Kumbo Diocese celebrates its 25th Anniversary

By Emmanuel F. Sanosi
Ninety-five years ago, precisely on January 1, 1913, Rev Fr Gerard Thomas Lenartz and seven Sacred Heart Missionaries, among whom were two reverend brothers, arrived in Shisong, Kumbo. The missionaries said the first Holy Mass and set up the first Mission Station in that region. Way back then, nobody could have imagined that Kumbo would one day be the centre of one of the strongest Catholic communities in Cameroon.

Thirty-two years later, in 1945 Bishop Jules Peeters, of blessed memory, started the Kumbo Parish. He constructed the parish church and during the official consecration ceremony, he prophetically declared that this church would one day become a cathedral. Twenty years after that prophetic pronouncement, Kumbo was erected to a diocese by His Holiness Pope John Paul II.

On December 8, 2007, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Patroness of the Diocese of Kumbo, this diocese celebrated twenty five years of its existence. On this day in 1982, Reverend Father Cornelius Fontem Esua, priest of the Diocese of Buea and professor of Sacred Scriptures at the St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary Bambui, was consecrated as the first residential Bishop of Kumbo by His Excellency Donato Squicciarini, Apostolic Pro Nuncio to Cameroon, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea . The consecration ceremony brought together thousands of clergy and lay faithful from across the globe.

Today, the Kumbo Cathedral stands on a hill overlooking the town, seemingly keeping watch over the people and its infrastructure. It commands a panoramic view, towering over the Nso Royal Palace and rendering inconspicuous the building and edifices of Shisong and beyond. The nine-acre cathedral ground, it is said, was the site of the Kumbo Central Mosque, which Bishop Jules Peeters acquired from the Moslem community in a complex and discreet transaction. He gave the Moslem a new piece of land at the North West end of the town as compensation.

Last December 8, those nine acres were thronged by thousands of Christians and clergy, who, this time, converged there to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of the Kumbo Diocese. The ceremony started with a solemn High Mass, which was concelebrated by almost 100 priests from the diocese and beyond. The chief celebrant, His Grace Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua, was flanked by the Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, Mgr Eliseo Antonio Ariotti and the Bishops of Kumbo, Mgr George Nkuo, of Buea Mgr Immanuel Bushu, and Mamfe, Mgr Francis Lysinge. Also present were the representative of the Archbishop of Limburg in Germany and the Secretary of the Nunciature in Cameroon.

In a 30-minute homily, Mgr Ariotti told the congregation that Kumbo is known all over the world for its faith; “You are known because you chose the Blessed Virgin Mary… and that choice has been evident in the impressive growth of your diocese”.

The Diocese of Kumbo, according to a demographic survey conducted in 2003, has grown from a total of 392,500 some years back, to about 734,052 Christians today. The total number of baptised persons has grown from 71,663 in 1982 to about 117,665 presently. The total number of parishes has grown from 9 to 25 while the number of priests has grown from 27 to 80, with three serving as Fidei Donum in Douala and Ngaoundere.

The number of communities of consecrated life has grown from 3 in 1982 to 15 in 2007. With the introduction of innovative methods of evangelisation, the diocese is witnessing tremendous growth in the number of Small Christian Communities (SCCs), which are responsible for pastoral care in the diocese.

All this has been accompanied by infrastructural development, which is indispensable for effective and efficient evangelisation. Bishop Jules Peeters’ prophetic vision for Kumbo can only be attributed to his unshakeable belief in the people and determination to build the Church in that part of the country.

In Cameroon, Kumbo Diocese is unique because it has produced three bishops, among whom is an archbishop Emeritus Paul Verdzekov and the country’s lone cardinal. The first native priest west of the Mungo, Rev Fr Aloysius Wankuiy, was equally from Kumbo. However, a lot still remains to be done.

The entire Catholic community in Kumbo, as reflected in the words of Mr Kuvinyu John, Chairperson of the Kumbo Diocesan Laity Council, believes that there is “—the need to continue to deepen our faith as we enter the second phase of evangelisation. There is a need to be more involved as laities in the life of our local church, to strive towards financial self-reliance and to make adequate use of our Catholic schools by transforming them into the nurseries of faith, thereby committing ourselves to the process of passing on the faith, which we have received gratuitously to posterity.”