Academic Honors for Late Rev. Christian Ndzerem Mofor

An academic honours for a fallen genuine intellectual Fr. Prof. Christian Ndzerem Mofor, took place on Monday June 22 at the esplanade of CATUC. Fr. Prof. Christian Mofor who died on Thursday, June 11, 2015, was appointed member of a Think Tank that brain stormed on the nature of CATUC before her founding, while he was Rector of the Catholic University of Central Africa, (UCAC) Yaounde. He eventually became one of the lecturers in the Department of Philosophy in CATUC after his tenure at UCAC. 

The solemn occasion started with the arrival of the mortal remains of the fallen genuine intellectual from the Major Seminary, Bambui where he once served as lecturer and Rector before being appointed to UCAC. The Chancellor and Vice Chancellor of CATUC, Archbishop Cornelius Esua and Rev. Fr. Michael Suh Niba respectively, were on hand at the entrance to CATUC to receive the remains. Acting as pall bearers, some lecturers of CATUC conveyed the corpse to the ceremonial grounds amidst professors and assistant lecturers of CATUC and UCAC who cladded in academic robes, had cued up on both sides from the entrance to the ceremonial ground.

The Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Monsignor Patrick Lafon then opened the event proper with a prayerful appeal to the Lord. Closely following this, was the laying of wreath by the Chancellor and then the singing of the CATUC anthem. It was after this that Prof. Ndongmanji who doubled as MC at the occasion, gave a brief presentation of what Academic Honours was all about. In a nutshell, the speaker noted that though the academician dies, he lives forever in his legacy which is his academic works/publications. The Registrar of CATUC, Rev. Fr. Joseph Awoh was next in line with a presentation of the fallen hero’s biography. Most of what is said about the late Rev. Prof Christian Mofor is centred on academics considering he spent 27 out of 29 years as a priest in the academic milieu. 

Other speakers included a former student of the deceased intellectual, Dr. Ngalim, who paid an impressive tribute to his gone teacher; a former colleague at UCAC, Rev. Professor Stephen Fobi Kizito and last but not least, the VC of CATUC, Rev. Fr. Michael Suh Niba. Though in different speeches, they all had similar descriptions for the fallen priest. He was very studious, assiduous and stressed the issue of shunning mediocrity in studies. Fr. Christian preferred something is not done, than that it is not done perfectly. He was described as an exacting scholar and reminded people of the likes of Archbishop Paul Verdzekov and Dr. Bernard Fonlon all of Blessed memory. Rev. Prof Christian Mofor preferred a student failed an exam with honour than that he passes the exam by cheating. This 5^th Rector of the St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary has many publications to his credit. He never claimed to know more than he actually knew and was characterized by intellectual empathy. The former Rector of UCAC demanded more of himself what he demanded of his students and he died with a lot of articles and books in him.

These speeches and academic honours culminated in the paying of homage from Professors and Assistant Lecturers, thus bringing to an end the Academic Honours. The mortal remains were then conveyed to the Cathedral for the vigil and funeral Masses.