Religion

30, May 2020

May 30th: The day that French Cameroun secret service officers kill Bishops and dump their bodies in rivers ⁰

Late Bishop Bala’s vehicle was found on the Sanaga Bridge in Ebebda on the 30^th of May 2017. Inside the vehicle, a note with the words “I am in the water” was crafted by the French Cameroun secret service officers who reportedly murdered him. Bishop Bala’s car was a white Toyota Prado that had his personal belongings.

News of the bishop’s mysterious disappearance created total indignation throughout the national territory and within the Roman Catholic Church. The Cameroon Episcopal Conference demanded an independent investigation. Three years after this tragic event, the various judicial investigations opened have come to nothing.

Three days after his disappearance, Bishop Balla’s body was found on 2 June 2017 in the waters of the Sanaga by a Malian fisherman.

Today, May 30, 2020 marks the third anniversary of Cameroon’s “Murder in the Cathedral”. Several months after his death, a press release from the public prosecutor’s office concluded that: “drowning was the most probable cause of the Bishop’s death”.

The position of the Roman Catholic Church as stated by Archbishop Samuel Kleda, President of the National Episcopal Conference remains unchanged- “the bishop of Bafia had simply been murdered.”

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from CIN

28, May 2020

Archbishop Andrew Nkea: the truth behind the Audio ⁰

Where there is war, there must be criminality and impunity, and this is the case in Southern Cameroons where a separatist insurgency has been raging for almost four years. The Southern Cameroons crisis has transformed a once-upon-a-time oasis of peace into a playground for criminals who are really making hay while the sun shines. A criminal enterprise, some of which is government-sponsored, is booming as the country’s government and organised criminals are feeding fat on Southern Cameroons resources. A solidly established underworld of warlords and trade-offs is sprouting as ragweed, leaving many innocent civilians in a tough and hopeless situation that is characterized by fear. On April 22, 2020, the French Cameroon government published a dubious and exceedingly bogus report on the massacre of 24 civilians by its military in the village of Ngarbuh, Dunga Mantung, on February 14, 2020. The report was a clear indictment of the French Cameroon government which shamelessly admitted that it recruited and utilised vigilante groups in its operations in Ngarbuh.

The government’s admission of guilt has left it with a bloodshot eye and its military actions in Southern Cameroons are a clear manifestation of desperation against an insurgency that is not going away anytime soon. It is no surprise that drafting armed vigilante groups is reckless and perilous in a region that is awash with sophisticated weapons. Guns, lawlessness, poverty and testosterone constitute a hazardous and explosive mix and the temptation for those under the influence of these to engage in criminal activity is exceedingly high.

Earlier this week, there were audios circulating on social media, allegedly from Amba boys calling for the head of the Archbishop of Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province, Andrew Nkea. The contents of those audios were disturbing and Cameroon Concord News Group had to publish a detailed editorial outlining the political ramifications to the Southern Cameroons if the man of God is attacked by Amba boys or any group that is acting under the cover of darkness. The urgency of the matter prompted a statement from the Ambazonia Interim Government, calling on any persons involved in such an ungodly enterprise to think twice before acting.

Later on Monday, May 25, 2020, Cameroon Concord News and Cameroon Intelligence Report launched a joint investigation into the source and rationale behind the audio. Our team of top-class investigators quickly established that Archbishop Andrew Nkea was ordained a Priest in Buea in April 1992. He served the Church, the Lord and the people of Buea until August 2013 when he was ordained Bishop of the Mamfe diocese. The investigation revealed that it was in Mamfe that the new Bishop flourished in his work for mankind and The Almighty. In Mamfe, his determination to rejuvenate farming delivered huge dividends. Our investigators can reveal that the Archbishop’s work and influence in his diocese was monumental. The palm nuts, maize, cassava, poultry, goat farms he established were not only profitable, but also revolutionary.

Wherever there is hard-work and success, green-eyed monsters are never far away. Our team uncovered that his work in Buea and Mamfe dioceses brought plaudits from the congregants but built a steady army of resentful adversaries within Ecclesiastical ranks. Cameroon Concord News Group uncovered that some years back, the opposition within the church to the then Reverend Father was excessive and exhausting emotionally.

