Religion
- Details
- Religion
The Archbishop of Douala and President of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, Most Rev. Samuel Kleda says he is optimistic about the growth and the prospects of the Catholic Church in Cameroon. He said this during an interview with Vatican Radio’s Fr. Jean-Pierre Bodjoko, SJ, of the French Africa Service.
“Our joy is to be able to reach the goal of proclaiming Jesus Christ everywhere, ” Archbishop Kleda says. According to the Archbishop, the Church in Cameroon is working hard to become self-sufficient. He says progress has been made both in terms of the proclamation of the Gospel and also with regard to numbers. Many Cameroonians appreciate and are embracing Catholicism. Similarly, vocations to the priesthood and to religious life are also said to be on the increase. The Church further says it is growing in terms of economic self-sufficiency although the latter is not a goal that can be achieved in one day.
This is not to say there are no challenges. Archbishop Kleda singles out, as a major challenge, the need to proclaim the Gospel in such a way that it touches the hearts of every believer. He says the faithful need to believe in a way that shows that their lives are truly converted. This will show itself in their commitment to be true witnesses of Jesus in the society where they live.
”The challenges or rather pastoral concerns are obviously numerous: Justice, rights and the situation of the family. To solve all these problems we need to first start with the announcement of Jesus Christ in Cameroon because this is what touches the heart of every believer,” Archbishop Kleda said.
In answer to the question whether he was concerned about the growth of sects in Cameroon, Archbishop Kleda says these are a source of concern but not necessarily a threat to the Catholic Church.
“Yes it is true that there are some Catholics who leave the Church and join sects but these religious sects, in my opinion, are not a threat. However, some, such as the “Rose Croix” and others who have strong methods of proselytising can become a problem in that some Catholics begin to lead a double life. Our biggest challenge is to make sure that our Catholic faithful are rooted in their own faith”.
The Archbishop has further reaffirmed the commitment of the Church in Cameroon to implement the resolutions of the Second Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Africa which had as its theme: "The Church in Africa in service to reconciliation, justice and peace”.
“We are working hard in the area of justice and reconciliation. Our approach is first to enter into dialogue with society. For example, during the country’s general elections, the Church plays an active role, through the formation of Catholics who act as election observers. In addition, the Bishops' Conference regularly publishes pastoral letters. The Bishops also make it a point to meet political leaders for dialogue with the view to promote peace and reconciliation in the nation. Whenever there are conflicts in the country, the Bishops actively intervene either directly or through other Church structures to help find peaceful solutions to problem areas. We must always remember that peace comes about through respecting every human person. Peace is above, as Pope Paul VI said, “not merely the absence of war…peace cannot be attained on earth without safeguarding the respect for the dignity of persons and peoples’ ” Archbishop Kleda emphasised.
In view of the forthcoming Synod on the Family, Archbishop Kleda says, “I must say it (Questionnaire) was well-prepared and we diligently answered the questionnaire… we will put in place pastoral plans for the family and harmonise diocesan commissions in line with the exhortation to be published. So we are seriously working hard to make the idea the African family viable in order that it becomes the true “domestic Church” that we spoke of in the First African Synod”.
Archbishop Kleda also touched on concerns regarding attacks by the terrorist Islamic group, Boko Haram of Nigeria which has recently carried out attacks in Cameroon. The Archbishop says, “In Cameroon, particularly in the North, now almost all the missionaries of foreign nationality have left the region. So the (Boko Haram) attacks have serious consequences on our pastoral activities especially those of the missionaries. The Boko Haram insurgency is a worry for the Bishops of Cameroon. Cameroon also has refugees from neighbouring Central African Republic. Recently [July 19 in Douala] we organized a day of prayer for peace in Cameroon because the situation is not good”. Archbishop Kleda said in conclusion.
