A Bible translator in Cameroon was butchered to death on Sunday morning during an overnight attack while his wife’s arm was cut off, according to a ministry source.

Bible translator Angus Abraham Fung was among seven people said to have been killed during an attack carried out by suspected Fulani herdsmen sometime during the early hours of Sunday morning in the town of Wum, according to Efi Tembon, who leads a ministry called Oasis Network for Community Transformation.

Located in Cameroon’s violence-ridden Anglophone region where separatists are fighting for independence, Wum is among several localities where youth from the nomadic Fulani herding community are being encouraged by government actors to carry out attacks against local farming communities that support the separatist rebels, Tembon said.

Tembon, who at times worked on projects in Wum before he was forced to flee the country after speaking to the U.S. Congress about the conflict in June 2018, said he was told by sources in the town that Fulani herders stormed five homes Saturday night into Sunday morning.

“They went into houses and pulled out the people,” Tembon explained to The Christian Post. “They attacked in the night and nobody was expecting. They just went into the home, pulled them out and slaughtered them.”

Tembon said that he was not informed as to how many people were injured in the attack, but only that Fung’s wife, Eveline Fung, had her arm cut off and is receiving a blood transfusion at a local hospital.

As for the Bible translator, Tembon was told that Fung was cut to death with a machete.

“I don’t know what prompted the attack. They just came in and killed people at the home,” Tembon added, stating that most of the victims were older men.

Fung was in his 60s and served for years with Wycliffe Bible Translators working on a New Testament translation in the Aghem language, a project that was completed in 2016.

“He was one of the key community leaders in the whole tribe and he was part of the translation services and also coordinated literacy efforts,” Tembon explained. “So, he was a huge part of the literacy work because their language had never been written before. So, he was the one coordinating it and teaching the language. So many people now can read and write the language as a result of Angus’ work.”

Although the New Testament translation for the Aghem language was completed and over 3,000 copies have been published, Tembon said that distribution has not happened because of the war in the region.

“This war is a complete disruption of what has been going on,” Tembon stated. “We haven’t been able to dedicate it because of the war. We are doing what we call listening groups. We have done the recording and started listening groups where people come and listen to scriptures together in the community.”

According to Tembon, Wum is a rural town of no more than 5,000 people. About 90 percent of the town’s people consider themselves to be Christian but also practice traditional religions. While the local people live and farm in the town, Muslim Fulani herders live and graze their cattle on a hill outside the town.

But because the area is controlled by separatists, he claimed the government has encouraged and even armed Fulani to carry out attacks against the separatist-supporting communities as a way of pushing a “religious twist” to the conflict.

“The government knows that the local people are supporting the local forces,” he explained. “The Fulani are Muslim and they are a minority in the area. And they always have a farmer-grazer problem between the local people and the Fulani.  The government uses that now to get the Fulani on their side as an ally to fight the local people. So they have been armed and protected by the government and terrorize the local people.”

Tembon noted that not all Fulanis are a party to such attacks, adding that some Fulani have even joined the separatist rebels and some Fulani live in the town with the rest of the local community.

Tembon stressed that Sunday’s attack is not the first to have happened in Wum. In June, villagers in Wum were reportedly attacked and several homes were burned down, including the palace of the local chief.

“They have burned churches and have killed people in several areas,” he said. “The local people have killed their cows as revenge.”

In May, Pastor Keloh Elijah, a graduate of Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary in Ndu and served at Bitu Baptist Church, was reported to have been among many people killed during a military invasion in the Mfumte area.

“Many other people were killed in the area,” Tembon said at the time. “The military has search and lotted homes and burnt down several houses.”

The Anglophone conflict began in 2016 as separatists began protesting for autonomy because they felt underrepresented in the majority-French-speaking central government. Since then, tens of thousands of people have fled from their homes as a result of the violence.

As many as 50,000 people have fled from Cameroon in Nigeria, Ghana, and other neighboring countries while as many 700,000 are internally displaced, according to Tembon.

“The international community puts the number of those killed at 2,000. But I believe they are intentionally keeping the numbers low so as not to be accused of looking away,” he contended. “Personally, I do think the number of those killed cannot be lower than 7,000 people during the last three years.”

Source: Christian Post

A prominent Catholic bishop in Cameroon has been released by his abductors in the country’s volatile English-speaking Northwest region.

