests for the Catholic Diocese of Obala in Cameroon to be attentive to the needs of the people of God under their pastoral care.

In his homily during the Friday, April 5 Priestly ordination, Cardinal Sarah hailed the vocation to the Priesthood and called upon the 12 Deacons to put prayer at the center of the Priestly ministry.

Credit: ACI Africa

“Priesthood is the most wonderful and greatest gift that God has given to our humanity. To be a Priest is therefore to be attentive to the flock, which the Holy Spirit has appointed us to shepherd in the Church of God, in profound communion with your Bishop,” he said during the event that was held at the Playground of Obala Council.

To be a Priest, the Guinean-born Cardinal who, until his retirement in February 2021, was serving as Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments said, “is an immense privilege that makes and helps us to continue the work of evangelization initiated by Jesus.”

Credit: ACI Africa

“To be a Priest is to become Jesus Christ himself. It means extending his saving presence among mankind. It means striving every day to bring Jesus’ suffering and death to our lives, and to radiate his presence,” Cardinal Sarah said during the April 5 Priestly Ordination event. 

Priests have the role of facilitating the recognition of God as critical to the world in general and to the human person in person, the Cardinal said. 

Credit: ACI Africa

To be a Priest, he explained, “means restoring God’s central place in the world, for a world without God is a world without hope. The Priest makes God visible; the Priest is the sign that reminds us of God’s primacy in a world that is increasingly frivolous, indifferent and even hostile to Jesus Christ, his Gospel and his Church.”

The Cardinal, who arrived in Cameroon on Tuesday, April 2 for a weeklong visit further said, “The priesthood was instituted to preach the Gospel and restore communion between God and man through the Eucharistic sacrifice and prayer. The Priesthood has its deepest source in the supreme and exclusive love of Christ.”

Credit: ACI Africa

“Shepherding my sheep is indeed an act of love. Only if we love Jesus Christ exclusively do we have the authority and responsibility to shepherd God’s people,” Cardinal Sarah said.

It is in following the example of Jesus Christ, who gave “His whole life for the care of His sheep that we confirm that Priests love God with all their heart, soul and strength,” the 78-year-old Cardinal, who started his Episcopal Ministry in December 1979 as Archbishop of Guinea’s Conakry Archdiocese said.

Credit: ACI Africa

Bishops of Yaoundé Ecclesiastical Province discuss Church and the digital world

21, March 2024

Bishops of Yaoundé Ecclesiastical Province discuss Church and the digital world 0

The first ordinary annual session of the Bishops’ Conference of the Ecclesiastical Province of Yaoundé in Cameroon, was held recently. “The Church and the digital world: issues and challenges for evangelization,” was the theme of the plenary. The assembly took place at the Pastoral Centre of Saint Joseph in the town of Kribi, a beach resort and sea port in Southwestern Cameroon.

Throughout their discussions, the Bishops belonging to the of the Ecclesiastical Province of Yaoundé agreed on the need for the local Church to integrate the digital culture into work of evangelization, because, “digital technologies offers pastoral opportunities that open up infinite gateways to Christian life,” they said.

Christianising the digital and digitising Christianity

With reference to digital technologies, Archbishop Jean Mbarga, the Metropolitan of Yaoundé Archdiocese stressed that “the Church needs to be at the rendezvous of history, and above all at its helm.” To this end, he continued, “our commitment from now on will be to Christianise the digital and to digitalise Christianity … These are openings that give rise to pastoral avenues that open gateways of Christian lives to you, the people of God, and that pour graces into the heart of a world that wants only to materialise and institute atheism,” said the prelate of Yaoundé.

Investing in innovation

The Archbishop of Yaoundé praised the City of Kribi as well as the Diocese of Kribi for leading the way in investing in innovation and creativity. He urged young people to seize the immense opportunities for economic development currently being offered by the City of Kribi, “a modern city located by the sea, bearing rich hopes, but also under the prism of problems linked to urbanization,” he said.

Source: Vatican News

Bamenda: Archbishop Nkea comforts fire disaster victims

13, March 2024

Bamenda: Archbishop Nkea comforts fire disaster victims 0

Archbishop Andrew Fuanya Nkea of the Catholic Archdiocese of Bamenda in Cameroon has offered words of comfort to persons affected by the fire disaster that razed hundreds of shops at the central market in his Metropolitan See last month.