The man of God’s appointment to the position of Archbishop of Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province in February this year was a reward for his hard work in the Mamfe diocese. But this was not well received by many within the church. Many within the Church consider his rise as meteoric and undeserved.

The position of Archbishop, splendid and powerful, was coveted by numerous established bishops. Cameroon Concord News Group uncovered that there were many who believed that they or their close associates should have been appointed to the position instead of Archbishop Andrew Nkea.

Our undercover reporters cross-examined many people within the church in Buea, Mamfe and Bamenda who elected anonymity said they were convinced that the audio calling for the head of the Archbishop to be blown off was the work of dark forces within the Church. Blood-stained disputes are not uncommon in the ranks of the church. In 2017, Bishop Jean Marie Benoît Balla’s body was discovered in a river days after his disappearance. Cameroonian bishops issued a statement after claiming he was murdered saying “we have the impression that the clergy of Cameroon in particular is pursued by obscure diabolical forces”.

The insecurity in Southern Cameroons is a textbook heaven for criminal elements within the Church to bring their plot against Archbishop Andrew Nkea to fruition. It will be the supreme offence if these dark forces within the church committed the ultimate crime only to pin it on innocent Ambazonian self-defence forces. But the huge net of Cameroon Concord News Group is closing in on them and they will be exposed.

By Isong Asu in London with intelligence files

25, May 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Targeting Archbishop Nkea and the Clergy will be a fatal error ⁰

The fighting in Southern Cameroons has earned the attention of the international community due to atrocities by the military.

The indiscriminate killing of innocent people, the burning of the elderly and sick in their homes and the brutal massacre of some 30 women and children in Ngarbuh had made the world to see the Yaoundé regime as a monster that is consuming its own citizens.

The world seems to be working for a peaceful resolution and the pressure on the government is mounting.

A recent report on the massacres in Ngarbuh put the blame squarely on the country’s military and this has increased the pressure on the Yaoundé government that has not been able to find an acceptable solution to a conflict that started as a protest by teachers and lawyers in 2016.

The country’s economy has taken a hit and government coffers are almost empty. The possibilities of donors extending more loans to Cameroon are slim, especially as the fight against the Coronavirus has taken center stage in global affairs.

While the international community is doing its best, the Diaspora and the Clergy are using all the means available to them to reduce the suffering of the masses, especially those who have been driven away from their homes due to the violence.

A key player in efforts at seeking a peaceful resolution is Archbishop Andrew Nkea who has just been transferred to the Bamenda archdiocese.

While in Mamfe, Archbishop Andrew Nkea did all he could to save so many lives. He worked tirelessly to bring supplies to those who were internally displaced, going sometimes to areas that even government forces could not go.

He knew how to negotiate with Amba fighters and in the process, he would appeal to their consciences for them to spare the lives of even their worst enemies.

Archbishop Andrew Nkea has really been at the forefront of humanitarian efforts during this crisis that has resulted in the deaths of some 5,000 young Cameroonians.

His desire to save lives has taken him to distant lands such as the United States where he engaged with various Southern Cameroonian communities to raise funds for internally displaced persons and those who are living in Nigeria as refugees.

He was in Baltimore, USA, in July 2019 in a fundraiser for refugees organized by the Manyu Community in the DC, Maryland and Virginia (DMV) area where thousands of dollars were raised to help those who had left their homes to seek refuge somewhere else.

Archbishop Nkea called out the government of La Republique when the military killed a Kenyan Mill Hill Missionary priest working in Kembong in Manyu Division. Like a good shepherd, he flew to Kenya and buried the priest and did all he could to console the family members of the deceased priest.

Today, unlike in French Cameroun where secret service officers kill Bishops and dump their bodies in rivers, as we saw in Bafia Diocese, the people of Southern Cameroons do not kill the clergy. The clergy is still playing a key role in efforts at finding a lasting solution to the conflict that is still consuming many innocent lives and Archishop Andrew Nkea is working day and night to ensure that peace returns to the two English-speaking regions of the country.