“Bishop George Nkuo of Kumbo Diocese has been released by his captors. He is back in the parish and in good health,” the officials said in a statement.

Armed separatists claimed responsibility for kidnapping the bishop last week, claiming that they “wanted him to pray and bless us.”

The abduction came barely a week after two Catholic priests were kidnapped in the region.

Kidnapping of priests has become widespread in the region since an armed conflict started in 2017.

Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest regions are English-speaking, while the rest of about 80 percent of the country is French-speaking.

Separatists in the two English-speaking regions have been fighting government forces in an effort to establish a separate state.

About 530,000 people have been displaced internally and hundreds killed by the conflict, according to the United Nations.

Father Gabriel Afumbom of St. John the Baptist Church in Bamenda, Cameroon, spoke about the crisis in his country during Mass, urging Christians to rely on the Rosary, calling it the weapon handed over by the Virgin Mary to fight evil.

“Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the best way to fight evil is through prayer. The Virgin Mary has given us a very powerful prayer – the Rosary. So, I believe that through the Rosary, we can conquer every evil that is around us,” the priest said.

End violence

Archbishop Jean Mbarga of Yaoundé speaking during the Feast of the Assumption called on the Virgin Mary to intercede for the nation “in this time of crisis.” He also called for an end of violence in the Anglophone areas of the country, so that the children can go to school.

Besides the conflict in the English-speaking parts of the majority French-speaking country, Cameroon has recently suffered attacks from Boko Haram in the north, an influx of refugees from Nigeria and the Central African Republic, and tensions with neighbor Equatorial Guinea.

The Anglophone crisis started in October 2016 with a strike by English-speaking teachers and lawyers protesting perceived attempts by the Francophone-dominated administration to assimilate the Anglo-Saxon educational and legal systems practiced in anglophone Cameroon, which represents about 20 percent of the population.

Government security forces responded with violence against the peaceful protesters, causing many of them to accuse the central government of bad faith.

An armed rebellion soon broke out, with an extremist segment of English speakers calling for the independence of the two Anglophone regions, to be called Ambazonia.  Over 2,000 people have been killed, and over 400,000 have been forced from their homes.

The separatists have made a school boycott a cornerstone of their secessionist strategy, with over 80 percent of children forced out of classes. Schools that tried to defy the boycott were burned down and students and teachers kidnapped.

Bishops outspoken

The country’s English-speaking bishops have been outspoken during the crisis, both in protesting injustices by the central government and condemning the abuses committed by both sides in the conflict.

“Let the children go to school,” said Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua of Bamenda, the capital of the English-speaking North West Region, according to CRUX news service.

He said education was a fundamental right for children, and that nothing justified their being deprived of schooling. Rebel leaders have insisted they will not back down, and that the boycott is necessary to bring the central government to the negotiating table.

Albert Ndong, who received his first Holy Communion on the Assumption, has been out of school for two years now. The second grader said he hopes things will return to normal for him soon, so he can continue his pursuit of knowledge.

“I am very happy to have received the Body of Christ today,” he told Crux.

Our life does not end here

“I beseech the Blessed Virgin Mary to intercede for me to remain holy. But I really want the Mother of our Savior to help us end this crisis. I want to go back to school, and I trust our mother Mary will help us end the war so I can go back to school,” Ndong said.

Esua said a lasting resolution to the crisis will be predicated on the Christian community accepting the very meaning of the Assumption.

“What the Assumption teaches is that our life does not end here. Our life continues in heaven. And it reminds us that our body, like our soul, is destined for glorification and therefore we should respect human life, respect our bodies, the bodies of other people; endeavor to avoid sin, and, following the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we shall all get there,” he said.

Source: Newsbook

A leading Cameroonian archbishop has called for an end of violence in the Anglophone areas of the country, so that the children can go to school.

Archbishop Jean Mbarga of Yaoundé was speaking during the Feast of the Assumption and called on the Virgin Mary to intercede for the nation “in this time of crisis.”

Besides the conflict in the English-speaking parts of the majority French-speaking country, Cameroon has recently suffered attacks from Boko Haram in the north, an influx of refugees from Nigeria and the Central African Republic, and tensions with neighbor Equatorial Guinea.

