The Archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Bamenda, His Grace Cornelius Fontem Esua, has tendered his resignation letter to the Pontiff, His Holiness Pope Francis.

The Prelate handed over his resignation letter to Pope Francis in prelude to his 75^th anniversary. Speaking to reporters on Monday, July 2, 2018, at the St Joseph Metropolitan Cathedral, Big Mankon, Bamenda, during the commemoration of the 75th anniversary on earth and his 35^th anniversary of his episcopacy, Mgr. Fontem Esua said his decision is in tandem with the Canon Law.

“Take note that, according to the Cannon Law, when a Bishop reaches the age of 75, he tenders his resignation to the Pope so that the Pope should find some other person to take over from him, and I have done so already and I am waiting for the time when the Pope will appoint some other Bishop to take over from me,” he said.

He said even though he is due retirement, he is still the Chief Shepherd of Bamenda Archdiocese.

“I am still due retirement; that is, getting to the age of retirement.  I am retired but not tired. From the inspiration I have, I will continue to serve the church as I have been doing.  As long as the Pope has not appointed anybody else yet, I remain the Archbishop of Bamenda,” he averred.

Meanwhile, the Archbishop used the dual celebrations to apologise to those he has hurt in the course of shepherding God’s flock.

Source: Journal du Cameroun

It was early morning in western Cameroon on May 23rd. A local Bible translator walked out of his house to head to his fields that day. Then just down the road, he saw a white vehicle barreling his way.

The translator shares, “Bullets were flying out of the car towards me. But by the power of God, I was able to escape all the bullets and none of the bullets hit me and I escaped. I ran and hid far away in the bushes.”

(Photo courtesy of Efi Efi)

He saw the men in the vehicle get out and approach his house. It had been built by his father, and he had hoped to pass this home on to his own children. So what he witnessed was heartbreaking.

“They knocked down the windows and doors. They knocked down everything and set fire on the house. The house is completely burnt and nothing is left. I thank God because before they came, my family was already out of the house. My wife, my mother, and children were out of the house.”

The Cameroonian Bible translator now lives with his wife, mother, and children in the bush where they are constantly eaten at by mosquitoes. “My children are still too young and I don’t know what I can do now. I am stranded and do not have anything. I have nothing left except the clothes on me; I had them on that morning. All my documents have been burnt, except my ID card that was on me…. I trust in the Living God that I serve, else I should not be here talking now.”

(Photo courtesy of Efi Efi)

These scenes of brutality have plagued Cameroon for several months now. Cameroon was a largely peaceful country until recently when disputes between French-speaking state forces and English-speaking separatists caused violence to break out in the west.

Bruce Smith with Wycliffe Associates explains, “It goes back to the post-colonial season of their history where there was a French-speaking portion of the country and an English-speaking portion of the country that eventually unified to create a federation, which is the current Cameroon. But unfortunately, the people in the western part of the English-speaking majority area has not felt adequately represented or regarded in terms of the governance of the country. This has been growing in recent years and until just [recently] where it has exploded really into this common violence.”

More than 160,000 people have been displaced by the surge of violence in Cameroon, and at least 21,000 have fled as refugees to Nigeria.

Wycliffe Associates has worked with Bible translation partners in Cameroon for about 25 years. The unrest in the country has directly affected Bible translators and their work. One translator, Anka Terence, was among those killed by soldiers in the Ngwo region on May 23rd.

“There has been a number of people that have had their homes burned,” Smith says. “They have had to flee into the bush…. The problem is the violence just seems to continue to be escalating with no end in sight. We’re concerned, naturally, for the people of the country, but also for the progress of Bible translation there as well.”

(Photo courtesy of Wycliffe Associates)

There were 85 Bible translation projects in progress in Cameroon when the violence broke out. About 17 of the Bible translation languages are located in the western region and have either been slowed or come to a dead-stop because of these attacks.

“There is just a huge disruption to the whole family of Bible translation projects that are going on. Even though it’s only affecting 20 percent of them, 20 percent is a pretty large number when it’s your brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Smith explains, “The Church is not really a target in this process, but unfortunately as the Church leaders have tried to mediate this disagreement between different parts of the country, they have also been targeted in lawsuits by the government and basically intimidated in order to back down so that they wouldn’t continue to influence the process.”

Wycliffe Associates is currently seeking to locate other Bible translation partners that have gone missing.

