+ Paul Verdzekov
Archbishop Emeritus of Bamenda
On Thursday, 30th November 2006, the Holy See announced that His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI had accepted the resignation of Bishop Pius Suh Awa as Bishop of Buea, and that the same Pontiff had appointed Bishop Immanuel Banlanjo Bushu, hitherto Bishop of Yagoua as the new Bishop of Buea. Bishop Awa handed over the Crozier to his successor in a colourful public celebration of the Eucharist at Soppo on Tuesday, 30th January 2007. Ordained as Co-Adjutor Bishop of Buea on Pentecost Sunday, 30th May 1971, Bishop Awa automatically became Bishop at Buea on 29th January 1973, the day on which Pope Paul VI accepted the resignation of Bishop Jules Peeters, MHM.
A Cameroonian newspaper assesses Bishop Awa's role as Bishop of Buea
In its edition No. 010, Wednesday, February 07 - Tuesday 13th 2007, Page 5, a Cameroonian newspaper, "The Sun", has something to say, by way of assessment, on the ministry of Bishop Awa as Bishop of Buea.
In an editorial entitled; "The Church Must Lead", we read, inter alia:
"After spending the equivalent of Christ's lifetime in Buea, what footprints does the successor to Julius Peeters leave on the sands as he hands over Anglophone Cameroon's first diocese of which he was also the pioneer Cameroonian bishop? Buea is today under the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province - a tribute to Bamenda's relative growth and dynamism. That does not exactly enthuse the population of the South West, who may be tempted to lay the stagnation around Buea at the outgoing Chief Shepherd's door.
The Soppo Cathedral, the oldest this side of the country, stands out by its obsolescence and the torpor that hangs over it…….
Some important ideas necessary for assessing a Bishop's Ministry of leadership
If my fellow Catholics wish to make an assessment of a Bishop's Ministry of leadership, if they wish to engage in an evaluation that is not flawed and therefore pastorally valueless, it seems that they must raise, and face squarely, the following questions: - What is a Bishop in the Catholic Church? Is he a Political Leader, a Civil Servant, the Head of a large company, the Head of a Non-Governmental Organisation? - If the Bishop is the leader of a Diocese, what, exactly, is a Diocese? And what, exactly, is the Catholic Church? -
What are the essential and fundamental tasks and duties of a Bishop in a Diocese ?
In one of its most important Documents, namely, the Dogmatic Constitution on The Church (LUMEN GENTIUM), the Second Vatican Council tells us that "Bishops have …. taken up the service of the community, presiding in place of God over the flock, whose shepherds they are, as Teachers of Doctrine, Priests of Sacred Worship, and Officers of Good Order" (Lumen Gentium, no 20). The same Dogmatic Constitution teaches, furthermore, that "Among the principal duties of Bishops, the Preaching of the Gospel occupies an eminent place. For Bishops are Preachers of the Faith, who lead new Disciples to Christ. They are authentic teachers, that is Teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach to the people committed to them the faith they must believe and put into practice" (Ibid., no. 25). Another essential and fundamental duty entrusted to the Bishop is, according to the above-mentioned Dogmatic Constitution, that of Sanctifying the People entrusted to his pastoral care. "A Bishop, marked with the fullness of the Sacrament of Orders, is the Steward of the grace of the Supreme Priesthood, especially in the Eucharist which he offers, or causes to be offered, and by which the Church constantly grows ……. Every legitimate celebration of the Eucharist is regulated by the Bishop, to whom is committed the office of offering the worship of Christian religion to the Divine Majesty and of administering it in accordance with the Lord's Commandment and with the Church's Laws, as further defined by his particular judgment for his Diocese" (Ibid., no 26). A third essential function entrusted to the Bishop is that of Governance. "Bishops govern the Particular Churches entrusted to them as the Vicars and Ambassadors of Christ…. The Pastoral Office or the habitual and daily care of their sheep is entrusted to them completely. Nor are they to be regarded as Vicars of the Roman Pontiff, for they exercise an authority which is proper to them" (Ibid., no 27). However, the individual Bishop, as the same solemnly teaches, must be in hierarchical communion with the successor of Saint Peter, to whom he is necessarily and obligatorily subject.