Yaoundé is the capital of Cameroon and located in the Francophone part of the country. Mbarga’s specific call for peace in the English-speaking North West and South West Regions is a rare case of the country’s French-speaking bishops particularly addressing the issue.

The Anglophone crisis started in October 2016 with a strike by English-speaking teachers and lawyers protesting perceived attempts by the Francophone-dominated administration to assimilate the Anglo-Saxon educational and legal systems practiced in anglophone Cameroon, which represents about 20 percent of the population.

Government security forces responded with violence against the peaceful protesters, causing many of them to accuse the central government of bad faith.

An armed rebellion soon broke out, with an extremist segment of English speakers calling for the independence of the two Anglophone regions, to be called Ambazonia.

Over 2,000 people have been killed, and over 400,000 have been forced from their homes.

The separatists have made a school boycott a cornerstone of their secessionist strategy, with over 80 percent of children forced out of classes. Schools that tried to defy the boycott were burned down and students and teachers kidnapped.

The country’s English-speaking bishops have been outspoken during the crisis, both in protesting injustices by the central government and condemning the abuses committed by both sides in the conflict.

“Let the children go to school,” said Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua of Bamenda, the capital of the English-speaking North West Region.

He said education was a fundamental right for children, and that nothing justified their being deprived of schooling. Rebel leaders have insisted they will not back down, and that the boycott is necessary to bring the central government to the negotiating table.

Albert Ndong, who received his first Holy Communion on the Assumption, has been out of school for two years now. The second grader said he hopes things will return to normal for him soon, so he can continue his pursuit of knowledge.

“I am very happy to have received the Body of Christ today,” he told Crux.

“I beseech the Blessed Virgin Mary to intercede for me to remain holy. But I really want the Mother of our Savior to help us end this crisis. I want to go back to school, and I trust our mother Mary will help us end the war so I can go back to school,” Ndong said.

Esua said a lasting resolution to the crisis will be predicated on the Christian community accepting the very meaning of the Assumption.

“What the Assumption teaches is that our life does not end here. Our life continues in heaven. And it reminds us that our body, like our soul, is destined for glorification and therefore we should respect human life, respect our bodies, the bodies of other people; endeavor to avoid sin, and, following the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we shall all get there,” he said.

Father Gabriel Afumbom of St. John the Baptist Church in Bamenda also spoke about the crisis during Mass, urging Christians to rely on the Rosary, calling it the the weapon handed over by the Virgin Mary to fight evil.

“Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the best way to fight evil is through prayer. The Virgin Mary has given us a very powerful prayer – the Rosary. So, I believe that through the Rosary, we can conquer every evil that is around us,” the priest said.

Source: Angelusnews

I send my warmest greetings to all Muslims celebrating Eid al-Adha.

Eid al-Adha honours Abraham’s obedience to God’s command in agreeing to sacrifice his only son. Seeing Abraham’s remarkable demonstration of faith, God stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son and gave him a lamb to sacrifice instead. In like manner, an animal is sacrificed ritually, and the meat is shared with the poor, relatives, friends and neighbours during Eid al-Adha.

During these three days of Eid al-Adha, we join the community thanks in the spirit of shared thankfulness for the blessings we have been given, and reflect on our duties towards one another during these very challenging times for our country.

In the spirit of Eid al-Adha, may we all resolve to be more giving towards one another, especially towards those who have been hardest hit by the ongoing war.
Happy celebrations to Ambazonia’s Muslim community and goodwill to Muslims worldwide.

Respectfully,
Dabney Yerima

Vice President, Interim Government (IG) Federal Republic of Ambazonia

Cameroon Muslims are looking for alternatives for the sacrifice as recommended by prophet Muhammad on the day of the Eid al-Adha feast. Sheep, traditionally slaughtered, have become very scarce as a result of the Boko Haram conflict and separatist war in the country’s main production areas.

Hundreds of Muslims are buying food stuffs from the popular market called “Marche Huitieme” in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde in preparation for the feast of sacrifice.

In Cameroon, large numbers of sacrificial animals, especially sheep, are slaughtered and their meat distributed to the poor as a religious tradition in Islam.

41-year old Abdoul Aziz says for the first time in 20 years, he will not have a sheep to sacrifice.