On February 22, over 300 shops were razed to ashes after a fire broke out at Bamenda Main Market in the North West region of Cameroon, the State media, Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV), reported.

Archbishop Nkea paid a visit to the victims of the inferno on Tuesday, March 12. He encouraged them to remain hopeful, and imparted God’s blessings upon them.

“No matter the difficulties that come our way, we should remember that God will never abandon his people,” he said.

The Cameroonian Catholic Archbishop, who also interacted with leaders of the Traders’ Union and Market Master and staff invited the victims of the fire disaster to unite their challenges with those that Jesus Christ experienced.

“In our frustrations, our pain, and uncertainties, we are called to unite all these with the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ especially given that we are currently observing the Lenten period in the Church,” the Local Ordinary of Bamenda, who doubles as the President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) said on March 12.

In a statement he issued on February 24, Archbishop Nkea expressed his solidarity with the victims of the inferno that “left many families and the entire population of Bamenda and beyond in pain and desperation.”

In his statement, he assured the victims his “closeness and prayers,” describing the incident which he likened to the biblical story of Job as “unfortunate.”

“My dear people, we are faced with a similar situation like Job, with many questions in our minds, wondering why such things should happen especially at this moment when we are still being tormented by the crisis plaguing the North West and the South West Regions of Cameroon,” Archbishop Nkea said.

“I implore you, like Job, to hold firm to the God who blessed Job’s latter condition even more than his former one,” he said in his February 24 statement.

On March 2, an inferno at a family house in Cameroon’s Catholic Diocese of Buea resulted in the death of four siblings.

In a statement, Bishop Michael Miabesue Bibi of Buea Diocese commiserated with the family on the fatal incident that he said “shocked not only the members of that community but every other Cameroonian.”

“Three of the Children, Negou Mariana Britney (class 6), Negou Prince David (class 5), and Elizclaire Maya (class 1), were all pupils of the Catholic Primary School in Batoke,” Bishop Bibi said in his March 3 statement, adding, “The fourth child, Mbong Bella, their kid sister of about one year and some months, died along with them in the fire.”

“I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the Conte family for this loss of their dear children; four children, from two sisters,” the Cameroonian Catholic Bishop said.

Source: aciafrica

Nkambe Amba Attack: Pope Francis Invokes Blessed Mary’s “consolation” for Victims

29, February 2024

Nkambe Amba Attack: Pope Francis Invokes Blessed Mary’s “consolation” for Victims 0

Pope Francis has implored for the Blessed Virgin Mary’s “strength and consolation” for the victims of the February 11 bomb attack on Nkambe town in Cameroon that reportedly led to the death of at least one person, injuring dozens.

Further, the bomb explosion reportedly disrupted Holy Mass at Christ the King Jakiri Parish of Kumbo Diocese, drawing the attention of Bishop George Nkuo who condemned the attack “in the strongest terms”.

In a statement, Bishop Nkuo narrated the attack, saying, “On the day of the disruption an Improvised Explosive Device was detonated at the Nkambe ceremonial grounds where youths were gathered to celebrate the National Youth Day, leaving one person dead and many injured.”

“We strongly condemn and denounce any form of violence perpetrated during public and spiritual gatherings and within the sacred spaces of Churches and hospitals,” the Catholic Bishop is reported as saying in the statement.

He added, “We condemn in the strongest terms this heinous and senseless attack on innocent civilians during the Youth Day celebration in Nkambe.”

In a solidarity message addressed to Bishop Nkuo that ACI Africa obtained Tuesday, February 27, the Holy Father prayed for the “intercession of the Virgin Mary to bring strength and consolation to all who are affected by this drama.”

“His Holiness Pope Francis was saddened to learn of the tragic bomb explosion that occurred in Nkambe on February 11, and the loss of human life it caused,” the message that was signed by the Secretary of State, Pietro Cardinal Parolin, reads in part.

The message continues, His holiness “joins in the mourning of the families, showing them his closeness and his pain.”

Praying for the eternal rest of the dead, entrusting them to the mercy of God, the 266th Catholic Pontiff also wishes quick recovery and healing for the wounded.

Pope Francis reiterates his message of respecting sacred places that he had given in his condolence message following Sunday’s attack on a Church and mosque killing dozens in Burkina Faso.

“As a sign of comfort, the Holy Father invokes on the Cameroonian people and the entire nation divine blessings,” reads the February 27 solidarity message.