Episcopal Ordination
At every Catholic Bishop's ordination, the Ordaining Prelate clearly and publicly admonishes him, to the hearing of all the assembled Faithful, about the essential and fundamental tasks which, by Episcopal Ordination, are entrusted to him as a Bishop.
To the Bishop-Elect, the Ordaining Prelate says, inter alia :
"Proclaim the Message whether it is welcome or unwelcome; correct error with unfailing patience and teaching. Pray and offer sacrifice for the people committed to your care and so draw every kind of grace for them from the overflowing holiness of Christ.
As a steward of the mysteries of Christ in the Church entrusted to you, be a faithful Overseer and Guardian. Since you are chosen by the Father to rule over his family, always be mindful of the Good Shepherd, who knows his sheep and is known by them and who did not hesitate to lay down his life for them" (Roman Pontifical).
Here, again, we see that at his Ordination, the new Bishop is given a triple function by the Church: the Proclamation of the Doctrine of the Faith (Teaching); Sanctification of the People of God; Oversight, Ruling and Governance of the Christian People in his Diocese.
It is the same triple function mentioned in the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on The Church (LUMEN GENTIUM) mentioned earlier.
The triple function, entrusted to the Bishop at his Ordination, must necessarily be taken into consideration by anyone who wishes to carry out an assessment or evaluation of his Episcopal ministry.
The Bishop: Servant of the Gospel
From 30th September to 27th October 2001, the Tenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops was held in Rome under the Presidency of Pope John Paul II. It was the present Archbishop of Yaounde, the Most Reverend Victor Tonye Bakot, who represented the Cameroon National Episcopal Conference at that Synodal Assembly.
Its theme was: The Bishop, Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World.
The Holy Father carefully considered all the Propositions and Suggestions Offered to him by the Synodal Assembly. He then published an authoritative Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation entitled: Pastores Gregis (Pastors of the Flock). He did this on 16th October 2003, which was the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of his Election as Successor of Saint Peter.
Three Chapters of this Apostolic Exhortation consider the three essential and fundamental functions or tasks of every Bishop. Chapter Three considers the responsibility of the Bishop as Teacher of the Faith and Herald of the Word.
Chapter Four takes up his role and function as Minister of the Grace of the High Priesthood.
And Chapter Five takes up the function of The Pastoral Governance of the Bishop. A thorough study of these three Chapters seems to me as absolutely indispensable for anyone who wishes to make an objective, serene balanced and impartial assessment or evaluation of the ministry of a given Bishop.
What is the Diocese of Buea?
The Diocese of Buea, like every Diocese in the Catholic Church, is as the Second Vatican Council tells us, a "portion of God's People which is entrusted to a Bishop to be shepherded by him with the cooperation of the Presbytery. Adhering thus to its Pastor and gathered by him in the Holy Spirit through the Gospel and the Eucharist, this portion constitutes a Particular Church in which the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ is truly present and operative" (CHRISTUS DOMINUS no. 11: Decree of the Second Vatican Council on the Bishops' Pastoral Office in the Church).
The Diocese of Buea is, therefore, a Particular Church, like any other Catholic Diocese, "in which the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church is truly present and operative".
But what is "The Church"? The Dogmatic Constitution on The Church of the Second Vatican Council tells us that "The Church is a kind of sacrament or sign of intimate union with God, and of the unity of all mankind. She is also an instrument for the achievement of such union and unity (Lumen Gentium, no. 1).
This definition of the Church is capital. An objective, impartial and balanced assessment and evaluation of a Particular Church over which a Bishop presides must take this definition into account. The Church is a Communion. The Bishop who presides over a Particular Church (cum Petro et sub Petro - with Peter and under Peter) is not a monarch, Lord, civil servant, civil administrator, economic or political operator, president of a non-governmental organisation or branch manager of a multinational. He is essentially a Pastor of a Particular Church which is, essentially, a Communion.
Is the Catholic Church a Denomination among others?
To some Catholics, this question may seem surprising. In ordinary parlance, they show that they understand the Catholic Church as a Denomination. In such a very serious matter as "Monitoring the heartbeat of the Church", and assessing the ministry of a given Bishop, it is extremely important that we know the right answer to the above question. Is the Catholic Church, in its own self-understanding, a Denomination among others ?
The distinguished American Catholic layman and eminent theologian, George Weigel, gives us the right answer to that question. "A Denomination is something we help create by joining it; according to Vatican II, however, the Church is a divinely instituted Community into which we are incorporated by the Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist). Denominations have members like voluntary associations or clubs; the Church has members as a human body has arms and legs, fingers and toes.