He says with the scarcity of sheep, he has decided to buy either a she or he goat. He says he does not want to miss a religious rite just because prices of the few sheep he has seen have increased drastically.  He says the prices of goats are also increasing.

Aziz said because of the scarcity, some families are buying chickens, leading to arguments on whether the substitution is religiously correct.

Mohaman Aboubakar, assistant Imam of Yaounde’s central Mosque says Islam allows people to adjust with the changing times.

Imam Aboubakar says their religion finds nothing wrong if Cameroon Muslims who can not find the sheep they traditionally bought to slaughter in honor of Abraham’s willingness to slay his son Ishmael at Allah’s request, turn to goats and fowls today. He says the scarcity that started so many years ago with camels is now affecting cows and sheep.

Most of the sheep sold in Cameroon towns comes from the area around the central African state’s northern border with Nigeria that has been suffering Boko Haram atrocities, or from the English speaking Northwest and Southwest regions where separatists have been fighting to create an English speaking state, or neighboring Chad.

Issa Tchiroma, Cameroon minister of employment and vocational training, and a Muslim, says the crises the country is facing has had negative impacts on livestock production.

He says many people have escaped from ranches in the far north region of Cameroon due to Boko Haram terrorism, and from the English speaking north west region because of the war against separatist groups. He says on Cameroon’s border with Nigeria alone, close to five five thousand cattle and an unknown number of sheep have been stolen by Boko Haram terrorists.

In 2016, the World Bank approved a $100 million fund to help Cameroon improve the productivity and competitiveness of livestock production over six years. It said besides replenishing what had been lost as a result of the Boko Haram conflict, the program would help build resilience to climate change and improve the nutrition status of vulnerable populations.

Last July, Cameroon began distributing 60,000 goats and sheep to young people in villages along the border with Nigeria to provide livestock for a basic income, and replenish what has been lost in order to stop the Islamist militant group from recruiting the youths.

More than a thousand Mbororos, who are indigenous people in Cameroon have also fled their cattle ranches following repeated attacks and seizure of their cattle by separatists fighting for the creation of an English speaking state. The Mbororos say they are victimized and killed because they refuse to join the fight.

Source: VOA

As a separatist uprising in Cameroon enters it fourth year, Cardinal Christian Tumi is calling for a federal system to end the crisis and keep the country unified.

About 80 percent of Cameroon is French-speaking. However, the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon are majority English-speaking, a legacy of the colonial history of the country: Cameroon was originally German, but after World War I the defeated country transferred it to the Allies, and it was divided between France and Britain.

In October 2016, strikes by lawyers and teachers over perceived attempts by the Francophone administration to assimilate the legal and educational systems practiced in the two English-speaking regions turned violent, and morphed into rising demands by Anglophone Cameroonians for independence.

“At reunification, I was 32 years old. I opted for federalism, and it’s in my blood,” Tumi told Crux.

In 1960, the northern part of Cameroon administered by France gained its independence. The southern part administered by Britain as part of Nigeria was in 1961 subject to a plebiscite in which they were offered independence by reuniting with their francophone Cameroonian “brothers” or by remaining part of Nigeria.

The results showed an overwhelming desire by English-speaking Cameroonians to reunite with the French-speaking part of Cameroon.

The “marriage” was guaranteed by a Federal Constitution that was meant to preserve and protect the minority Anglophones and their colonial heritage. But in 1972 then-President Ahmadou Ahidjo organized a referendum that dissolved the federation in favor of a united republic, thereby removing the protections Anglophones enjoyed.

Ever since, relations between Anglophones and the Francophone-dominated government have been tense. The 2016 demonstrations broke out after there were demands to use French in the common law courts and English-modeled schools used in the Anglophone regions.

The ensuing fighting between the separatists and government forces has led to the deaths of at least 2,000 people, and the displacement of a further 500,000.

Tumi said a return to a federal system will be the foundation for a more sustainable peace and stability in Cameroon.

“I don’t have the number of states I want,” Tumi said, alluding to several different federal proposals being presented by different parties.

“We can begin as we were at reunification -with two states; but with time, experience would instruct us on whether we need more. History is before us. Other countries like the USA did not start with the 50 states they have today. Neighboring Nigeria did not start with the number of states they have today,” the cardinal explained.

