Bamenda Archdiocese has not ordained a deacon in four years

Interviewed by Emmanuel F. Sanosi
For four years in a row, the Bamenda Archdiocese  has not had any candidates for Diaconate Ordination. On Tuesday June 24, Christians again lived another disappointment, as not even one  of the 24 deacons who were ordained came from the Bamenda Archdiocese. Six were from Kumbo Diocese, three from Buea and Mamfe respectively, one from Garoua, two from Yagoua, three from the Capuchin Congregation and six from the Piarists Congregation. After the ordination ceremony the Rector of St Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary, Bambui, Rev Fr Agapitus Nfon talked to L'Effort Camerounais about the formation of priests at the seminary.

Father, you must be feeling very happy today. Please tell us something about today's ceremony.
I can't really express it for I am so full of joy. It is God's call and as the Bible says; "The harvest is rich, but the labourers are few." Although the Bamenda Archdiocese itself had no candidate among the deacons, the occasion today brings its formator  great joy.

What happened that Bamenda Archdiocese did not have even one candidate among the lot?
There is no problem at all. People do not give themselves to the priesthood. It is God who calls. As the preacher said, our time has not yet come. I am confident that in the near future, we will get good numbers from the Bamenda Archdiocese.

Christians in Bamenda are worried over the lack of even one candidate in four years now. What do you have to say?
I don't think they should be overly worried. All they need to do is to keep praying for vocations and rest assured that God listens to their prayers.

As rector of the major seminary, how hard is the formation exercise especially with such a huge number of deacons as we saw today?
I have never looked at the difficulties involved in priestly formation. As one of the formators, I feel enormous joy. I am sure the other formators too feel the same. We concentrate on the good fruit that yields from our labour. With as many as twenty-four (24) new deacons today, we feel that God is blessing our work and that encourages us a lot.

There were even candidates as far away as the Diocese of Yagoua, who could have gone to Yaounde, Douala or even Bafoussam. Why does the major seminary in Bambui appeal so strongly to other dioceses?
Credit goes to the pioneer bishops of this seminary, who are the bishops of this Ecclesiastical Province because when they started the seminary they went in with total dedication without any half measures. From the first day they started the seminary as it is supposed to be, following the mind of the Church and the mind of Christ. They also followed all the directives from Rome and our seminary is even affiliated to the Urban University in Rome. Students who pass through our seminary obtain degrees in Theology and Philosophy, which is not the case in some other seminaries in the country. That is why bishops of other provinces send some of their students to our seminary.

This was a class of twenty-six. What happened to two other candidates?
Actually, those two are not left behind as such. Their time has not yet come and we are monitoring them carefully in that light. I can say they will be ready in the very near future. Of the twenty-six in that class, fourteen were regular seminarians of our own seminary. The rest are from various congregations.

Back to Bamenda, can we hope to have any candidates from our archdiocese?
As a matter of fact, we have one candidate for next year and it is our prayer that by God's grace we shall be able to ordain him. It is our fervent hope that we shall have, at least, this one from our own archdiocese.

Father, you don't sound, at all, confident. What really happens when these students put in their candidature? Many people believe that as rector, you choose those you deem worthy.
Not me! It is quite a process. Before a student is admitted into the major seminary he has to go through some screening, scrutiny and discernment with the Vocations Director, the Bishop and the Christian community. So, when they fulfil the entry conditions, which include a minimum of five points at the A/Levels, plus English, French and Religion at the O/Levels, then they start with three years of philosophy after which they do a pastoral year outside. This permits them to have a new experience of the world as they interact with the people wherever they are. We also encourage them, at such times, to pray for guidance to find out if their calling is in the vocation before they make a final commitment.
They then come back to the seminary for four years of theological studies and each year they take a new step, beginning with the official title of Lector, for taking readings in the church. The second year they are made Acolytes, servers on the Altar, and then at the end of the third year, like today, they are ordained deacons.  Finally in the fourth year, around Easter, they are ordained priests.
Each of these steps involves scrutiny. All the formators input their evaluations of each student; although I must point out that it is done very confidentially. When we put down all these evaluations after numerous meetings and consultations with the formators, we make our decision and recommendations and I then forward the final report to the bishops.  They review our suggestions and decide whether the student should be ordained or not.

Several years back some students who were left behind allegedly accused you of denying them Diaconate ordination. What is your reaction to that allegation?
I remember that incident. It was more a result of rumours within the Christian community, which does not really understand how the process goes. The students in question actually came to me and expressed their disappointment at not being chosen, but they also admitted they understood how the procedure evolves. In such matters somebody has to receive the 'spears' and I happened to be in the most obvious office for the blame.

You are the rector. How can you completely absolve yourself of any blame?
That's not what I said. It is true that my opinion on each student carries a lot of weight before the bishop's final decision, but I cannot really decide on a student's journey in the Faith. That is reserved for the bishop.

You still lose a lot of sleep over your evaluation of those who are not accepted. Getting to decide if somebody is holy enough cannot be easy. How do you go about it?
Holiness is not something we can measure. It is God alone who knows. However, the Church has a document which guides all formators on how to evaluate a student, following the four pillars of formation: Human formation, Intellectual formation, Pastoral formation and the Spiritual formation. If a student is lacking in one of these, we naturally are reluctant to let him go. We would rather have him stay back and work on that aspect where we noticed a lack.

The homily  was about a rich harvest and few labourers. How is the Church coping with the few formators as against many students in the seminary?
I would really hesitate before saying that we do not have enough formators. I keep thanking the priests who put in teaching time and other services at the seminary. I remember when I was a student in that same seminary.  The highest number of students we ever had was 58 or so. Today there are over 150 students with 35 others in the spiritual year preparing to come in. I think the numbers are growing and we are having difficulties in handling these numbers, because we need to train them as the Church requires.

What word do you have for those who could not make it this time?
I wish to tell them to have courage, to trust in God and be open to His infinite wisdom. They should let God be God, because it is only by letting Him be thus that you can see what He wants you to be in this life. When we hold somebody back, it does not mean that they do not have the vocation. It is because within the four pillars of formation, there is something lacking and we hold them back for them to be able to correct those shortcomings. For instance, a student can be intelligent, very prayerful and highly dedicated, but then he cannot live with his fellow priest in the same presbytery. Such a person cannot be allowed to go ahead. We must hold him back and help him work on that problem.

Comments

[Fr Sama Muma]

Hi Dear Editor of L"effort camerounais. I hope the editor to notice that there are lots of interviews and the names of those being interviewed is not mentioned like the article above. Just a reminder.