A denomination has moving boundaries, doctrinally and morally; the Church, according to Vatican II, is nourished by Creeds and moral convictions that clearly establish its boundaries. The structures of a denomination are something we can alter at will; the Church, according to Vatican II, has a form, a structure given to it by Christ. Catholicism has Bishops and a Ministerial Priesthood, and Peter's Successor, the Bishop of Rome, presides over the whole Church in charity, not because Catholics today think these are good ways to do things but because Christ wills these for his Church" (George Weigel, The Truth of Catholicism, New York, Cliff Street Books, Harper Collins, 2001, p. 39).
The Catholic Church, indeed, is not a Denomination among others. Informed Non-Catholics know this, even if some Catholics themselves seem not to know. But, as has already been said, it is extremely important for us to keep in mind what the Catholic Church is in order that our assessment and evaluation of its operations may be helpful. The Bishop who presides over a Particular Church is not above criticism by any means. He is human, and is liable to error, even many errors, like the rest of us. However, an objective, impartial and balanced assessment of his ministry must take into account the triple office entrusted to him at his Episcopal ordination, as well as the true nature of the Particular Church over which he presides.
The Bishop: Promoter of the Spirituality of Communion.
An essential and truly fundamental point which my fellow Catholics of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province would need to keep firmly in mind, if they wish to assess a given Bishop's ministry, is that the Bishop has the responsibility of promoting and fostering a Spirituality of Communion in the Particular Church over which he presides. With regard to this responsibility of the Bishop, Pope John Paul II had this to say:
"In my Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte I pointed out the need to make the Church the home and school of communion. This remark had a vast resonance and was taken up by the Synodal Assembly. Obviously the Bishop, in his own spiritual journey, has the primary duty of promoting and encouraging a spirituality of communion, and tirelessly working to make it a basic educational principle wherever human and Christian formation takes place: in Parishes, Catholic Associations, Ecclesial Movements, Catholic Schools and Youth Groups. The Bishop will be particularly concerned to ensure that the spirituality of communion takes root and grows wherever future priests are trained, that is to say, in Seminaries and in Religious Novitiates, in Religious Houses, in Institutes and Faculties of Theology" (Pastores Gregis, no 22).
The promotion and fostering of a Spirituality of Communion at every level in the Particular Church over which he presides must certainly constitute one of the principal criteria for assessing and evaluating the ministry of a given Bishop.
Is the Diocese primarily a 'Development' Agency ?
In any effort to assess and evaluate the Pastoral Ministry of a given Bishop, it seems to me essential that all of us, Catholics of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province, should get our priorities right with regard to our expectations concerning the involvement of our Particular Churches in what have come to be known as "Development Projects."
In this regard, Chapter Five of Anthony Ndi's excellent book entitled: 'Mill Hill Missionaries in Southern West Cameroon', seems to me to be particularly insightful and enlightening. That chapter is entitled; 'Role of the Missions in Educational and Socio-Economic Development'.
Anthony Ndi writes, inter alia: "In considering Missionary contributions to nation-building in Southern (West) Cameroon, the tendency is to think merely of the physical and tangible achievements made in the areas of infrastructure, Schools, Hospitals, Clinics and Agro-Industrial Projects that were realized as part of their integrated approach to Evangelisation.
Consequently, to ordinary observers the real impact of missionary enterprise was and continues to be measured in terms of their contributions to visible, quantifiable and structural developments. Whereas to the missionaries generally, these secular achievements were only a means to spiritual advancement in the country, to many Cameroonians on the other hand, the material attainments were an end in themselves by which the missionaries are frequently unwittingly judged.
There have been occasional pointless arguments as to which of the main Christian denominations made the most contributions to national development. But hardly do those interested in these debates pause to consider how many Catechists, Evangelists, Pastors, Clergymen and Religious who actually constitute the essence of missionary endeavour were produced by the denominations and how many graduates from the various mission institutions really practice the faith they profess…..
Even within the Catholic Church, there are Christians who would prefer to have European missionaries to Diocesan priests in their parishes because the former can more easily solicit funds for development projects for their parishes. The emphasis tends to be on material rather than on spiritual development, far removed from the original intention of the missionaries…
For someone like Bishop Peeters whose zeal for development in Buea Diocese rivalled that of the State, he always strove to know where to draw the line between the Church's involvement in development projects and when this interfered with the principal goal of Evangelization…..