Tumi is working with other religious leaders from other Christian denominations and the Muslim world to organize what he has called an “Anglophone General Conference.”

“The conference isn’t an end in itself,” the cardinal said. “What we want is to inform Cameroonians on what is happening in the English-speaking regions of the country.”

Tumi said many people, including President Paul Biya, “have no clue” about what is happening in the conflict zone.

“And since Anglophones are complaining, we want to give them a voice through a broad-based consultation so that they can tell us what they want and what they are proposing as a solution,” he said.

He added the conference will come up with a questionnaire that will enable Anglophones clearly to identify the problems they face and propose a solution.

“For instance, we will ask them: Between federalism and the unitary state, what form of government, in your opinion, could likely help us come out of this crisis?” Tumi said.

The cardinal said the organizers will then try to meet with Biya to transmit the resolutions of the conference, and to implore the president to organize a national dialogue on the Anglophone crisis.

Although a date has not yet been fixed, organizers say it will likely take place in October.

However, in a rare act of unity, both the government and the separatists have expressed skepticism about the proposed conference.

Separatist’s leaders say Tumi’s conference and its perceived “federalist stance” can only serve to foster government interest.

“The government of the Republic of Cameroon has proven over and over that it cannot be trusted. The only negotiation we can tolerate with that government is to lay down the terms of our separation,” said separatist leader, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

Government Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary accused Tumi of working to foster the separatist agenda.

“Federalism is the anti-chamber of secession,” Tchiroma said.

But the cardinal said he can’t understand why people want to discredit a conference, “whose sole purpose is to find a solution to a crisis that is killing many people.”

“Our sole objective is that peace should return without which we would not be able to do our missionary work,” he said.

Source: Crux

The nations highlighted in religious freedom reports produced by the State Department and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom include countries guilty of the worst repression and violence against religion in the world, including North Korea and China.

While these lists focus primarily on countries where religious association or observance is restricted, they leave off countries that put limits on acceptable forms of thought, action and expressions of conscience.

These are places like the nation of Cameroon, where religion (when understood in terms of religious conscience) is forced to hide in plain sight.

Cameroon, red, in western Africa. Map courtesy of Creative Commons

In Cameroon, a country where I served as a Fulbright professor in 2009, decades of systematic injustices visited upon the English-speaking minority by the French-speaking majority have brought the country to the brink of civil war.

Decades of political and economic marginalization have given rise to spurts of resistance by English-speaking leaders. This includes visible resistance coming from church leaders.

The Cameroonian government has not tolerated much public dissent from any quarter, including the faith sector, and has acted aggressively to tamp down groups it sees as a threat.

In 2013, for example, the government closed down 100 Pentecostal churches for what it claimed was criminal activities. The churches denied any wrongdoing. Instead, they believe the shutdown was to stop them from criticizing the government.

The government also took aim at dissenters by intermittently shutting down internet access in the two English-speaking provinces for 240 days between January 2017 and March 2018.

Churches have prevailed nonetheless as a platform for public dissent.

One of the most consistent critics of governmental policies and practices has been Christian Tumi, a Roman Catholic Cardinal whose outspokenness has subjected him to death threats and constant government surveillance. Cardinal Tumi’s vocal criticism of the government has emboldened other Catholic clergy to speak out.

This has resulted in the suspicious killings of at least seven priests and two Catholic sisters in recent decades and the banning of the Catholic Radio Veritas station.

Within the past few years, opposition to the government turned into armed struggle. This has pitted militias of young English-speaking men against federal troops who have engaged in violent putdowns of dissenting combatants and noncombatants alike.

Since the 2016 beginning of the secessionist uprising, more than 2,000 civilians have been killed or have “disappeared.” More than 400 were killed in 2018 alone. At least 437,000 persons have been displaced.

A church in Nkambe, Cameroon. Photo by Kintong/Creative Commons

The latter part of 2018 was especially costly for Cameroonian churches.

Seventy-nine children and three staff persons from a Presbyterian school were kidnapped in November of that year, presumably by separatists who demanded schools purportedly biased against English-speakers be closed down.

The kidnapped children and school staff were later released.

Among those less fortunate: a Presbyterian missionary from the U.S. was killed reportedly by government soldiers in October; a Cameroonian Catholic priest was shot and killed in July; a Catholic seminarian was shot and killed in October; and a Kenyan priest was shot and killed in November — all allegedly by government soldiers.