The Bishops of Cameroon are in Rome for their "ad limina" visit which runs from 1 to 6 September. An ad limina visit or a “quinquennial visit ad limina” is an official visit that Catholic Bishops make every five years to meet with the Pope and report on the state of their dioceses. The Bishops also visit some offices of the Holy See. This is a tradition and practice that has been going on since 1585.
- Details
- Ngwa Bertrand
- Hits: 2210
- Details
- Religion
Eight Years After the Regensburg Lecture by Pope Benedict, Cameroon Concord's Agbaw-Ebai Maurice Ashley (AMDG) tells of the significance of the greatest lecture in modern history.
Recently, Pope Francis dispatched Fernando Cardinal Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples to Iraq, for a special mission: to bring the comfort, aid and support of the Holy Father and the Catholic Church to the persecuted Christians of the country. What had happened there was unprecedented in resent world history: the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) had declared a caliphate after the capture of city of Mosul, and had offered three options to the Christians: convert to Islam; pay a high tax for being Christian; or die! For the first time in 1600 years, no mass was celebrated in the city of Mosul! Thousands of Christians took to the Kurdish mountains, with no food; water, clothes, no nothing! As if that wasn’t enough, we have been witnessing gruesome daily killings of hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens by these militiamen of the Caliphate, in Iraq and Syria, unimaginable proportion of violence and killings, all in the name of God!
These timorous events have once more brought to the fore the burning question of religion and violence, for even though one might rightfully argue that a majority of Muslims are not terrorists, it happens to be the case that a majority of terrorists are Muslims. In addition, the reticence in condemning these actions by moderate Muslims remains a puzzle. It was only after the beheading of a second US journalist, Steven Sotloff, on September 2, 2014, that the Organization of US Muslims judged it fit to condemn ISIS! Not even the sight of fleeing old women and children, forced to sleep under the cold; the destruction of ancient religious sites; the guillotining of thousands of men, women and children by ISIS, was capable of moving many Muslim groups to offer condemnations. With these events in mind, some are beginning to ask whether, if anything, Benedict was right after all at Regensburg?
When Benedict XVI delivered his now famous lecture at the Aula Magna of the University of Regensburg on Tuesday, 12 September 2006, hell was let loose on the Holy Father! Less than twenty-four hours after the lecture, effigies of the Pope were being burnt in Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, and many other parts of the Muslim world. Christians were targeted and killed in Egypt, Somalia, Tunisia, et cetera. Even within the ranks of the Catholic Church, some high clergymen suffering from a certain politically correct Islamophilism made abrasive remarks about the lecture and Benedict! The Pope was accused of being insensitive to Muslim sentiments; he was accused of insulting Islam; he was accused of declaring that Islam was a violent religion!
It was a lachrymose moment, especially when the cards at play were obviously false vis-à-vis the truth and profundity of the lecture. A citation made by Benedict of the erudite Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Paleologus, to the effect that “show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” The headlines followed: “Pope says Islam is a Violent Religion!” Few bothered to read the preceding two lines in which Benedict himself had declared that this position of the emperor was “a brusqueness that we find unacceptable, on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general.”
Of course, all these caricatures did not do justice to the lecture, which, to my opinion, was the best, and most insightful lecture ever delivered by a Supreme Pontiff that analyzed a burning contemporary issue, namely, violence in the name of religion, in the name of God! In his typically placid style, Benedict apologized that parts of his lecture came across as offensive to some sectors of the Muslim world. In a meeting with diplomats from Muslim countries accredited to the Holy See, the Pope called for a much more engaged commitment to dialogue and peace on the part of all religions, once more pointing out that violence should always be eschewed by religious adherents. He did not repeal a single syllable of the lecture! In the context of not only ISIS but also other similar radical groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria and Northern Cameroon, perhaps it is fitting to recall some of the lessons taught by this son of Bavaria in that breath-taking lecture. Put differently, eight years after Regensburg, what lessons does that lecture still teach us today about religion and violence?