Ambazonians, their jailed leaders and comrades all love God and respect the Clergy. Let it remain that way. We do not kill Clergymen like La Republique du Cameroun.

Archbishop Nkea’s efforts seem to be misconstrued by Amba fighters on the ground. Some armed groups hold that he is supporting the regime and there are calls for his life and dignity to be attacked.

If Amba fighters were to attack the man of God, then that will be their greatest undoing. The international community is aware of the role Archbishop Nkea is playing and anybody who attempts to hurt such a man of God will only bring long-lasting discredit to a cause that has earned international recognition.

Amba fighters must understand that as a man of God, Archbishop Nkea must demonstrate the highest level of neutrality. He cannot be against the government which might one day see reason to use him in any future negotiations.

Targeting Archbishop Andrew Nkea might turn the tides against the fighters on the ground. If the fighters think they deserve any international sympathy, they must let Archbishop Nkea to continue his humanitarian operations so that those who have been caught in the crossfire can have access to humanitarian assistance.

Archbishop Andrew Nkea has no interest in supporting the regime. His cardinal objective is to ensure that both parties meet in a neutral place to discuss their differences so that peace can return to a country that was once touted for its peace.

Archbishop Andrew Nkea is a man of peace. He has no interest in taking sides in a conflict that should not have started. He understands the risks and the need to bring both parties to the negotiating table.

Amba fighters must always understand there must always be room for a possible negotiation and only people like Archbishop Nkea can bring about that window of opportunity and communication.

No war has ever been wrapped up in the battlefield. Even when the belligents are too powerful, they must understand that real and sustainable peace can only be gotten at the negotiating table and that can be brought about by God’s servants such as Archbishop Andrew Nkea.

Amba fighters will be crossing the reddest of the red lines if they kidnap or kill Archbishop Nkea. They will only bring the world against them and this will herald the end of a struggle that has so far enjoyed the sympathy of countries such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Vatican and Switzerland.

This is not the time for such mistakes. There are rules of engagement which clearly spell out that the clergy must never be a victim of violence as their role is clearly humanitarian and peace-seeking.

The Cameroon Concord News Group is therefore calling on those who control fighters in Southern Cameroons to ensure that their fighters respect the Clergy.

The fighters must understand that they cannot attack people who are working for peace just as they are not supposed to hurt United Nations workers who want to bring supplies to the suffering masses.

The world is watching and this is not the time for any expensive errors.

On behalf of the over daily twenty thousand readers of Cameroon Concord News and the Cameroon Intelligence Report, we declare that the killing of a Roman Catholic Clergy is counterproductive to the Ambazonia struggle, and should never be tolerated or allowed to happen.

We of the Concord Group call on all parties to allow Archbishop Nkea to do his work as a man of God, preaching peace and bringing relief to the suffering people of his archdiocese. We therefore unequivocally condemn the recently released audios calling for violence against Southern Cameroons Metropolitan Archbishop.

By Dr Joachim Arrey in Canada and Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in London

23, May 2020

Coronavirus Outbreak: France allows religious gatherings to resume ⁰

France is to allow the resumption of religious gatherings after a two-month hiatus caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, but worshippers will have to wear face masks, the French interior ministry announced.

The ministry said late on Friday that it would issue a decree setting out the new rules for religious gatherings.

Under the decree, a ban on gatherings imposed in March, as part of government efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus, would be rescinded. But collective worship would have to observe conditions, including the wearing of masks, a distance of at least one metre between worshippers and hand-washing, the ministry said in a statement.

The French government relaxed some of its lockdown restrictions earlier this month, but did not ease the ban on collective worship. That prompted complaints from faith groups, which said they were being treated unfairly.

The ministry statement said it expected worship to resume from the start of June, but that in some cases faith groups could worship together once the new rules were published, which it said would be “in the coming hours.”

Muslims — who make up around 9% of France’s population, according to a 2017 report by the Pew Research Center — are this weekend celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of the holy Muslim month of fasting.