Charles Trumann Wesco was killed Oct. 30, 2018, in Cameroon.

In addition, four Presbyterian churches were taken over by the government for use as military barracks, and 100 Presbyterian ministers have been forced to flee their homes.

“When churches attempt to mediate or assist members of one side of the crisis, they become targets for those on the other side of the conflict,” Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern, told Fox News earlier this year.

The situation in Cameroon has become quite grave, but it is baffling that a situation where such precipitous declines of religious and political freedom have been occurring could go without mention in annual reports from USCIRF and the State Department.

It is a clear indicator of the problematic criteria used within international religious freedom circles for assessing and advancing freedom around the world.

An emphasis on free exercise of religious concern and conscience brings with it a certain moral capital that carries weight with Republicans and Democrats alike.

Hopefully, opportunities for more effectively bringing that capital to bear on behalf of global freedom will not be squandered due to overly narrow conceptions of freedom.

Culled from Religion News Service

HOMILY AT THE MASS OF THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY TO THE PRIESTHOOD OF REV. FR. MAURICE AGBAW-EBAI

BOSTON, USA, 28TH JULY, 2019

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today is a very important day in the life of Rev. Fr. Maurice Agbaw Ebai, Priest of the Diocese of Mamfe, Cameroon and Pastor of St. Anne’s Parish in the Archdiocese of Boston, United States of America. On this day, we have all joined to render thanks to Almighty God, who ten years ago, called Fr. Maurice to make a complete and irreversible donation of his entire life to the service of and to pour out his life as a libation for the redemption of souls. On this day, ten years ago, Fr. Maurice died with Christ on his altar of sacrifice, and after his ordination, he could say with St. Paul, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Jesus Christ his Son, and to the Church that is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. On this day, ten years ago, Fr. Maurice prostrated himself before God and the Entire Church gathered in prayer, to empty himself of himself

My dear people of God, gathered here with Fr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai to celebrate his tenth anniversary, I welcome you all to this great day in the life of this priest and I want to apologize  that I could not stay in America long enough to be present at this occasion which I had agreed to preside over and preach. But since urgent duties recalled me home to the Diocese of Mamfe and the Church in Cameroon, I decided to ask Fr. Dieudonne Akawung, the Diocesan Finance Administrator to come to Boston and to preach this homily on my behalf which I had written to preach myself. I know that Fr. Dieudonne will deliver the homily well on my behalf, but the only difference is that he will be delivering the homily without a miter on his head. Some people in Mamfe had asked me if I was going all the way to the United States to celebrate only a tenth anniversary, the what would I do if it were a silver Jubilee? My answer to them was a quotation from the Psalmist who said “One day in his house is better than a thousand elsewhere” and again, the same Psalmist who said in another instance that “a thousand years for God is like a day just come and gone”(Ps.90:4). To be a priest even for one day only, brings a lot of glory and honour to name of Jesus Christ who is the Supreme High Priest of the New Covenant. If after nine years of seminary formation, a priest had the chance to celebrate only one Mass and died, he would have fulfilled the reason for his ordination, because his first Mass and  the Mass of his  golden Jubilee in the priesthood is one continuous sacrifice, during which he re-enacts in an un-bloody way, the bloody sacrifice offered by Jesus Christ on the Cross for the salvation of the world. Therefore, this celebration is not about Fr. Maurice, it is about glory and honour to the Name of Jesus Christ whom he has been so blessed to serve with devotion and loyalty all these ten years.

However, while we give honour and glory to God, we must remember the quote from St. Augustine who said “Without God, we cannot. Without us, God will not”. It is in this light I wish to join you all and say to Fr. Maurice, a big Congratulations on your tenth anniversary. Within these ten years, God has used your hands to dispense his blessings to thousands of people, God has used your mouth and your voice to bring his Good News and consolation to thousands of Christ’s Faithful. Within these ten years, God has used you to bring absolution and forgive the sins of thousands of people everywhere in the confessionals. Within these ten years, many have been born through you in the waters of baptism, and above all everyday, you have stood in the place of Christ to celebrate the Eucharist and raise the cup of salvation on behalf of the people of God entrusted to your care. Fr. Maurice and many of us will now understand better what St. Augustine meant when he said “without us, God will not”. Thank you Father Maurice for making yourself an instrument in the hands of God for all these years so that God’s graces may come down from heaven and rest on his people on earth. Through you, heaven is wedded to earth and man is reconciled with God. For this, we can only say “Glory be to God on high, and congratulations to you, man of goodwill.”