Even in matters of Catholic Education, there has always been a strong tendency among the Laity to rank the Schools according to their performance in Public Examinations. The right emphasis is not placed on the Christian quality of the graduates and the manner in which these institutions have contributed towards the furtherance and deepening of the Catholic Faith" (Anthony Ndi, op. cit., pp 129 - 131).
The foregoing observations of a Cameroonian Catholic layman seem to me to be essential in providing a solid basis for any exercise aimed at making an objective, serene and impartial assessment of the ministry of a given Bishop, and of the Particular Church over which he presides.
What to Expect from the Church
It is absolutely true that on account of a deeper awareness and better understanding of her mission in the world, the Catholic Church is irrevocably and irreversibly committed to the exigencies of integral human development, to the exigencies of Justice and Peace. That is why she becomes involved, in response to the changing needs of times and places, in what are known today as Development Projects.
However, mindful of what has been said earlier on in this article, we should be extremely careful, when assessing or evaluating the ministry of a given Particular Church, i.e., a diocese, that we do not confuse MEANS and ENDS! The Means employed for the purpose of attaining an End, or a Goal, are distinct from that End or Goal.
"Between Evangelisation and Human Advancement - development and liberation - there are in fact profound links. These include links of an anthropological order, because the man who is to be evangelized is not an abstract being but is subject to social and economic questions….." (Evangelii Nuntiandi, no. 31).
That is why, in the Diocese of Buea, for example, the Church, apart from its Schools and Health Institutions, has been involved, at various times, in such Agro-Industrial Development Projects as the Lower Bakundu Self-Help, or the Bangem Agricultural Project.
Pope Paul VI of blessed memory warns us, saying: "We must not ignore the fact that many, even generous Christians who are sensitive to the dramatic questions involved in the problem of liberation, in their wish to commit the Church to the liberation effort are frequently tempted to reduce her mission to the dimensions of a simply temporal project. They would reduce her aims to a man-centred goal; the salvation of which she is the messenger would be reduced to material well-being. Her activity, forgetful of all spiritual and religious preoccupation, would become initiatives of the political or social order. But if this were so, the Church would lose her fundamental meaning" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, no. 32).
It is for this reason that in his very first Encyclical Letter which he signed on Christmas Day, 2005, Pope Benedic XVI tells us, inter alia: "The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible. She cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice. She has to play her part through rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice, which always demands sacrifice, cannot prevail and prosper. A just society must be the achievement of politics, not of the Church. Yet the promotion of justice through efforts to bring about openness of mind and will to the demands of the common good is something which concerns the Church deeply". (Deus Caritas Est, no. 28).
The Church contributes to development through the formation of consciences
The Editorial in "The Sun" Newspaper mentioned in No. 2 above tells us that "The Church is easily the biggest and most potent non-governmental structure in this and other countries. It therefore stands accused if it fails to use that leverage to press the leadership for needed institutional changes".
To my fellow Catholics of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province who might wish to assess or evaluate the role of the Catholic Church in public life, or the ministry of anyone of their Bishops, I would respectfully propose that we all beep firmly in our minds, at all times, the following Teaching of Pope John Paul II concerning the involvement of the Church in the Promotion of Development.
"Today, more than in the past, Missionaries are being recognised as Promoters of Development by Governments and International Experts, who are impressed at the remarkable results achieved with scanty means…… It is not the Church's mission to work directly on the economic, technical and political levels, or to contribute materially to development. Rather, her mission consists in offering an opportunity not to "have more" but to "be more", by awakening their consciences through the Gospel…
The Church and her Missionaries also promote development through Schools, Hospitals, Printing Presses, Universities and Experimental Farms. But a people's development does not derive primarily from money, material assistance or technological means, but from the formation of consciences and the gradual maturing of ways of thinking and patterns of behaviour. Man is the principal agent of development, not money or technology" (Redemptoris Missio, no. 58).
Communiqué of the Diocesan Priests of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province
In the Editorial of "The Sun" Newspaper quoted above, we find the following two sentences: "Buea is today under the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province - a tribute to Bamenda's relative growth and dynamism. That does not exactly enthuse the population of the Southwest, who may be tempted to lay the stagnation around Buea at the outgoing Chief Shepherd's door" (page 5).