At Regensburg, and facing ISIS and Boko Haram today, we are once more reminded that violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. God, Benedict said then, citing emperor Paleologus, “is not pleased by blood.” Faith in God is born of the soul, not of the body. This implies, Benedict argues in tandem with Paleologus that whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats.
The decisive lesson from Regensburg vis-à-vis violence and religion is this: not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God’s nature. At issue here is the place of rationality in the way God acts, and in the human response to the action of God. If God is not bound even by the category of reason, according to Islamic voluntarism, then what will be required from its followers will be obedience, not intellectual agreement nor rational obedience. Faith easily becomes a political tool that takes up cutlasses and guns, as we see in the activities of ISIS and Boko Haram. The effects are terrorism and religious fanaticism.
If, on the other hand, one adheres to the Kantian notion of setting aside reason to make room for faith, or vice versa, then the obvious consequences are what Benedict righty referred to as pathologies of both faith and reason. Reason becomes ossified and petrified, uninspiring and boring, undercutting the very gains of the Enlightenment properly understood. History testifies to the atomic bomb and others, products of a reason gone wild!
In a debate with Jürgen Habermas in the Catholic Academy of Bavaria, on January 19, 2004, Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, when talking about the pre-political moral foundations of a free state, pointed to the necessity of a mutual restriction of religion and reason. In a post-secular society, there has to be the willingness to learn from each other, seen in self-limitation on both sides in the polyphony of relations.
May be, as the world wrestles with the repugnant images stemming from ISIS and Boko Haram activities, reminding ourselves of these abiding lessons from Regensburg on the eight anniversary of the lecture might be a worthwhile effort.
- Details
- Ngwa Bertrand
- Hits: 2492
- Details
- Religion
Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
The Roman Catholic Church in Cameroon has seen two political regimes; the Ahidjo and the Biya governments. It can be argued that the church had better days under the late President Ahmadou Ahidjo than with the current Biya administration. To be sure, anything Roman Catholic was a positive brand in the eyes of the Ahidjo government. Undoubtedly, even the Bishop Albert Ndongmo, Bishop Emeritus of Nkongsamba affair did not hamper the excellent relationship between a Muslim Head of State and the Roman Catholic Church in Cameroon.
Understandably, the Roman Catholic Church was also properly administered with Reverend Fathers and Reverend Sisters of exceptional qualities dotted all over the country. The Church and its Bishops spoke for the Cameroonian people. And all attempts by some hardliners in the Ahidjo government to tarnish the hard earn reputation of the Late Bishop Albert Ndongmo met with a stone wall. During the time of the late President Ahidjo, the homilies delivered by the Bishops were similar and echoed the same message. Consequently, when Archbishop Emeritus Paul Verdzekov of the Bamenda archdiocese said “no” to any government policy, it was also a vehement “no” in the Yaoundé Archdiocese and even beyond. There was nothing like Francophone Beti-Ewondo Bishops. There was only the Conference of Cameroon Bishops.
President Ahidjo made sure, the state, the CNU party, the cabinet ministers and even governors and prefects were all in the good books of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy. Correspondingly, the Ahidjo government never delayed or even attempted to stop the subventions that the state gave to the Roman Catholic Church to run its academic and medical establishments. In Mamfe the chief town in Manyu Division, it was unacceptable to even start a football match during 20 May celebrations in the presence of the late D.O. Akoto- Ndang if the Late Rev. Father Louis Nomi had not come to bless the stadium.
