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Agbaw-Ebai Maurice Ashley (AMDG)
Not long ago, I began receiving emails and text messages of a particular nature from a close friend who was recently ordained into the priesthood, Fr. Casimir Bello. He was ordained for the Catholic Diocese of Mamfe, Cameroon. Initially, the meaning of these mails in which Fr. Casimir repeatedly and forcefully exhorted me to pray the rosary daily was kind of obscure. I knew I had a devotion to Mary from the early days of my childhood, having learnt to pray the rosary from my mother. However, Fr Casimir succeeded in reigniting in a new way, the devotion to Our Blessed Mother, with the aid of the rosary. With this “new” experience came the necessity to understand, perhaps with the aid of Scripture, the theological foundation of the place of the Mary in the life of the people of God. Gradually, the realization that the question about Mary is, quintessentially the question about God and God’s power and work in the history of the world, became dominant in my thought process. Thinking this through, three theological images emerged that set the stage from the Old Testament in understanding the place of Mary of Nazareth in the New Testament and the life of the followers of Jesus Christ, in the community call the Church. I will briefly examine these biblical Images.
The first dominant image is that of Mary as the new Eve, who compliments Adam, making humanity complete: “Then the Lord God said, ‘it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Gen. 2:18). It is significant that we get the name Eve only after the fall, after the judgment of the Lord has been pronounced. Eve therefore becomes the mother of all the living, the one who preserves the mystery of life (Gen. 320). The woman, Eve, becomes the symbol of that living God, the God from whom all life comes. To the Church Fathers, Mary is the new Eve who, by her obedience, repairs the damage of the disobedience of the first Eve. St. John Chrysostom writes: “But behold again a Virgin and a tree and a death, those symbols of defeat, becomes the symbols of his victory. For in place of Eve there is Mary; in place of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree of the Cross; in place of the death of Adam, the death of Christ” (Homily: On the burial place and the Cross2). The hermeneutic at play here is one of contrast and analogy.
The second image is that of the matriarchs of Israel’s history, the holy women whose praises are sung in the Scriptures. The theological thread that runs across these women is the drama between fertility and infertility. Sarah/Hagar, Rachel/Leah, Hannah/Penina, reflect Israel’s understanding of YHWH as an encounter of a reversal of values, in which those who are infertile and discarded, those at the margins of Jewish society are those on whom YHWH conveys his favours, the truly blessed. This image of the downtrodden lifted up by YHWH finds an explicit formulation in Mary’s Magnificat, developed from the song of Hannah: “Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who are hungry have ceased to hunger (…) He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts up the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honour” (1 Sam. 5 & 8). Joseph Ratzinger describes this thought pattern of the blessed/unblessed, high/low, the reversal of values as a leitmotif that links Mary and the matriarchs of the Old Testament, as the mystery of the last place, the reversal of earthly values (Cf. Daughter Zion, Meditations on the Church’s Marian Belief, p. 19). Centuries earlier, Origen had placed these words on the lips of Mary: “God has looked upon me, says Mary, because I am humble, and because I seek the virtue of meekness and to pass unnoticed” (In Lucam Homiliae, 8, 1-7). Deeply spiritual words!
The third image from the Old Testament is that of the woman as savior. We spontaneously think of figures like Esther, Judith and Deborah. In the stories of these women, we encounter an Israel that is under intense trial of defeat, humiliation and exile, under the domination of worldly powers. The activities of these women are pointers to Israel’s hope. How often do we feel that even today, the Church, like the Israel of old, is widowed, exiled and enslaved within arbitrary desires of corruption, moral decay and spiritual bankruptcy! It is significant that these women appeared in Israel’s history, not as priestesses, but as prophetess and judge-saviours. May be the Church today needs more prophets than priests!
With these active images in mind, it is hopeful to see Mary as that symbol of God’s intervention in the history of the world. From the perspective of Lumen Gentium (Vatican II’s dogmatic constitution on the Church), in which Mary is a part of the Church and not some Mediterranean goddess, she holds out that possibility of the power of God that is capable of intervening in human history, in the life of the Church. God is not weak in the face of evil. Through the biblical images of Eve, of the matriarchs and the savior figures of Israel, Mary embodies the hope for genuine liberation and new life, a beginning in which God’s life finds new soil in a post-modern society and a Church that leaves many visibly confused today.
The exhortation of my friend that I pray the rosary daily, takes up a decisive and new meaning in this context. It becomes a cry to the God who has power to once more lead humanity and the Church out of the barrenness of evil and death, out of spiritual widowhood and the exile of a monstrous mendacity that is increasingly corrosive and lethal. In the final analysis, the humble maid from Nazareth leaves the window of God open, more so to the meek and humble of heart, to the suffering poor who are waiting on the Lord, who suffer on account of the patience of God, and yet, are filled with the hope that God is powerful and does intervene in human history. In this month of August in which we celebrate the bodily Assumption of Mary into heaven, an act of the power of God, these are lessons worth remembering, as we pray, Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen!