“We’re trying, first of all, to secure the people’s safety, the translators that are part of the teams that have been driven out of their homes. Most of them have lost their fields, they have lost their herds, their animals, things like that as well as their physical homes. They’re basically just surviving [by] hunting and gathering in the bush. So we’re trying to locate them, we’re trying to get them to safe places, trying to help them reconsider resuming their Bible translation work, but they really have to go through some counseling and some adaptation in between now and then in order to make that possible.”

While the hope is to eventually resume the affected Bible translation projects, they also have to recover the lost manuscripts or digital files for those projects and see if they are still viable.

“It’s a huge matter of prayer. It’s an urgent matter for us to respond to financially, so we would invite listeners to be a part of that as well. This is the time for us to stand with our dear brothers and sisters in Christ in Cameroon.”

Culled from Mission Network News

The call for dialogue as a way out of the security crisis in Cameroon’s Anglophone region has been reiterated by the country’s Catholic Bishops.

In an interview with the BBC Focus on Africa, Bishop of Mamfe in the southwest region, Andrew Nkea, stressed that urgent dialogue was required to pull the country back from a “useless and senseless” civil war.

In the interview, he spoke at length about the harrowing experiences that bishops went through during a tour of burnt down regions in the violence hit parts of the Anglophone regions – Northwest and Southwest.

“One of the main things we are stressing is that violence only breeds violence, but if we start talking to each other, we may arrive at a middle point where there will be peace and that is what we want, we want a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

“And this can only come through dialogue, some form of reconciliation, some form of discussion that will bring all the warring parties to save this country from what we call a useless and senseless civil war,” he said.

The regions in question have been riled by armed violence between government and secessionist forces. A cry against marginalization from French-majority Cameroon escalated in October last year when separatists attempted to declare a so-called independent Ambazonia Republic.

The bishop stressed that violence has been on both sides, whiles the army was burning down entire villages, the spearatists were also burning down schools and other state institutions.

The international Crisis Group has identified the church as the most potent political mediator between the government and separatist elements.

Its April 26 report titled: Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis: How the Catholic Church Can Promote Dialogue, averred that the clergy needed to united with a strong common position (between federalism vs. decentralisation) in order to be seen as credible mediators.

Source: Africa News

Shaken by socio-political crises including the Anglophone crisis; incursions from Nigeria by Boko Haram militants, Cameroonian Bishops have urged the faithful to a national novena to pray for peace in the country. The novena to the Holy Spirit started on 11 May and will end on the 19 May.

The novena will end on Saturday, 19 May, the evening of the solemnity of Pentecost. “Christians of Cameroon, let us enter the Upper Room following the Apostles with Mary. Let us become a living cenacle,” the Bishops invited the faithful in their message issued by the Archbishop of Doula, Samuel Kleda. He is also the President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon.

“Christ makes all the arrangements so that we can live today as Christians and that through us others can recognise who He is because being a Christian is a commitment,” Archbishop Kleda said.

The novena in honour of the Holy Spirit is the oldest of all novenas since it was first made at the direction of Jesus Himself when He sent His apostles back to Jerusalem to await the coming of the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost.

Cameroon’s English-speaking minority, which represents about 20% of 25 million Cameroonians, has been protesting the use of French in their law courts and schools. The massive demonstrations, in these areas, have since led to an ongoing crackdown by government forces. UN agencies have spoken of an under-reported humanitarian crisis. Cameroon’s English-speaking Catholic bishops described the situation as “a growing genocide.”

Notwithstanding natural reserves and economic growth in the last ten years, Cameroon continues to face endemic poverty, a high illiteracy rate, corruption, poor sanitation and health delivery challenges. As the novena to the Holy Spirit comes to an end, at the weekend, Cameroon’s Bishops have invited the faithful to go beyond words and accompany their prayers with penance and works of mercy.

Source: Vatican News

Rev Babila Fochang will be signing copies of his latest books Daily Presence Volume 3, 4 and 5 written about faith and belief in the 21st century. The hardcover editions will be made public on Saturday the 26^th of May 2018 at the Sunday School Hall, Presbyterian Church Nsimeyong in Yaoundé at 4:30 pm.

The Daily Presence Volume 3, 4 and 5 has received glowing reviews in Ireland and the UK from Cameroon Concord News Group cream of editors and it is vital to include in this report that the book launch will feature Rev Emmanuel Masok of the Presbyterian Church in Bastos in Yaoundé.

With carefully selected number of pages and handsomely designed, this hardcover series is an ideal Christmas, communion, or birthday present, and will be a cherished part of any family home library in Cameroon and even beyond.

There shall be limited copies available on the evening for a reduced price, so come prepared… this will be a rare opportunity to show community support for Rev Babila George Fochang. The man of God is presently the Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Dublin

Source: National Catholic Reporter