By Ireneaus Chia Chongwain
Many may be asking what the difference is between one year and another. The same events, good and bad, keep repeating themselves in an interminable and incontrollable manner. While it is out rightly idealistic to aspire for a problem-free world, a country’s and our ability in dealing or handling daily problems is really what makes the difference. However we feel, the years go rolling by and with them the Church’s face keeps changing.
There is no denying that 2009 has been an exceptionally eventful year for the Roman Catholic Church in Cameroon. One of the most remarkable happenings for the Church in Cameroon and Africa was the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI’s maiden visit to Cameroon and Angola in March and the ensuing Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops which held in Rome from October 4 to 25, constituting a happy denouement of a historic landmark whose preparation started years back.
During his visit to Africa and during the October synod, the Pope described Africa as the Church’s spiritual lungs, acknowledging that while faith is dwindling in Europe and America, the Church in Africa continues to grow by leaps and bounds. The Church’s quantitative growth in Africa is indisputable, but many continue to question, and not without reason, if the right alchemy between quality and quantity has really and would ever be found.
The condom controversy unfortunately dominated the Pope’s visit to Africa, surreptitiously downplaying the visit’s pastoral angle, but many scientists have subsequently backed the Pope’s position that the use of condoms or latex cannot provide an effective solution to the fight against HIV/AIDS. They confirmed the Pope’s stance that only a behavioural change anchored on spiritual principles will reverse the present frightening HIV prevalence dilemma.
As if the condom controversy was not enough, Cameroon’s ratification of the Maputo Protocol once again did no good to the relations between the Church and State. It was against this backdrop that Synod Fathers called on the Lay Faithful in Africa to steer clear of “imported spiritual toxic waste” and to protect pro-life traditional African family values. In an information-war era, the Church’s voice has to be sustained not only periodically, for, evidently, a more vocal and hostile media stands a greater chance of stultifying the Church’s viewpoints on topical issues, systematically truncating them to the advantage of elusive but powerful interest groups.
The Church continues to undergo perpetual mutation as those who have served it over the years continue to retire and the young and more energetic called in to rejuvenate it. However, many Catholic Christians and thousands of Cameroonians continue to wonder what the Catholic Church in Cameroon will be without His Eminence Christian Cardinal Tumi, who retired last November after serving the Church for over 43 years. Known for expressing his points of view liberally, especially on issues many public figures would prefer his silence, he has spoken out time and again that the Church is an institution where her key actors have to play their role and cede their places to others to accomplish theirs. For a liberal-minded man, there can be no better way of making himself heard, than preaching by example. We hope others will copy his example, even in the secular domain.
His successor, Mgr. Samuel Kleda is young and rigorous and has all the time to establish his pastoral singularity. It may be hasty comparing him to Christian Cardinal Tumi as each person is unique and contributes in diverse ways to the building of the Church. It is also to ensure continuity that Pope Benedict XVI appointed Mgr. Joseph Atanga, former Bishop of Bafoussam as the new Archbishop of Bertoua and Fathers Faustin Ambassa and Sosthene Leopold Bayemi as the Bishops of Batouri and Obala respectively.
While the appointees look forward to taking up their duties in the days ahead, the Church in Cameroon equally continues to look forward to new bishops being appointed and new dioceses created. When exactly that will happen remains the Pope’s discretion. The Church in Cameroon is equally looking forward to receiving a new Apostolic Nuncio, as Mgr. Eliseo Antonio Ariotti, who had a fruitful stay in Cameroon, has been called to serve in Paraguay, South America.
Remarkable changes also took place in the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province in the areas of education, Communication and health with government’s approval of the Catholic University of Bamenda, Radio Evangelium making significant progress towards effective takeoff and more people benefiting from the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province Health Assistance, BEPHA, scheme and the opening of the first ever cardiac centre in Central Africa at Shisong Catholic Hospital.