Cameroon’s English-speaking regions plunged into conflict in 2016 after a protest by lawyers and teachers turned violent. An armed movement of separatists claiming independence for the so-called Republic of Ambazonia emerged following the government’s crackdown on protesters.

School boycotts have become common in these areas, as have enforced moratoriums on public life, resulting in what is known as “ghost towns”.

Culled from aciAfrica

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Bishop George Nkuo says God is ‘close to the broken–hearted’

19, February 2024

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Bishop George Nkuo says God is ‘close to the broken–hearted’ 0

In a heartfelt homily on Sunday, Bishop George Nkuo of Kumbo in Cameroon reminded the faithful of God’s constant presence and care in times of trouble amid a new spat of violence.

He urged all parties to renounce violence and seek peace in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon, where a secessionist uprising has claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions since 2017.

“No more bloodshed in our land. No more violence in our land. No more hatred in our land,” the bishop said.

His message on February 18 came in the wake of attacks on February 11, Cameroon’s National Youth Day. Suspected separatists carried out these attacks on students in Nkambe, leaving one student dead and over 40 wounded.

They detonated an improvised explosive device as students marched past, killing 14-year-old Cherish and injuring several others. Armed men, also suspected to be separatists, marched into a Catholic Church in Jakiri, in the Kumbo Diocese. They ordered Christians out of Mass, accusing them of using a church service to celebrate Youth Day.

February 11 is celebrated in Cameroon as a Youth Day. However, historically it is the day Cameroon’s Anglophones – the part of Cameroon initially administered by the British before independence – voted in a 1961 plebiscite to gain independence by joining the already independent Republic of Cameroon, which is the part of the country initially administered by the French. The two entities then formed a Federal Republic of Cameroon, which only lasted for a decade.

The federal system was dissolved in favor of a unitary state. The Anglophone minority has long felt marginalized and subjugated by the Francophone-dominated administration in Yaoundé. Therefore, Feb. 11 has been a date that separatists love to hate. As one separatist put it, it was the day Anglophones were “packaged, sold and delivered.”

Impeding the celebration of that day in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions is part of a larger strategy for separatists to undermine state sovereignty as they seek separation from the country and the creation of a new state called Ambazonia. The fighting, now in its seventh year, has resulted in the loss of at least 6,000 lives, according to the International Crisis Group. Over a million people have been forced to flee from their homes.

Nkuo said that despite the escalating violence, God remains a permanent presence in the lives of the people.

“God is close to His people, He is close to the broken-hearted especially in times of difficulty,” the bishop said.

“We worship a God who is close to those who are weak. We worship a God of Peace, a God who does not tolerate any form of violence, a God who has called us to have deep respect for the dignity of every human person. It is a God who has ‘conquered every form of darkness with the light of the risen Christ,” he said.

Lemnyuy Cherish Bongeh, the lone-girl killed in the Nkambe blast, had initially escaped fighting in her native Kumbo to the economic capital Douala, where she continued schooling. However, her father preferred that she return and relocate to the relatively peaceful Nkambe. The Feb. 11 attack would shatter that peace.

“What has happened cuts a deep wound into my heart,” Cherish’s father said, asking that his name not be used.

The murdered girl’s classmate gave one of the bidding prayers, painting a gory picture of what has been going on in the two English-speaking regions.

“Merciful Lord, for over seven years now, we have known no peace. The blood of the innocent, especially young people, has been shed in many places in our country. You are our only hope. Hear our prayer and grant us peace,” the student said.

“Show compassion to the people of Nkambe in their sorrow,” Nkuo said.

In a February 14 statement, the bishop condemned “in the strongest terms” the Youth Day attacks.

“We strongly condemn and denounce any form of violence perpetrated during public and spiritual gatherings and within the sacred spaces of Churches and Hospitals,” Nkuo said. “We condemn in the strongest terms this heinous and senseless attack on innocent civilians during the Youth Day celebration in Nkambe.”

The bishop said the violence meted out on innocent civilians “shatters the very core of our moral fabric and calls for our collective condemnation.”

He said disrupting a Eucharistic celebration “not only violates the sanctity of these institutions but also undermines the values of compassion, empathy, and respect that lie at the core of our faith.”

