Religion

USA: Cardinal Sean O’Malley ordains first Cameroonian priest

27, May 2024

USA: Cardinal Sean O’Malley ordains first Cameroonian priest 0

In the Archdiocese of Boston, of the Pope St. John Paul XXIII seminary, Archbishop, Sean Cardinal O’Malley ordained Rev John Tanyi Nquah Lebui, the first Cameroonian Priest in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. The historical monument with an imposing presence of 364 feet long, ninety feet high, with a seating capacity of 1,700, the Cathedral of the Holy Cross was full of friends and families from Europe, The Scandinavia, Africa including states in America, all witnessed the dream of a seven year old boy, now 39, ordained into priesthood.

In the Rite of Ordination to the Order of the Presbyter, His Eminence Sean Patrick Cardinal O’Malley, the Principal Celebrant and Homilist, presents the candidates for priesthood. With the authority given to him by Jesus, the priest is called by the Church to serve God’s people. And the candidates publicly respond and announce their readiness and willingness to enter their priestly calling. The Bishop then speaks to the candidates and the congregation the duties of the priest. In return the priest affirms his intention to serve with clear conscience and prayerful spirit after the example of Jesus.

It should be noted that the spiritual rules and the authorities of the Popes has a time span of over 2000 years from the arrival of Peter in Rome to the present day. Therefore, when Cardinal Sean sits in the throne of the Bishop, which is the Cathedral, it is the symbol of authority and power. As successor of the Apostles, wearing his Miter and holding his Pastoral staff, guiding the faithful in faith, hope and charity, the priest then takes the Oath of Promise of Obedience to serve under the authority of the Bishop, and pledges total allegiance and respect to the Bishop and his successor, followed by the singing of the Litany of the Saints.

Born on July 3, 1984, in Tiko, a coastal city of the Southwest region of Cameroon, father Tanyi is one of the eight children of Angela Tanyi and late Francis Tanyi. Rev John Tanyi started his educational background at the Elementary School, St. Mary, Tiko. He further moved to St. Joseph’s college Sasse in Buea, and continued with his undergraduate degree in Philosophy from Uganda Martyrs University, Nkonzi, Uganda and also a master’s degree in international relations from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi Kenya. He was also granted and awarded a Master of Arts in Theology from Boston College.

Rev. John Tanyi Lebui Nquah was ordained with 10 other priests by the Cardinal at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston Massachusetts. Before his priestly ordination, Rev John was ordained to the transitional diaconate in 2023, and assigned to the St. Anne and Thomas Apostle Parish Salem. On May 26th, 2024.Rev John Tanyi will celebrate his first Holy and Thanksgiving Mass at St. Anne Church Salem.

By Agbaw-Ebai Etukeni, Cameroon Concord US Bureau Chief

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.

Cardinal Robert Sarah says Western prelates have lost their nerve

15, April 2024

Cardinal Robert Sarah says Western prelates have lost their nerve 0

An African cardinal widely seen as a conservative critic of Pope Francis, and styled by some as possible candidate for the papacy himself, has warned of what he described as a “practical atheism” taking hold within the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea also repeated his criticism of Fiducia Supplicans, the recent Vatican document authorizing blessings of couples involved in same-sex unions, insisting that it’s not just traditional African culture but Catholic teaching itself which makes the document unacceptable.

Speaking to the episcopal conference of Cameroon, Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea, the Vatican’s former top official for liturgy, criticized Western bishops for their reluctance to oppose secular worldly values, accusing them of a failure of nerve.

“Many Western prelates are tetanized by the idea of opposing the world. They dream of being loved by the world; they’ve lost the desire to be a sign of contradiction,” said the 78-year-old Sarah.

Sarah told the Cameroonian bishops he believes “the Church of our time is experiencing the temptation of atheism. Not intellectual atheism, but that subtle and dangerous state of mind [of] fluid and practical atheism.”

“The latter is a dangerous disease, even if its initial symptoms seem benign,” he said.

According to Sarah, practical atheism is more insidious than its intellectual counterpart, as it does not declare itself openly but seeps into every aspect of contemporary culture, including ecclesiastical discourse.

He asserted that the Church and its leadership has been guilty of “accommodating, of complicity with this major lie that is fluid and practical atheism.”