By some happenstance, a Roman Catholic Christian, Paul Biya replaced Ahidjo as President of the Republic of Cameroon on November 6th 1982 and since then the fate of the Roman Catholic Church has never been the same. The Conference of the Bishops of Cameroon no longer has unanimity in its declarations and sadly, human rights violations by the Biya regime have all disappeared from the press releases regularly issued by the Roman Catholic Bishops. Cameroon Catholic Christians now see themselves as Anglophones and Francophones to the amazement of the Muslim community. State subventions to Roman Catholic institutions have all been stopped. The Archdiocese of Yaoundé operates a pro Biya CPDM religious policy that has eventually weakened the Christain Church and has fostered the rapid growth of funny Pentecostal churches in the country which the same Biya now claims he is fighting against. Yes, a Roman Catholic Head of State has succeeded to reduce our Bishops to beggars and while the nation’s only Cardinal, Christian Tumi has been speaking out against these evil machinations of the Biya regime, an Archbishop; Victor Tonye Bakot was busy presenting symbolic Roman Catholic gifts of lighted candles to the 81 years old Biya and his beautiful wife. Victor Tonye Bakot did not propound the pro Biya CPDM policy at the Yaoundé archdiocese. It was a continuation of what had been put in place by the late Archbishop Jean Zoa.
To be continued
Archbishop Jean Zoa dies in front of Cardinal Tumi in Yaounde.
- Details
- Ngwa Bertrand
- Hits: 2872
- Details
- Religion
Reports just into the media say that founder of the Living Faith church , Pastor David Oyedepo has been barred from entering the United Kingdom by The UK Home Office according to ThisIsAfrica sources.
A source at the Muritala Mohammed International Airport revealed to the website that the barring of Oyedepo, who holds a ‘C’ Visa that allows him entry into the UK for ten years, was communicated to airlines via an ‘Airline Alert’ on Saturday, 9 August, 2014′.
The alert stresses that any airline that flouts the ban is liable to a fine of £2000, the source said. It is not known for sure as at the time of writing what prompted the barring, but it may be connected to an inquiry by the UK Charitable WP_20140814_001Commission, which, according to Daily Mail and Guardian, accused Oyedepo’s Winners Chapel UK branch of ‘cynically exploiting supporters’.
The Daily Mail report revealed that Oyedepo’s Church ‘received £16.7 million in donations from followers who were told that God would give them riches in return’ and that ‘Followers are ferried in double-decker shuttle buses to the church, handed slips inviting them to make debit card payments, and are even told obeying the ministry’s teachings will make them immune from illness’.
- Details
- Ngwa Bertrand
- Hits: 2879
- Details
- Religion
Agbaw-Ebai Maurice Ashley (AMDG) {facebookpopup}
A feeling that is common to many human experiences is one of loneliness. Many people feel so lonely. We live in a world marked by the social media, in which we all feel inter-connected with so much ease. The Internet is available, 24/7; mobile phones; DVDS; text messages; emails; etc. With all these, one would imagine that the feeling of loneliness would be something of the past, uncommon to contemporary men and women. Our common experiences point to the contrary. Men and women continue to feel lonely, even in the midst of so much interaction, engagement and noise.
Naturally, human beings do not want to be lonely. We dread loneliness, for various reasons:
- Loneliness sometimes forces us into depression, especially when we begin to interpret the feeling of loneliness as isolation.
- Loneliness sometimes creates in us a feeing of rejection, perhaps due to some decisions we have made in the past or some path undertaken.
- Loneliness could user in a feeling of guilt, as we enter into a process of recycling past failures and mistakes.
- Loneliness can sometimes lead to self-pity, as we enter into the line of thought that all others are better than me.
- Loneliness can lead to negative compulsive behavior. It creates the possibility for addictions of various sorts.
As with many other human experiences, the feeling of loneliness can bear positive fruits:
- It can lead one to recollection and examination of one’s life, with the possibility of improvement and change.
- It can open up new possibilities hitherto unnoticed.
- It can lead to a spiritual reawakening, as one begins to pay attention to the inner movements in one’s self. One might begin to discern the small, still voice of God, talking in one’s soul.
