The Feast of Saint Joseph as a custom was adopted by the Vatican and in 1570; the Holy Father Pope Pius V extended its use to the entire Roman Rite.

From the late 19th century through the middle of the 20th century, Saint Joseph’s Feast Day was established to honour St. Joseph as the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the step-father of Jesus Christ.

Ex-students of Saint Joseph’s College Sasse in Cameroon will join the rest of the world in celebrating the feast day for St. Joseph – which falls on March 19th each year.

To the Sasse Old Boys in the United Kingdom, it is a Patronal Feast Day!

SOBA UK’s tables specially decorated for the 2022 Saint Joseph’s Feast Day have all arrived the city of Manchester, and the Sasse Old Boys are all heading for the celebration mindful of the fact that what will not be placed on the tables is any dish which contains meat because this holiday occurs during Lent.

For the first time ever in the history of SOBA UK, four Roman Catholic clerics from the Mill Hill Missionaries would be joining Sobans in Manchester. Mill Hill Missionaries were the founders of St Joseph’s College Sasse.

SOBA UK members will use this year’s celebration to give thanks to St Joseph and ask him to continue to guide and protect their association and its members.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Leicester

Even with sophisticated weaponry, the Cameroon military finds it hard getting to parts of Cameroon’s English-speaking regions where separatist militants operate.

It’s even harder for government officials and anyone who doesn’t adhere to the separatist agenda – an agenda that foresees the English-speaking regions separating from the rest of the country to form a new nation they call Ambazonia. English speakers make up about 20 percent of the population, while the rest of the country is predominantly French speaking.

Since the Anglophone Crisis exploded in 2016, at least 4,000 people have been killed and over a million forced to flee from their homes, with about 70,000 seeking refuge in neighboring Nigeria.

However, Bishop Michael Bibi of the Diocese of Buea in the troubled South West Region, braves the danger while visiting his flock.

“I go out for pastoral visits, and I go to places where government officials cannot go without the military, and if I were to go with the military, there would be fire exchange,” Bibi told Crux.

On some of those pastoral visits, the prelate has faced life-threatening situations, including once being kidnapped twice in a 48-hour time span.

The first time was when he was on his way to Kumba and gunmen stopped him.

“As I passed Batibo town, these gentlemen came out of the forest; they surrounded me, entered my car – two of them with guns,” Bibi recalled.

“They seized my phone and took me into the forest. There were several other cars there and other people who had been kidnapped. They asked us to give our identity cards. Their commander was there and as I came out of the car, the two men all pointing their guns at me, one woman, one of our Christians – who was also kidnapped – just ran to me crying ‘Bishop bless me, bless me!’  I said a prayer, and I blessed her, and their commander asked her whether she knew me. And she responded: ‘He is our bishop.’ So the commander asked that my phones and ID card be returned and that I should go. I asked him what happens to the other people who were held there, and he brandished the gun: I had no right to ask any questions. So I left, went to Kumba, celebrated the Mass and towards the end of the Mass, I was told that some Reverend Sisters had been harassed, their wind screens were shattered. And I had to return because the next day I had to celebrate Mass in Dchang. The general feeling was that I should not travel, so I decided to take an alternative road to Bamenda,” he said, referring to the capital of the North West Region.

Yet on this alternative route, the bishop met another group of fighters at a locality called Bako-Bakundu.

“These boys [the separatists are known as the Amba Boys] just came out of the bush, surrounded us and asked us to follow them. When we got to wherever they took us on a road to the forest, they started interrogating me. They said we were supporting the government and I said, the church is for everybody. We talk with government people, and we talk with separatists and we as a church are out for justice. They said they were going to shoot us, and burn the car and I said, ‘you people are free to do anything, but allow these two young men [the driver and his brother] to go’,” Bibi said.

“Their leader said he had been an altar boy. I was stunned. I asked him if he was Catholic, and he said yes. I asked him whether he prays the rosary. He said he hadn’t got one. I asked him if I should give them some. He said yes. I went to the car, took some rosaries, blessed them, and gave them to them. One wore his rosary, another said no; don’t put that thing on your neck because it can kill all your powers,” the bishop remembered.

He said while the others were still calling for separatists to burn the car and kill them, the former altar boy ordered that no harm should be inflicted on the bishop, because, as he put it, “this man is an innocent man. We have examined him from beginning to end; we don’t see anything he has done that should make us treat him badly.”

The prelate was released, but warned to stay in the nearby village and proceed the next day, because the next group of fighters might not be so kind.

“The leader of the group approached me and said he wanted me to forgive him. I said I didn’t hold them in my heart, because at least I was able to explain to them whet the church has been doing and will continue to do as far as the crisis is concerned,” Bibi said.

He said, out of his own volition he gave the separatist some $65. “It was all I had.”

“When I finally came out of the forest and met the villagers, everybody was happy, and there were Catholics coming and crying and asking for blessings. One Christian offered to give us accommodation. We went there and the man’s wife prepared us some good chicken and Irish potatoes,” the bishop recounted.

Bibi also recalled another incident when he traveled to Munyenge, about a two-hour drive from Buea. He was celebrating Mass when he heard gunshots outside.

“I was actually giving the homily; there were about five gunshots outside. I just said, wow, my brothers are welcoming me,” he said.