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- Ngwa Bertrand
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By Sam Nuvala Fonkem
The man who is highly credited with setting up a "Neo-Nazis" rule in the SW Province of Cameroon and who was relieved of his duty very unceremoniously in a Gubernatorial reshuffle by the same President Biya who appointed him; Governor PETER OBEN ASHU attended church service at the Bokwango Parish accompanied by his close family members. Reports from those who saw him at the church service say he put on a cheerful appearance as he greeted parishioners after service.
In conclave with the Parish Council, Peter the Cameroon Hitler explained his Reign of Terror in Buea as "Human Weakness". He is said to have confessed and requested "Forgiveness from Anglophones of North West origin" saying he acted the way he did because his Paymasters expected nothing less from him..."I was merely trying to please my Paymaster, President Biya because that is what he expected of me in order to maintain my Governor job". In a remorseful tone that amounted to a Mea Culpa from a previously very arrogant Governor, massa Peter Oben pleaded for clemency, understanding and the human milk of forgiveness..."I am asking my NW brothers to forgive my trespasses. It was not deliberate. The truth is; I don't really hate Bamenda people as I am being characterized. That is not really who I am for those who know me"
Such antics can pass muster in a Parish context but certainly not in a Tribunal for Crimes Against Humanity. Violations of Human Rights cannot any longer be justified on grounds of blind obedience of hierarchy even if one were a Military Governor or a Mercenary. That argument had long been buried at the annals of the Nuremberg Trials.
However, it is a commendable act when humans express contrition and remorse for Crimes against humanity especially when they have been stripped of the claws that made them predators. So the question still lingering in the air is: Would Bayangui Governor Peter Oben Ashu behave differently if he were to be reappointed Governor again at some point in the future? That would depend on whether his dangerous "Acts of Terror" were Compulsive of Congenital.
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The man who is highly credited with setting up a "Neo-Nazis" rule in the SW Province of Cameroon and who was relieved of his duty very unceremoniously in a Gubernatorial reshuffle by the same President Biya who appointed him; Governor PETER OBEN ASHU attended church service at the Bokwango Parish accompanied by his close family members. Reports from those who saw him at the church service say he put on a cheerful appearance as he greeted parishioners after service.
In conclave with the Parish Council, Peter the Cameroon Hitler explained his Reign of Terror in Buea as "Human Weakness". He is said to have confessed and requested "Forgiveness from Anglophones of North West origin" saying he acted the way he did because his Paymasters expected nothing less from him..."I was merely trying to please my Paymaster, President Biya because that is what he expected of me in order to maintain my Governor job". In a remorseful tone that amounted to a Mea Culpa from a previously very arrogant Governor, massa Peter Oben pleaded for clemency, understanding and the human milk of forgiveness..."I am asking my NW brothers to forgive my trespasses. It was not deliberate. The truth is; I don't really hate Bamenda people as I am being characterized. That is not really who I am for those who know me"
Such antics can pass muster in a Parish context but certainly not in a Tribunal for Crimes Against Humanity. Violations of Human Rights cannot any longer be justified on grounds of blind obedience of hierarchy even if one were a Military Governor or a Mercenary. That argument had long been buried at the annals of the Nuremberg Trials.
However, it is a commendable act when humans express contrition and remorse for Crimes against humanity especially when they have been stripped of the claws that made them predators. So the question still lingering in the air is: Would Bayangui Governor Peter Oben Ashu behave differently if he were to be reappointed Governor again at some point in the future? That would depend on whether his dangerous "Acts of Terror" were Compulsive of Congenital.