Source: France 24

17, May 2020

The Holy Spirit, the Forgotten God ⁰

Dear Holy People of God,

1. In the Gospel text of this Sunday’s liturgy from John 14:15-21, Jesus promises us, “And I will ask the Father, and he will send you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:16-17). Many Catholics spontaneously have a relationship with Jesus, perhaps because of the Incarnational principle: The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became a man in Jesus of Nazareth. We readily identify and relate with Jesus because he was a human being like us in all things except sin, for sin is not what defines humanity, for sin is always a choice, even if often times a very seductive and overpowering one. But regarding the Holy Spirit, the relationship is not so evident and forceful. And if we go by the logic of why we can easily identify with Jesus, then the “distant” or impersonal relationship with the Holy Spirit is understandable: We have never seen the Holy Spirit “in the flesh,” that is, as a person, a unique person in history, a “singular individual”, – to use a Kierkegaardian phrase, walking the dusty paths of Nazareth, going up to the temple, working miracles, being thirty, being hungry, keeping company with friends and with sinners, et cetera. (I have always found it interesting that in the Gospels, one notices that while the sinners loved Jesus and sought his company, the religious people hated Jesus! What is it about religion that easily ferments such hatred for the other, especially those that are not like us? – I am still searching for an answer. Let us return to our topic on the Holy Spirit.)

2. In other words, we do not have a recollection of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, like we have of Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity. This, I believe, helps explain why for many Catholics, the Holy Spirit is the forgotten God, the One we only mention on Pentecost Sunday and when making the Sign of the Cross, perhaps without even thinking about who the Holy Spirit is. Even the institutional Church had to wrestle with understanding who the Holy Spirit is. It took the First Council of Constantinople (AD May – July 381), to articulate a clear understanding of the Divinity of the Holy Spirit, thanks in large part to the contributions from the Cappadocian Fathers, especially the Gregories. Given this obscurity regarding the person and work of the Holy Spirit, I will dedicate this Catechesis to talking about the person of the Holy Spirit, with the hope that knowing more about the Holy Spirit will help us develop a more intimate and personal relationship with the Holy Spirit.

3. Who is the Holy Spirit? In the Nicene Creed we find the most concise definition of the Holy Spirit: “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life; Who proceeds from the Father and the Son. Together with the Father and the Son, He is worshipped and glorified. It is He who spoke through the prophets.” Yes, the Creed offers us a very Trinitarian theology of the Holy Spirit: the Spirit is with the Father and the Son and Creation, throughout Salvation History, and will be with the Father and the Son at the consummation of History. To ask who and not what is the Holy Spirit, implies that the Holy Spirit is a person and not a thing. He is the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, distinct from, but coeternal and coequal with the Father and the Son. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “when he proclaims and promises the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls him the “Paraclete” …Paraclete is commonly translated as ‘consoler’ and Jesus is the first consoler” (CCC, 692). The same Catechism goes on to tells us the symbols of the Holy Spirit as Water, Fire, Dove and Anointing, all material images meant to help us understand the immaterial or spiritual personhood of the Holy Spirit.

4. Dear Holy People of God, all these various symbols are ways the Holy Spirit manifested himself in the Bible. His manifestations in opposing symbols like “water” and “fire” only go to show that the Holy Spirit is a divine mystery that the human mind cannot fully comprehend, as St. John says in the gospel: “The wind blows where it pleases; you can hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So, it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John. 3:8). This means that we can hardly fully understand the Holy Spirit but we can and always feel the effects of His actions in our lives. He also gives us gifts which influences the way we act towards others and it is in this context that we talk of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