“The Mass is a sacred and solemn occasion where the faithful gather to worship, seek spiritual nourishment, and strengthen their relationship with God. Such disruptions not only disrespect the sanctity of the Mass but also infringe upon the rights and freedom of religious expression,” Nkuo said.

“God’s house should be a haven of peace, where all can come together in reverence and unity,” he said.

The bishop cited international humanitarian law, which makes places of worship and other religious sites “sanctuaries where worshippers feel safe to practice their faith, sanctuaries of peace, healing, and solace for all individuals seeking comfort and divine intervention.”

He called on Cameroonians to stand united “against this brutality and affirm our commitment to peace, justice, and compassion.”

“We must stand together in denouncing such atrocities and demand that every child be granted the right to live in safety, peace, and dignity,” he said.

Nkuo appealed to the warring parties to “give peace a chance” by engaging in sincere dialogue.

“Let us pray for the victims and their loved ones, offering solace, support, and strength during this difficult time,” the bishop said.

Source: Crux

Bishops in Cameroon express “compassion” for victims of “atrocities” in regions

15, January 2024

Bishops in Cameroon express “compassion” for victims of “atrocities” in regions 0

Catholic Bishops in Cameroon have expressed their “compassion” for victims of violence in the Far North region as well as the Northwest and the Southwest regions of the Central African nation.

In the final communiqué issued at the end of their 47th Annual Seminar, members of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) denounce the “horrendous acts perpetrated by the Boko Haram sect in the Far North Region and they express deep compassion for the victims.”

NECC members deplore “all forms of violence in the country, especially the atrocities committed in the North-West and South-West Regions.”

They express their “constant paternal solicitude and continual prayer for all.”

Cameroon’s English-speaking regions plunged into conflict in 2016 after a protest by lawyers and teachers turned violent. An armed movement of separatists claiming independence for the so-called republic of Ambazonia emerged following the government’s crackdown on protesters.

School boycotts have become common in these areas, as have enforced moratoriums on public life, resulting in what is known as “ghost towns”.

In the Far North, attacks by Nigeria’s Boko Haram fundamentalist sect have reportedly caused more than 320,000 people to flee the region.

In their two-page communiqué following the January 6-13 Seminar organized under the theme, “A Synodal Church on Mission”, NECC members express concern about “the growing and yawning poverty among the population”

They appeal for “greater justice, solidarity, hard work and continuous trust in God.”

During their weeklong Seminar, Catholic Bishops in Cameroon also reflected on the recognition of the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Simon Mpeke, popularly known as Baba Simon, and urged all the People of God to “pray fervently for his canonization.”

Source: aciafrica

Cleaning the sinful church: Bishop Bibi prohibits Bushu from celebrating Holy Mass

9, January 2024

Cleaning the sinful church: Bishop Bibi prohibits Bushu from celebrating Holy Mass 0

Bishop Emmanuel B. Bushu, who retired from the pastoral care of Cameroon’s Catholic Diocese of Buea in December 2019, has been prohibited from celebrating or concelebrating Holy Mass in public in the Cameroonian Episcopal See without the “explicit permission” of his successor.

In a letter circulated on Sunday, January 7, the Local Ordinary of Buea Diocese, Bishop Michael Miabesue Bibi, communicates to Bishop Bushu two prohibitions after highlighting reasons behind his decision.

“You shall no longer be allowed to concelebrate with me on any Diocesan Liturgical celebration until further notice,” Bishop Bibi tells his immediate predecessor.

In his second prohibition, the Cameroonian Bishop who has been at the helm of Buea Diocese since December 2019 as Apostolic Administrator, and later, from February 2021 as the Bishop of the Diocese, bars Bishop Bushu from celebrating or concelebrating “any public Mass in any Parish in the Diocese of Buea, without an explicit permission from me”.

In the one-page letter dated 22 November 2023, Bishop Bibi cites “deep opposition and interference” as some of the reasons behind his two decisions.

“From the very beginning of my mission in the Diocese of Buea … I have had to live through the unhappy reality of deep opposition and interference from you, that has even led you to the screen media to make this opposition public,” he states.

Bishop Bibi expresses his awareness of Bishop Bushu’s “opposition and interference in my administration for three years now, including, but not limited to your trips to the Nunciature and to Rome against my decisions over certain important sectors of the Diocese.”

“The present state of affairs indicates a total absence of communion between us, which makes you ready to align yourself with persons and groups that seek to bring down my administration,” he further writes.