He said the dire security situation notwithstanding, he as bishop as well as his priests have a duty to keep preaching the Gospel of Christ.

“One of the things we have done is all the bishops have made sure that we don’t close down any parish. No matter how difficult it is, the priests are on their seat. And I really want to use this opportunity to really thank the priests, because in every area where people have fled, the poor priest is there,” he said.

Source: Crux

As the separatist conflict continues to escalate in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, the country’s Anglophone bishops warned that “those who take the sword will perish by the sword.”

The Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province covers Cameroon’s English speaking North West and South West Regions. Separatists in the two regions been fighting for the past five years to break away from the rest of Cameroon, which is majority French-speaking, and form a new nation they call The Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

In a statement after their 72nd ordinary meeting held Feb. 10-11, the prelates noted “with deep pain and regret, the deteriorating socio­ political situation that has prevailed in the North West and South West Regions for a very long time now.”

The bishops expressed “solidarity with the suffering, oppressed and displaced persons and refugees,” and said they will continue to “condemn violent methods of resolving disputes, because violence usually leads to greater suffering and “those who take the sword will perish by the sword,” quoting the Gospel of Matthew.

At least 4000 people have died in the conflict, and more than a million forced to flee from their homes, according to UN estimates.

They bishops said they shared “in the sorrows and anxieties, and joys and hopes of their people,” and invoked “our Lady of Lourdes, to intercede for all our sick brothers and sisters and for all of us in our search for lasting justice and peace.”

Source: Crux Now

Some in the diocese have reacted negatively the various personnel changes made by the bishop since he assumed the office of apostolic administrator in 2019 (he became the bishop of the diocese in 2021.)

On June 20, 2020, he appointed Prof. Victor Julius Ngoh as Vice Chancellor of the Catholic University Institute of Buea, replacing Father George Nkeze Jingwa, who was asked to take a sabbatical leave.

Members of the University Council disapproved of the change and took the bishop to court, prompting the Vatican to intervene.

Bibi also outlawed certain lay associations which he said were created without due authorization.

In an online petition against Bibi, he was described as “an emperor and a tyrant bishop.”

The petition accuses the prelate of destroying Catholicism in the Buea Diocese, and of committing “xenophobia against innocent priests of God who are duly incardinated into Buea Diocese in accordance with Can. 265.”

But in their Feb. 11 statement, the bshops of the Bamenda province said they were shocked and saddened by the scale of the attacks, and expressed solidarity with Bibi.

“Our 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, and deliberate distortion and manipulation of facts in order to misinform, divide and mislead the public through social media and other media organs, on certain important decisions taken by the Bishop in his attempt to bring the Diocese to align perfectly with the mind and practices of the Church.” the prelates said.

“We express our solidarity and communion with his Lordship Bishop Michael Bibi, whose decisions are in perfect alignment with the mind and discipline of the Church on these matters,” the statement added.

They called on the faithful of the Diocese of Buea to stay vigilant and work in communion with Bibi for the purpose of building a united and prosperous Diocese.

“While commending each one of you to Divine Protection through the intercession of Our Lady Queen of Peace, we ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will, with all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,” the bishops continued.

“With knowledge of God’s will, wisdom, and understanding that comes from the Holy Spirit, you will be able to live as the Lord wants and will always do what pleases him. Your lives will produce all kinds of good deeds, and you will grow in your knowledge.”

Bibi will be celebrating his first anniversary of his canonical possession of the Diocese of Buea on Feb. 25.

Culled from Crux Now

Pope Francis has appointed Rev. Aloysius Fondong Abangalo as Bishop of the Diocese of Mamfe. The cleric from the diocese of Buea was until the appointment a lecturer at the St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary in Bambui.

Cameroon Concord News understands His Lordship Bishop Aloysius Fondong Abangalo was born on June 5, 1973 in Limbe.  He studied Philosophy and Theology at the St. Thomas Aquinas Inter-diocesan Major Seminary in Bambui, in Bamenda.

Bishop Aloysius Abangalo holds a Licentiate in Canon Law from the Université Catholique d’Afrique Centrale UCAC (2011-2014) and a Doctorate in Canon Law at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Italy.

He was ordained a priest on April 20, 2006 in Buea and subsequently held the following positions in the Church hierarchy: Vicar of the Holy Family Parish of Limbe (2006-2007); Dean of Our Lady of Grace College in Muyuka (2007-2009); Diocesan Treasurer and Member of the College of Consultors (2009-2011); Teacher and trainer at St Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary in Bambui and Defender of the Bond at the Inter-diocesan Tribunal of Bamenda (2014-2019).

This item is still developing

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files

The Holy Father Pope Francis has appointed a new bishop to take over the diocese of Bafoussam in French Cameroun.

Paul Lonlsie Keune has been installed to the new role as the fifth residential bishop succeeding Bishop Emeritus Dieudonné Watio.

The Man of God said that he was grateful to the Holy Father for his affirmation and trust.

The National Episcopal Conference has congratulated Bishop Keune saying he is a man of enthusiasm, great pastoral experience and vitality.

The installation ritual took place on Saturday February 12, 2022 at the St Joseph Catholic Cathedral in Bafoussam with a high Pontifical Mass that was celebrated by His Excellency Julio Murat, Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files