5. Theology makes a distinction between the Sanctification and the Manifestation Gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Sanctification Gifts are the gifts listed in Isaiah 11:2: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Strength, Piety, Fear of the Lord and Knowledge. They are meant to build us up as Christians. They are the gifts of Christian maturation: Wisdom: The Spirit leads us to evaluate all things in the light of the Gospel, helping us to read in our own experiences and in the experiences of the Church the mysterious and loving plan of God. Understanding: The Spirit fosters in us deeper insight into revealed truth, pressing us to proclaim with conviction and power the Good News of salvation. Counsel: The Spirit illuminates the ministry of Christ so that we may direct our activities according to the perspectives of Providence, never allowing ourselves to be swayed by the judgments of the world. Strength/Might: The Spirit enables us to understand and accept sometimes mysterious interweaving of secondary causes with the First Cause in the turn of events in the universe. Piety: The Spirit revives in us the relationship of intimate communion with God and of trusting surrender to his Providence. Fear of the Lord: The Spirit gives us a stronger sense of our own human weakness and of the indispensable role of divine grace, since “neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives growth” (1 Corinthians. 3:7). Knowledge: The Spirit enables us to make a distinction between things of value and things of no substantial value, helping us to set our priorities right. The Manifestation Gifts of the Holy Spirit are those recorded in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11: Service, Faith, Miracles, Healing, Prophecy, Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues, Discernment of spirits, et cetera. These are gifts given by the Holy Spirit to help Christians witness to a hurting world.

6. Dear Holy People of God, the central question to be asked here could be: What gift of the Holy Spirit do I need most in my life in the here and now? The gifts are there. They have already been given by the Spirit. The gifts are not meant for theology text books or specialized academic papers. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are for every day Christian living, meant to help us live out our Christian faith, to support us in the here and now of our Christian existence. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are meant for electricians, plumbers, carpenters, teachers, nurses, doctors, firefighters, police officers, CEOs, restaurant workers, students, musicians, dancers, et cetera. In other words, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not meant for some specialized Christians. At every point in which we find ourselves, we can make good use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

7. You would have noticed that there is one word that is central to the theology of the Holy Spirit, and that is, GIFT. We talk about the “gifts” of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah and in Corinthians. I am tempted to delve into Augustine’s On the Trinity, Aquinas’ tract in the Summa on the Holy Spirit, Athanasius’ Letters to Serapion, and Didymus the Blind’s On the Holy Spirit, to offer you a theology of the Holy Spirit as GIFT. But that might become a lecture, which will imply that Ste Anne’s will charge you a fee. And since I do not want to stress you up financially, given the already stressful situation that we are living under brought about by COVID 19, I will end here, with this simple invitation: What gift of the Holy Spirit do you feel you need now in your life? Do not hesitate to ask the Holy Spirit for the gift. A surprise awaits you if you do! The Holy Spirit loves you all, and may the Holy Spirit liberate and heal our world! Come O Holy Spirit!

By Fr Maurice Agbaw-Ebai

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston

26, April 2020

The Dialectics Between Jerusalem & Emmaus: The Courage to Move on With Life ⁰

Theme: The Dialectics Between Jerusalem & Emmaus: The Courage to Move on With Life. Ste Anne’s Parish, Salem MA: Catechesis, Third Sunday of Easter
“We Had Hoped that He will be the One to Liberate Israel” (Luke 24:21)

Dear Holy People of God,

Jesus Christ is Risen, Alleluia! I would like to reflect with you this Sunday on the two cities, Emmaus and Jerusalem, in terms of their significance for us today. And what is this significance? The Courage to Move on with Life!