The Cameroonian Catholic Bishop, who started his Episcopal Ministry in March 2017 as the Auxiliary Bishop of Cameroon’s Bamenda Archdiocese says that his two prohibitions are aimed to “protect” his administration of Buea Diocese.

In his letter, Bishop Bibi wishes his 79-year-old predecessor “grace and peace” from “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ in Communion with the Holy Spirit.”

A past decision that 52-year-old Bishop Bibi had to battle with involved the administrative changes he made at the Catholic University Institute of Buea (CUIB) in June 2020, when he appointed Professor Victor Julius Ngoh as Vice Chancellor, to succeed Fr. George Nkeze Jingwa. In his capacity as Apostolic Administrator of Buea, Bishop Bibi asked Fr. Nkeze to take a sabbatical leave.

The University Council disapproved of the 11 June 2020 administrative change, with Sobe Clive Ndikum who was serving as the legal representative of the University describing the change as “improper interference”.

He accused Bishop Bibi of causing “irreparable damage and mistrust amongst students, faculty members, the laity and other well-wishers of our Christian Community by making uninformed, ill-advised and rash decisions beyond the scope of his mandate and authority.”

However, in a 15 June 2020 clarification, the then Apostolic Nuncio in Cameroon, Archbishop Julio Murat, came to the defence of Bishop Bibi, and outlined his mandate of Apostolic Administrator as “having jurisdiction to act for and on behalf of the Diocese of Buea in all matters concerning the Diocese and all other Institutions belonging to the Diocese.”

“The Apostolic Administrator is the legitimate authority over all priests, Religious and other mission personnel within the Diocese of Buea and reserves the right to appoint, transfer, remove, or dismiss persons according to the prescriptions of the Code of Canon Law and the specific instructions given to him by the Holy See,” Archbishop Murat stated.

In March 2022, Bishop Bibi lamented the protracted controversies in the administration of CUIB and affiliate institutions, apportioning blame on the the administration that he had dismissed and that some disgruntled members “aimed at undermining (his) decisions”.

“Sadly still, up to this moment, some of the members of the then Administration of CUIB have resorted to diverse means aimed at undermining the decisions I made, and in the process, they have created confusion in the minds of God’s people and people of good will in the Diocese of Buea and beyond,” Bishop Bibi said in his 13 March 2022 statement in which he also narrated his being drugged to Cameroon’s labor court with “false or misguided” claims.

Earlier, in February 2022, Bishop Bibi weighed in on the online petition, a Facebook post and other attacks against him.

In his 25 February 2022 homily during Holy Mass to mark a year since he took canonical possession of Buea Diocese, the Catholic Church leader bemoaned the “many attacks … over social media, over some newspapers, over some TV stations by clerics, all the staged interviews that were brought out and sent out to the public” as what he termed “signs of total interference in the governance of the Diocese of Buea.”

This was days after members of the Bamenda Provincial Episcopal Conference (BAPEC) Province expressed their “solidarity and communion” with him.

In their 11 February 2022 statement, BAPEC members said that their “hearts were deeply saddened by the unfortunate turn of events in the Diocese of Buea, characterized by gross disrespect of the hierarchy of the Church, casting of aspersions on Bishop Michael Bibi.”

Last November, members of the Clergy of Buea Diocese expressed their support for Bishop Bibi, weighing in on social media posts against their Local Ordinary, including those from Nchumbonga George Lekelefac such as an ongoing apostolic visitation, Seeking Transparency and Accountability: An Examination of Bishop Michael Miabesue Bibi’s Leadership, Bishop Michael Bibi, The Father, The Bishop, The Rock On Which Buea Diocese Is Built, The Truth and nothing but the truth about Buea Diocese under Bishop Michael Bibi, and Ex-cardination of suspended priests of Buea Diocese: a solution?

“We, the Priests of the Presbyterium of Buea, have watched with dismay at the smear campaign orchestrated by some individuals and even some members of the presbyterium and groups on social media against the person of the Bishop and the work he is doing in the Diocese of Buea which is already yielding fruits in abundance,” they said in their statement issued on 22 November 2023.

Despite the controversies, last September, Bishop Bibi was honored by Cameroon’s NewsWatch Newspaper for his “exceptional skills” in leading the people of God and managing the property of his Episcopal See.

Culled from aciAfrica

< 1 2 3 4 5 >»