This is just an indicative, not an exhaustive list of significant happenings that marked the Roman Catholic Church’s life in Cameroon in 2009. They show that the Church in Cameroon is alive and kicking and that those whose duty it is to ensure her continuity, are determined to ensure she becomes even more so. The Church is both a divine and human institution. As we pray that God should continue to protect His Church, Christians should also continue to pray for her leaders, their human frailties notwithstanding, so that when the year that is just round the corner ends, more would have been achieved.
During his visit to Africa and during the October synod, the Pope described Africa as the Church’s spiritual lungs, acknowledging that while faith is dwindling in Europe and America, the Church in Africa continues to grow by leaps and bounds. The Church’s quantitative growth in Africa is indisputable, but many continue to question, and not without reason, if the right alchemy between quality and quantity has really and would ever be found.
The condom controversy unfortunately dominated the Pope’s visit to Africa, surreptitiously downplaying the visit’s pastoral angle, but many scientists have subsequently backed the Pope’s position that the use of condoms or latex cannot provide an effective solution to the fight against HIV/AIDS. They confirmed the Pope’s stance that only a behavioural change anchored on spiritual principles will reverse the present frightening HIV prevalence dilemma.
As if the condom controversy was not enough, Cameroon’s ratification of the Maputo Protocol once again did no good to the relations between the Church and State. It was against this backdrop that Synod Fathers called on the Lay Faithful in Africa to steer clear of “imported spiritual toxic waste” and to protect pro-life traditional African family values. In an information-war era, the Church’s voice has to be sustained not only periodically, for, evidently, a more vocal and hostile media stands a greater chance of stultifying the Church’s viewpoints on topical issues, systematically truncating them to the advantage of elusive but powerful interest groups.
The Church continues to undergo perpetual mutation as those who have served it over the years continue to retire and the young and more energetic called in to rejuvenate it. However, many Catholic Christians and thousands of Cameroonians continue to wonder what the Catholic Church in Cameroon will be without His Eminence Christian Cardinal Tumi, who retired last November after serving the Church for over 43 years. Known for expressing his points of view liberally, especially on issues many public figures would prefer his silence, he has spoken out time and again that the Church is an institution where her key actors have to play their role and cede their places to others to accomplish theirs. For a liberal-minded man, there can be no better way of making himself heard, than preaching by example. We hope others will copy his example, even in the secular domain.
His successor, Mgr. Samuel Kleda is young and rigorous and has all the time to establish his pastoral singularity. It may be hasty comparing him to Christian Cardinal Tumi as each person is unique and contributes in diverse ways to the building of the Church. It is also to ensure continuity that Pope Benedict XVI appointed Mgr. Joseph Atanga, former Bishop of Bafoussam as the new Archbishop of Bertoua and Fathers Faustin Ambassa and Sosthene Leopold Bayemi as the Bishops of Batouri and Obala respectively.
While the appointees look forward to taking up their duties in the days ahead, the Church in Cameroon equally continues to look forward to new bishops being appointed and new dioceses created. When exactly that will happen remains the Pope’s discretion. The Church in Cameroon is equally looking forward to receiving a new Apostolic Nuncio, as Mgr. Eliseo Antonio Ariotti, who had a fruitful stay in Cameroon, has been called to serve in Paraguay, South America.
Remarkable changes also took place in the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province in the areas of education, Communication and health with government’s approval of the Catholic University of Bamenda, Radio Evangelium making significant progress towards effective takeoff and more people benefiting from the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province Health Assistance, BEPHA, scheme and the opening of the first ever cardiac centre in Central Africa at Shisong Catholic Hospital.
This is just an indicative, not an exhaustive list of significant happenings that marked the Roman Catholic Church’s life in Cameroon in 2009. They show that the Church in Cameroon is alive and kicking and that those whose duty it is to ensure her continuity, are determined to ensure she becomes even more so. The Church is both a divine and human institution. As we pray that God should continue to protect His Church, Christians should also continue to pray for her leaders, their human frailties notwithstanding, so that when the year that is just round the corner ends, more would have been achieved.
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