Note the transition, almost imperceptible but real, from an affirmation about the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province, to "the population of the Southwest".
Far be it from me to argue or to take issue with anyone concerning the above-mentioned Editorial.
In connection with the Civil Provinces of origin of our Diocesan Priests, I only which to call our attention to a Communiqué which the Association of Diocesan Priests of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province adopted and published at Mutengene on Thursday, 10th July 1997. In that Communiqué, our Diocesan Priests said, inter alia: "The Diocesan Priests of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province totally abjure, and absolutely reject, whatever could sow, or foster division among us, or whatever tends to divide or to categorise us along ethnic, civil provincial or regional lines. Since "In Christ there is no East or West, In Him no South or North" (Cameroon Hymnal, Hymn No. 303), we totally reject our being categorised by anyone as North-Westerners or South-Westerners. For us to accept to be labelled, identified and categorised, first and foremost as North-Westerners and South-Westerners, would be tantamount to endorsing the partisan and divisive agenda of those 'who wish to exploit the tribal sentiments of the weak as a means of arriving at political power' (Pastoral Letter on Tribalism, no. 4). Such an agenda, since it is essentially based upon the promotion of the idolatry of the ethnic group, is patently anti-evangelical. In their Pastoral Letter, the Bishops remind us that 'when messengers of the Gospel allow themselves to be recruited on behalf of partisan interests, they become accomplices of certain attitudes and forms of behaviour which they ought to denounce' (Ibid., no. 2). We make ours the following principle of the great Vietnamese Archbishop, Most Reverend François Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan: 'Do not be particular as to which locality you live or work in, but open wide your heart so that every person may have a place there. Otherwise you will be a Catholic only in name' (The Road of Hope, no. 226).
The only legitimate and admissible distinction among us is that which is based upon our respective Dioceses of Incardination, i.e., the Diocese in which each one of us was incardinated on the day of his ordination to the Diaconate" (Cameroon Panorama, No. 428-429, August/September 1997, pp. 3-4).
It seems that the authors of the foregoing Communiqué, Diocesan Priests of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province, were bearing public witness to what they are in Christ. Their Communiqué sounds a bit like the celebrated Epistle to Diognetus, written in the second decade of the second century, in which we find some characteristics of the Early Christians. In that Document, we read:
"For instance, though they are residents at home in their own countries, their behaviour there is more like that of transients; they take their full part as citizens, but they also submit to anything and everything as if they were aliens. For them every foreign country is a motherland and any motherland is a foreign country…… Though destiny has placed them here in the flesh, they do not live after the flesh; their days are passed on the earth, but their citizenship is above in the heavens".
Diocesan Priests: pro-cultural and counter-cultural
"The schisms and centrifugal tendencies that have rocked the Body of Christ were all born of the clash between unbending conservatism and revised values seeking accommodation. The Maranatha palaver was not between Awa and Ntellah any more than the revival in Bastos was between Bame and Elangwe. They were part of the so-called charismatic movement born of the understandable need to break from the drabness of old canons in favour of more expressive spirituality.
In the Catholic Church it may even be "Ecclessia (sic) in Africa" pushed unexpectedly to its limit". The immediately foregoing quotation is a passage which appears in the Editorial of "The Sun" Newspaper to which reference was made in No. 2 above. Not really understanding it, because I am intellectually incapable of handling the issue of the Maranatha Movement referred to in the Editorial of "The Sun" Newspaper, I completely refrain from any attempt to address the passage quoted above, consistently with what I earlier said in no. 5 above, relative to the purpose of this article. The Priests of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province are totally committed to what is known today as Inculturation. They are so committed because the Second Vatican Council firmly teaches us as follows: "In imitation of the plan of the Incarnation, the Young Churches, rooted in Christ and built up on the foundation of the Apostles, take to themselves in a wonderful exchange all the riches of the nations which were given to Christ as an inheritance (cf. Ps. 2:8). From the customs and traditions of their people, from their wisdom and their learning, from their arts and sciences, these Churches borrow all those things which can contribute to the glory of the Creator, the revelation of the Saviour's grace, or the proper arrangement of Christian life" (Ad Gentes, no. 22).