Today’s Gospel text offers the opportunity to walk with the Lord to Emmaus. St Luke gives us very interesting details about the journey of these two disciples on the way to Emmaus. I find it interesting that though located just seven miles from Jerusalem, Biblical scholars are still unable till date to locate the present-day site of Emmaus. That itself is spiritually very symbolic, for it means that Emmaus is the unknown destination that captures the uncertainties of human existence. Emmaus is the route of existential and pragmatic blindness. It symbolizes the human search for meaning, for the purpose of life: “We had hoped that he (Jesus) will be the one that will liberate Israel,” the two disciples say to the Risen Christ who remains unrecognizable to them. Emmaus is the point in which with my back against the wall, I set out in search of possible new solutions.
“We had hoped….” These words offer us the hidden word of Emmaus: A journey of dashed hopes. How often do we feel our hopes dashed? The disciples had just been in Jerusalem, the place of certainty. They had accompanied their Master to the City of David, that is, Jerusalem, the political and religious capital of Israel, expecting there their Master’s ultimate triumph over the forces of oppression over Israel, specifically, Roman power. And yet, like a horrible dream, Good Friday happened. “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem?” (Luke 24:18), – the disciples ask the unidentifiable Risen Jesus. The disciples were still in a state of shock that Jesus, the one who had power to raise Lazarus from death, the one who had performed so many miracles, could not help himself. He had died a shameful death on the Cross of Calvary. Thus, Jerusalem, the place of hope and ultimate triumph over servitude, oppression and exploitation, had suddenly become a place of despair and hopelessness.
Hence, the two locations are very spiritually significant: Jerusalem, the place they were leaving behind, and Emmaus, the place they were heading to. How often do we feel the need to leave things behind, to put certain happenings behind us? We can no longer withstand them. Thinking about them takes the energy away from us. We do not want to remain with that thing that happened or that event. We do not want to keep going back there, because the thought of it elicits memories we would rather not have. That is Jerusalem, the place we no longer want to be. Yes, it is true that there had been some good things, some good times, some beautiful times, but how it all turned out is not what I had expected. Hence, I’d rather move on. To remain at that point, to remain in Jerusalem, is killing me in the inside! I can’t take it anymore. I am suffocating. I just got to move, to leave this place, to leave this person. I might not know where I am going to; I might not know where I will pass this night; I might not know how I will pay the mortgage; I might not know whom I will meet on the other side; I might not even be sure if I will get to the other side, but being here, in Jerusalem, is no longer an option for me. Jerusalem is death. It has only horrible memories to offer me. It is the place of betrayal. I trusted in this friend, he betrayed me. I gave her my love, she betrayed me. I took him into my inner circle as a confidant, shared the secrets of my life with him, and he turned around and used those secrets against me! I loved her. Married her. Placed all together. Hoped for a life together. All of a sudden, I got a divorce notice! I lost everything I had ever worked for! I did all I could for these kids or this kid, sacrificed my life’s savings to see them through college. And yet, no sense of appreciation. Thoughts of all I have sacrificed is killing me in the inside. If I continue to be in this place, my head will explode. I got to go, even if I do not know where I am going to. I must leave Jerusalem, even if I am unsure of the next bus stop. I can’t stand the pain, which is killing me many times over, before my real death.
I do not know if I am speaking to you, but my own experiences of life have presented me with a thousand moments of Jerusalem! I have had friends that have stood by me, friends whose company I continue to cherish. I have had moments that I wanted no end to; events that I never felt should cease to be. And I can go on. Life has been good. But to tell you the truth, and I owe you the truth, more so as your spiritual leader, life has not all been rosy. There have been friends whom I trusted and confided in that have betrayed me. There have been companions that I felt we were on the same page, people I placed so much faith in, gave all of myself to, stood by them, made consequential sacrifices for them, risked all I could for them, only to discover that what I had hoped for, – like the hope of Cleopas and his friend in today’s Gospel text, – was not to be. How could he do that to me? How could she do that to me? How could they do that to me? It is hard when love is betrayed.
But with time, I have learnt what the Danish Christian existentialist philosopher Søren Kierkegaard captured in his celebrated maxim, that is, that life must be lived forward but understood backward. I can either choose to remain in the pain and despair of Jerusalem, or seek for a new lease for my life in Emmaus, even if unsure of where Emmaus is. It has been better, in the final analysis, to move on. It is not easy, because one gets trapped in the known. There is security in the known. But the disciples on the way to Emmaus show us that as hard as it might be, there is value in letting sleeping dogs lie, there is a value in burying the hatchet, there is value in moving on. How so? Because Emmaus is the place of encounter with the Risen Lord and with the Risen Lord comes new energy, a new vigor, not to escape the challenges of life, but to face them head on, learning from them, and bringing out the new from the old.
Emmaus teaches us that the Risen Lord enters the story when the story has hit rock bottom. Emmaus teaches us that movement, the readiness to leave behind, is the prerequisite for new energy, for a new lease on life. We cannot simultaneously be in Jerusalem and at Emmaus. There has to a “seven-mile” movement, for faith comes from movement: Abraham leaving the land of Ur to Canaan; Moses, leaving Pharaoh’s Palace to the Desert; Simon, Andrew, James and John, leaving Wall Street for the itinerant preacher who had no way to lay his head; Matthew abandoning the IRS for the same preacher, and so on. There is always a movement in order to be ready for prime time, in order to be ready for the next level that God has in store for you. The question is, do you have the courage to make the move? Greek philosophy had a sense of the value of movement in order to get to the next level: Katabatic movement, that is, movement from the One (that is, God), and Anabatic movement, that is, movement to the One (that is, God) – (Plotinus, Enneads).
Emmaus teaches us that you cannot combine despair and hope, and that running away from despair, leaving frustration behind, is the doorway to hope, to the burning of heart – a symbol of reinvigoration. It is only after we have had the courage to leave behind the pain, the feeling of frustration, of agony, and of embarking on the unknown journey, that is, of making the leap to faith, the darkness of faith, the unknown of faith, of the “suspension of the ethical” – as Kierkegaard writes in Fear and Trembling, that the Risen Lord comes to give us back all that we had thought was lost, that is, the gift of the Risen Lord himself, the hope, energy and vitality and all that the Risen Lord brings into our lives, the light at the end of the tunnel, the silver lining behind the dark cloud, for the present and the future, Amen!