It is OK to see marriage as a path to overcoming loneliness. At the very beginning of the history of marriage, we read these words uttered by God: “The Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helpmate” (Genesis 2:18). We see in these words that communion and overcoming loneliness was primary to God’s fashioning of creation, of creating human beings for marriage, male and female. Marriage is therefore an invitation to share our lives with this man or this woman, so that I no longer leave in the desert or emptiness of my own life.
The marital communion that overcomes loneliness is not just about living in the same house, or sharing the same bedroom. It is not limited to eating together, shopping together, etc. All these are very very important, and should not be treated lightly.
However, experience has shown that people can still do all of that and still feel lonely. What then are antidotes to marital loneliness?
- I will argue that the first step is to recognize that I will always feel lonely as a human being, from time to time. I have to be very clear and emphatic here. Marriage does not and will never take away the human feeling of loneliness. Even couples that have been married for over thirty-years still feel lonely. Once I have this clear recognition or awareness, I will not feel disillusioned when feelings of loneliness dominate me. I will know that such moments come and go. I will try to be calm and serene, knowing that like all other feelings, these too will fade away.
- A second antidote to marital loneliness is to open myself to the possibility of newness. It is true that with the passage of time, I get used to the habits of my spouse, and therefore cease to imagine anything exciting about her or him. Such a spirit is a recipe for a killed-joy! There will be moments in which the other will do something genuinely new and exciting, and I should allow myself to be captured by that. An openness to excitement helps overcome momentary loneliness.
- A third antidote to marital loneliness is being present, day be day. I cannot overcome loneliness by imagining how I will live with this man or woman for the next thirty years! I have no guarantees about that length of time. What I have is the here and now, living and sharing the present day. It is helpful that when worries about the future invade my thoughts, as they occur to every human being, I should recall that I am not the only man or woman in the universe who worry about the future. Above all, I should remind myself that the most important think is to live the present moment. I can only be whole, integral, today, in the here and now. I think, as a priest, that it’s the same with the call to be holy. As a priest, I can only live out my vows in the now of today. I am called to be holy today.
- From the life of Jesus, we can learn an antidote to holiness. Scripture records that when Jesus when lonely in the Garden of Gethsemane on the eve of his passion, he prayed! (Mark 14:32-42). As Christians, prayer is an antidote to marital loneliness. When feelings of loneliness pervade us, we could spend time with God in prayer: reading the Scriptures; praying the Rosary; reading the lives of the saints, the friends of God and the authentic interpreters of Scripture.
Talk this Over
- What accounts for some moments of loneliness in your life?
- How do you think your spouse could help you cope with your loneliness?
- How do you think God can help you cope with your loneliness?
- Details
- Ngwa Bertrand
- Hits: 2478
- Details
- Religion
By Agbaw-Ebai Maurice Ashley (AMDG)
As in many other parts of the world, the secular democracies of Africa are guided in large part by the gains of the Enlightenment, which established the primacy of reason as the motivational source of all political and socio-economic action. Predominant in many so-called Francophonie countries is the model of French laicite, in which the public sphere was open to all competitive forces, the sole exception being religion. The political virtues of solidarity and the common good have been accepted in a post-Hegelian sense, in which the foundational grounds for every activity is guided by the sovereignty of reason that is autonomous and even embodied.
In this context of the secular African states, the resolution of conflicts, especially of an ethnic or political nature, demands a seasoned reflection in terms of the manner of proceeding. Africa continues to be a land of many conflicts and wars: from Somalia to parts of Kenya; from Libya to the Central African Republic; from Congo DRC to parts of Nigeria, et cetera. What resources can we galvanize to enable us as Catholics meet these challenges? How can we as Catholics lobby the powers that be in such a way that we can at least, help in substantially reducing conflicts and wars in Africa? What can we find in our Catholic tradition that might guide our discernment in the delicate but frequent recourse to violence in many contexts in Africa?