By Sam Nuvala Fonkem
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- Ngwa Bertrand
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As his Lordship Bishop Andrew Nkea prepares to visit the Cameroon Catholic Community in Mulheim, Germany!! Our Cameroon Concord team in Germany is giving our readers complete access to what actually happened during Bishop Nkea's maiden visit to Germany for the African Chaplaincy that held in Essen and his meeting with the Bishop of the Diocese of Essen
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- Ngwa Bertrand
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By Agbaw-Ebai Maurice Ashley (AMDG) The Catholic tradition, rightly understood, sees the Sacrament of Confession as a sacrament of healing. This was one of the great explicit achievements of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This process of conversion, according to the spirit and theology of the Catechism, presupposes a sincere and profound act of conversion (CCC 1427-1433). The invitation of the Carpenter’s Son could not have been clearer: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).In the common Catholic imagination, this call to conversion has come to be identified with a moral or spiritual bankruptcy needing urgent, and sometimes, dramatic attention. Pentecostals talk of “when I became born again”! While there is room, in all things Catholic, for such spiritual experiences and in most cases, exhibitions, Catholicism encountered a unique insight of conversion in the great and refined Englishman, John Henry Cardinal Newman, famously known for his hymn, Lead Kindly Light. In a deeply spiritual and spectacular experience, Benedict XVI beatified Newman on the 19th of September 2010, on a papal trip to England. What might be some lessons that indebt the Catholic of today to this best fruit of English Catholicism? In the religious school of Newman, conversion is primarily at act of the human conscience. Vatican II became Newman’s Council when it observed that “in the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience. Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to his heart: do this, shun that. For man has in his heart a law written by God; to obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he will be judged” (Gaudium et Spes, 16). Newman teaches the Catholic of today that conversion is a path of conscience, not a path of self-asserting subjectivity but, on the contrary, a path of obedience to the truth that was gradually opening up to him. And this already brings us to another reality of Newman’s religious school: conversion is about the truth. Newman never sought his own ego; he never was interested in himself. It is important to note that what led to the writing of his spiritual classic, Apologia Pro Vita Sua, was the charge made against Newman and the clergy of the Roman Church by Dr. Charles Kingsley, professor of history at the University of Cambridge, that “truth, for its own sake, had never been a virtue with the Roman clergy” (Apo, 4). I am tempted to see the Apologia of Newman as an autobiography about truth, which to me, is the great lesson that comes to us from Newman’s religious experience of conversion. Newman’s life was marked by three conversions, so to say. At aged, fifteen (1816), Newman experienced in a new way the influence of the Creed and the life-giving source of dogma. His second conversion was his turning to the faith of the early Fathers to combat the growing liberalism in Anglicanism, which, unfortunately, has led that Christian Confession, in the form of the Church of England, to the pathetic state of moral and spiritual commotion and cluttering that marks it today. Newman founded the Oxford Movement for this purpose. His last conversion was to cross the Tiber, to enter the bark of Peter, the Church of Rome. These conversions of Newman are a sharp reminder to the Catholic of today that conversion is a gradual process. It is not often automatic and spectacular. There might be unique moments, but it takes a gradual experience to spiritually mature. Finally, to Newman, Conversion was a turning to the light of God, the most real thing in the world. Contemporary men and women tend to be disciples of empiricism. We understand that which is real to be measured by the laws of physicality. The sense of sight is the greatest of the senses. While not jettisoning the value of empirical data, the Catholic of today can learn from Newman that the most real things are those that the eyes cannot see. The Catholic learns from Newman that God and the spiritual identity of every man, woman and child, constitute what is genuinely real. And because God and the inner life are real, they shed light on how you and I should live in this world. It is this light of God that marked Newman’s life-journey of conversion, sentiments which he expressed en route to the port city of Marseille when he wrote in his hymn, “I loved to choose and see my path; but now lead thou me on! I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, pride ruled my will: remember not past years!”
If conversion entails obedience to the light of conscience and truth, lived out in a gradual process marked by the kindly light of God, then Newman’s was a great and enduring contribution to Catholicism, and his beatification by Joseph Aloysius Ratzinger, Benedict XVI, another icon of light and truth, constituted a necessary reawakening to these spiritual values and makes us indebted to Newman and grateful to God, for this Englishman, for this soul of English Catholicism, John Henry Cardinal Newman. May the Kindly Light of Newman’s God, continue to invite, inspire and lead the Catholics of today.
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- Ngwa Bertrand
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They claimed that the revivalist movement as propounded by the Late Rev. Bame Bame threatened the unity of the Presbyterian Church in Bastos in Yaounde and later the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. After years of grueling doctrinal controversy, the synod of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon held an emergency meeting in Kumba the chief town in Meme division and banned the movement. The synod of the PCC issued a statement revealing that the procedure of the revivalist movement undermined the church's liturgy. Intrinsically, the synod decision which was only read out in the Bastos Church in Yaounde advised the revivalists to "join the fold and respect constituted authority of the PCC". The letter warned the members "failure to do so, they should find their peace elsewhere". The revivalists who were led by the late Rev. Bame Bame were called upon to desert the stairs of the church where they often met for their non conformist form of worship after the church's doors were closed against them.
In very emphatic terms the late Rev. Bame Bame and his majority following were told that their behaviour was recalcitrant geared towards derailing and misleading other Christians.The two pastors who were reported at the center of the stalemate were all removed from the Bastos Church in Yaounde. Rev. Elangwe was moved to Limbe at the Fako South Presbytery and was replaced by Rev. Dr. Jonas Dah. The Late Rev. Bame Bame was posted to the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Kumba as senior lecturer.
It is evident that the Late Rev. Bame Bame wanted to move the PCC forward but met with a stone wall. He left the church and died some years later. Cameroon Concord would love to hear from our readers particularly members of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. Is the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon far better now than if they had embraced the revival movement of the late Rev. Bame Bame?
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- Ngwa Bertrand
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