In the Letter to the Hebrews, it is stated that every high priest has been taken out of mankind, and is appointed to act for men in their relations with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins… No one takes this honour on himself, but each one is called by God as Aaron was (Heb. 5:1-4).

The priesthood thus is a gift and at the same time, it is a mystery. It is a gift in the sense that it is freely given by God. That is why Christ says in John 15:16 that you did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last.

It is a mystery because it is something that can never be understood. How can a human being command God to come into bread? How can human being touch water and it becomes holy? How can a human being throw a bit of water on your head and original sin is taken away? How can a human being wave his hands in the air and impart the blessing of God? How can a human being say “I absolve you” and sin is taken away? This remains a mystery, more or less like the Trinity, the most ancient of all mysteries. Even the priest who carries the priesthood in him does not fully understand it. He simply exercises this ministry in faith, knowing that the Lord who called him and whom he is serving, will not let him down.

The priest is a man of God and he  never acts in his name but in the name of the one who sent him. That is why every time the priest carries out   liturgical function, he does so in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. He never does this in his own personal name.

There are two things I would like  you people to understand today about priests on this day on the tenth anniversary celebration of Fr. Maurice .

The first is that Priests called by God are human and sinners like all other people. That is why St. Paul Says in 2Cor. 4:7; that we are only earthenware jars that hold this treasure, to make it clear that such an overwhelming power comes from God and not from us. Priests fall down in different ways from time to time. The twelve Apostles called on Holy Thursday to be priests were men, with faults and failings. Fr. Columba, an Irish Priest said in one of his homilies  that The first Pope, St. Peter was rash and bad tempered. He also denied Christ in His hour of need. St. Mathew was a swindler who co-operated with his country’s enemies. And poor St. Thomas wasn’t too sure about what he believed or where he stood. If God only relied on the virtuous and the perfect, he would have very few (or no) priests. I for one standing here would not even come any where near the altar.

In this regard, I want to say that most often Christians see the man in the priest and not the priest in the man. Many people only look at the man in the priest, and some people may not even believe in the miraculous work of God through the priest. But when we look at the priest in the man, we transcend his own petty weaknesses and see the grace of God at work in us through the instrumentality of human beings. It is in this connection that the church teaches us about the principle of ex opereoperato to mean that the efficacy of the sacrament does not depend on the worthiness of the priest. He is a simple instrument that has to struggle for his own salvation in fear and trembling.

The second thing I want you to understand about priests is that their life is not their own. They have offered it to the church and they do everything according to the mind of the Church. They must conform therefore not to the standards set by men but to the standards set by God and the Church. These standards come out in the way they minister to their people. Before you think of the one wrong of a priest, remember the thousand good things he does for his flock daily. Satan exists in the community to ruin it. The priest is a good and struggling man. His goodness is and should not only be seen when de dies. Always be ready to appreciate what a priest does for you, never take it for granted.

From the day Fr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Mamfe, he has done his work to the best of his ability, and like his Bishop, I want to use this chance to thank him for the priest that he has been. The real seminary for the priest is the Ministry, and thus we rise and fall in our attempt to give our all to God. The one thing I know for certain about this priest, all his human weaknesses notwithstanding, is that he loves the church with his whole heart. He is not just a Catholic priest but he is a true son of the Church and he is ready to defend the doctrine of the Church with such passion that could be seen only in the likes of St. Irenaeus, St. Athanasius and his mentor in the faith, Pope Benedict XVI. I encourage him on this day that his faith may never fail, so that he may always remain a source of strength to his brothers and sisters in Christ. I invite all of you in this Church today to pray in a very special way for our celebrant, that he may remain faithful to Christ, loyal to the Church, fervent in prayer and constant in love for the Christians he serves in the Archdiocese of Boston.

I wish each and everyone of you a very happy celebration, and once again to Fr. Maurice, Happy tenth Anniversary and God bless you all.

+Andrew NKEA,

Bishop of Mamfe.