This invites into discussion the Justice, Development and Peace apostolate of many African dioceses. When the Bishops of Cameroon, for example, invite the faithful to pray for peace owing to the recent wave of attacks and violence unleashed by the Boko Haram sect, on what principles could such a call to prayer be engaged with by the Catholic intelligentsia and even the non-Catholic who wants to be party to this effort of the bishops? Asked pointedly, how can we translate this religious request of the bishops of Cameroon into a language that is accessible and meaningful to a wider non-Catholic audience? I think this calls for a deeper understanding of our Catholic tradition to conflicts and war, a tradition that was deeply enriched by Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas. In dialoguing with politicians and other interests groups, our Justice, Development and Peace representatives could employ the following arguments, gleaned from Augustine and Aquinas’ reflections on what it will take to constitute a so-called “just” war. I am convinced that if properly understood and given a chance, these principles might show how meaningless and irrelevant many of the wars and violent conflicts in Africa are, and perhaps help substantially reduce if not eliminate wars in Africa.
Firstly, at the public debate, Catholics could advance the argument for the necessity of exploring all other possible options, with conflict as the last resort. Pope Francis has made the culture of encounter a primary metaphor of his papacy. The beauty about encounter is that it continuously leaves open the door of dialogue, of a change in perspective, of the possibility of looking at things differently. Hard positions might shift when we encounter the other without paying too much attention to our prejudices. One need not profess the Apostle’s Creed in order to understand this argument, and the Catholic party need not hesitate to employ this argument even in a secular parliamentary setting.
Going further, it is important to pay attention to the sources of the conflict. Who is behind this conflict situation or this war is a question that cannot be avoided. In responding to the Boko Haram onslaught, for example, this question already opens a perspective about the intention of such a conflict. No society can proceed without legitimate authority. Even with the best of objectives, which is not evident in this case of Boko Haram, in my judgment, it is necessary that authority be respected, that attention be paid to those who have been elected to represent the people. This does not imply a blind submission, especially when the authority in question has lost its credibility through a dry history of self-serving egoism and thievery, which is unfortunately the case nearer to us.
In addition, if I am going to engage in a violent situation, it is necessary to reflect on the goal that I hope to achieve. It was Tertullian who famously remarked that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of Christianity! It remains true that to bring about genuine change, world history has been marked by many people giving up their lives, be it for an end to apartheid, racial discrimination, religious persecution, et cetera. For some greater good, life itself could become secondary: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mathew 16:25). The goal of conflicts should be kept in mind at all times.
Moreover, it might be worthwhile to recall the pragmatic counsel offered by Jesus in the Gospels: “Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand” (Luke 14:31). While martyrdom might be an attractive option in some contexts, it is also important to keep in mind the probability of winning a particular confrontation. If the stakes are clear that a victory might not ensue from a particular engagement, it is needless venturing into it.
From the traditional Catholic perspective of the just war theory, a fundamental justification for war is the greater good of peace. A dictator like Idi Amin of Uganda needed the ousting which Julius Nyerere and co led against the brutal dictator, even though blood was shed on both sides. The classic Catholic perspective has been to evaluate the possibility of peace before and after the war, and from weighing the options, make a prudential judgment about resorting to armed intervention.
Another contributory factor from our Catholic tradition is the argument from proportionality. Recently, I told a friend that if his eight-year old son were to hit me, I wouldn’t respond with a hammer in the name of self-defense! There are many who view the present Israeli-Gaza conflict from this perspective. Even in a so-called justified situation of armed conflict, maybe the proportion of military might employed ought to be such that it minimizes civilian causalities to the barest minimum. There must be a distinction between civilians and solders in war situations, and even soldiers who have surrendered to enemy combatants need not be eliminated, if they do not pose a reasonable threat.
As Africa continuously strives for peace in many situations of conflict that plague our continent, these principles from our Catholic tradition could act as deterrents to more conflicts and wars. Catholicism could have made a substantial contribution to avoiding more conflicts and wars from these principles.
- Details
- Ngwa Bertrand
- Hits: 2626