“We pretend to be Christian believers and men of faith. We celebrate religious rites, but in fact we live as pagans and unbelievers,” Sarah said.

Sarah described “fluid and practical atheism” as a treacherous and elusive force. He compared it to being caught in a spider’s web, where efforts to escape only tighten its grip. This brand of atheism, he argues, is a masterful trap set by Satan himself.

The Church leader emphasized that this form of atheism preys on human frailties and on man’s tendencies to give in to its deceptions. He urged that within the Church, there should be no factions or self-proclaimed saviors, as such divisions play into the adversary’s hands.

“We don’t have to create parties in the Church; we don’t have to proclaim ourselves the saviors of this or that institution,” he said.

“But each of us can decide today: the lie of atheism will no longer pass through me; I no longer wish to renounce the light of faith; I no longer wish, out of convenience, laziness or conformism, to allow light and darkness to cohabit within me,” Sarah said.

“To maintain the spirit of faith,” he said, “is to reject anything that undermines it and to view the world solely through the lens of faith, holding steadfastly to God’s hand,” calling that the only path to true peace and kindness.

Sarah condemned the “bitterness and partisanship” that have plagued the Church, suggesting that these issues are symptomatic of a deeper spiritual crisis. He stressed that only a spirit of faith can foster genuine brotherly love and bring peace to a world ravaged by deceit and conflict.

The cleric also exhorted the episcopate in Africa to defend what he called the “unity of faith” in the face of Western distortions.

Referring to the October 2024 session of the ongoing Synod of Bishops on Synodality, Sarah praised the spirited defense African Church leaders have mounted of traditional doctrine and values.

“At the last Synod, the Church in Africa forcefully defended the dignity of the man and woman created by God. Her voice was ignored and scorned by those whose sole obsession is to please Western lobbies,” Sarah said.

“The Church in Africa will soon have to defend the truth of the priesthood and the unity of the faith. The Church in Africa is the voice of the poor, the simple and the small,” he said.

The cleric noted that while the African Church today plays a critical role in upholding the word of God, Western Christians seem to be misled by their wealth into a false sense of enlightenment and modernity.

Sarah highlighted the unique position of African bishops as guardians of the faith’s universality, standing against those, he said, who fragment the truth and promote a culture of relativism. He praised their role as messengers of divine truth, suggesting that God often chooses the seemingly weak and unpopular to confound the strong and well-regarded.

Sarah also commended the bishops of Cameroon for their opposition to Fiducia Supplicans, the recent Vatican document permitting blessings for same-sex couples and others in non-traditional relationships. Sarah called the Cameroonians’ decision not to implement it as a “bold and prophetic move” that upholds the unity of the Church and the truth of its teachings.

He criticized the notion that African bishops’ resistance to Fiducia Supplicans is rooted in traditional African culture, dismissing such claims as a form of intellectual neo-colonialism.

Instead, Sarah pointed to the Symposium of Episcopal Conference of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM)’s statement, which outlined theological and doctrinal reasons for not adopting such blessings in Africa, including previous declarations on homosexuality, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Sacred Scriptures, and concerns about the language used in the Vatican document.

The President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya, told Crux that Sarah “is a great man of God, an icon of the Catholic Church in Africa and it’s a great opportunity that he is amongst us.”

“He has taught us to go into intimacy with God in silence, because there is so much noise in this world,” Nkea said.

Source: Crux

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

Easter Sunday: The Holy Father calls for end of conflicts

31, March 2024

Easter Sunday: The Holy Father calls for end of conflicts 0

Thousands of people have gathered in Vatican City to celebrate Easter with the pope.

At Easter Sunday Mass, Pope Francis appealed for a ceasefire in Gaza, and for warring countries Russia and Ukraine to free the soldiers they’ve taken captive.

“In calling for respect for the principles of international law, I express my hope for a general exchange of all prisoners between Russia and Ukraine: all for the sake of all!”

The pontiff has been battling respiratory and mobility problems in recent months, and has been unable to carry out some of his regular speeches and duties.

Easter Sunday is Christianity’s holiest day of the year – the day that many believe Jesus Christ was raised from the dead after his crucifixion.

Source: Africa News

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

«< 3 4 5 6 7 >»