The Fathers of the First Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops held at Rome from 10th April to 8th May 1994 treated the issue of Inculturation at considerable length. On 14th September 1995, Pope John Paul II signed and promulgated his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, ECCLESIA IN AFRICA, at the Nunciature in Yaounde. Chapter Three of that Apostolic Exhortation is all about Inculturation. From Wednesday 17th to Sunday 21st March 1999, hundreds of elected Delegates from every part of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province celebrated the Seventh Catholic Convention at Sacred Heart College, Mankon. These Delegates represented every Parish in the four Dioceses of this Ecclesiastical Province, as well as participants representing the main Associations of Christ's Lay Faithful, the Ecclesial Movements, all Institutes of the Consecrated Life, and the Clergy, in short, all the components of the Mystical Body of Christ in the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province. The one and only point of business addressed by this Convention in five days of very intensive work was the Drawing up of a Provincial Pastoral Plan based on the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation: Ecclesia in Africa. The 254 - page Report of that Convention, printed by Copy Printing Technology, Bamenda, contains our Provincial Pastoral Plan drawn up an adopted by the Convention. It was certainly because of this that all Christ's Lay Faithful, Members of Institutes of Consecrated Life, and the Clergy must be resolutely and unambiguously Pro-Cultural.
However, it is not just anything that is admissible in the Catholic Church just because its author, or authors, claims to be engaged in Inculturation. The Catholic Church is not in the business of folklore.
Inculturation is only admissible in the Catholic Church if it complies with two essential and fundamental Criteria, namely;
i. Compatibility with the Gospel, and
ii. Communion with the Universal Church.
It is the Bishop of the Particular Church who, in a spirit of effective and affective collegiality with his brother Bishops, has the grave personal responsibility to see to it, welcome or unwelcome, that the right order is observed in this matter in the Diocese over which he presides in charity.
The Bishop's responsibility for discipline
It is extremely important for all of us, Catholics, to understand and appreciate the grave responsibility of a Bishop for discipline among all categories of Christ's Faithful in his Diocese. With regard to all the Priests of the Diocese, the following Teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is extremely important and pertinent. Quoting directly from Lumen Gentium, the Catechism says:
"The Priests, prudent co-operators of the Episcopal College and its support and instrument, called to the service of the People of God, constitute, together with their Bishop, a unique sacerdotal college (presbyterium) dedicated, it is true, to a variety of distinct duties. In each local assembly of the Faithful they represent, in a certain sense, the Bishop, with whom they are associated in all trust and generosity; in part they take upon themselves his duties and solicitude and in their daily toils discharge them' (Lumen Gentium, no. 28 §2)
Priests can exercise their ministry only in dependence on the Bishop and in communion with him.
The promise of obedience they make to the Bishop at the moment of ordination and the kiss of peace from him at the end of the ordination liturgy mean that the Bishop considers them his co-workers, his sons, his brothers and his friends, and they in turn owe him love and obedience "(Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1567). Indeed, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting the Conciliar Constitution Lumen Gentium rightly says, no Catholic Priest can claim to have a personal ministry which he can exercise independently outside of the Bishop. That is why the Communiqué of our Diocesan Priests issued at Mutengene on July 10th 1997, rightly quotes the letter of Saint Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans in which h
No matter how you slice it, dear Archbishop, Bishop Awah was a dictatorial bishop, who ALWAYS suppressed others' initiatives and opinions. His style of rulership was deadening to the spirit of the good people of the Diocese of Buea, and we are happy to see his back at long last. May he enjoy his retirement and contemplate the cold water that he doused the people for more than 30 long years. Dear Archbishop Verdzekov, even a bishop of the church is a human being and this human being erred seriously, but I do not think he has it in him to apologise. Just my opinion.
Posted by: Fan Lameny | April 29, 2007 at 02:18 AM
Bishop Awa has been an assidious servant of God during his ruling as the Shepherd of the Buea Diocese. My greatest thanks to you his lordship and may God give you the peace of mind you need at this moment of your retirement.
Posted by: Emile Claude AGHA | May 01, 2007 at 04:48 PM
Well done Good and faithful servant. Indeed we recognise the good works you did for the Buea Diocese his Lordship P. Awa. I wish you a happy and peaceful retirement.
Posted by: Tabe Florence NGONDA | May 01, 2007 at 04:52 PM