(Fr Maurice Agbaw-Ebai)

24, April 2020

Ramadan starts amid unprecedented lockdown restrictions including Mecca and Medina mosque closings ⁰

Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest shrines, has announced that the holy fasting month of Ramadan will start Friday, as Muslims worldwide face unprecedented restrictions to counter coronavirus.

“Based on the sighting of the new month’s moon … it has been decided that Friday is the start of the month of Ramadan,” the royal court said Thursday in a statement cited by the SPA news agency.

King Salman said he is saddened that Muslims cannot pray at mosques because of coronavirus restrictions.

“I am pained that the holy month arrives amid circumstances that make us unable to perform group prayers and Taraweeh — special Ramadan night prayers — at mosques due to precautionary measures to protect the peoples’ lives and health in combating the coronavirus pandemic,” the king said in a statement cited by SPA.

Observant Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk during Ramadan and gather with family to break the fast in the evening.

It is also a month of prayers during which Muslims traditionally converge in large numbers at mosques, especially at night.

But due to the coronavirus, almost all Muslim majority countries have closed mosques and asked people to pray at home in addition to imposing curfews to limit the spread of the deadly virus.

In Yemen, the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Sanaa noted that Ramadan comes as the country struggles with war and affliction.

“People across Yemen will mark Islam’s holy month this year amid ongoing conflict, seasonal diseases, floods and rising prices, in a country where the economic situation doesn’t allow two thirds of the population to access or afford enough food,” the ICRC said in a statement.

The United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen called for the cessation of hostilities in a war which has killed tens of thousands of civilians.

“To the parties to the conflict, I say: be guided by the spirit of the Holy month and put an end to the suffering of your people,” Martin Griffiths said.

“Put down the arms. Release all those who lost their liberty due to the conflict. Open humanitarian corridors. Focus on coordinating your efforts to help your country respond to the pandemic outbreak and other emergency needs,” he added.

Most Arab countries including Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan and Bahrain have announced Friday as the first day of Ramadan.

Several countries have eased restrictions on the occasion of the holy month with Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and other countries reducing the duration of the lockdowns.

The UAE said on Thursday it has decided to ease a total lockdown to an eight-hour nightly curfew and also moved to partially reopen malls and markets.

The start date of Ramadan, the holiest Muslim month, is set by both lunar calculations and physical sightings which determine when one month ends and another begins.

Source: AFP

14, April 2020

Coronavirus pandemic offers glimmer of hope for the Southern Cameroons Crisis ⁰

Retired Cameroonian Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua of Bamenda says the coronavirus pandemic could also bring about “unexpected positive effects” for the country’s embattled Anglophone regions.

“The spread of the pandemic in Africa is an epoch-making drama, but in some cases, it can also have unexpected positive effects,” the archbishop told the Rome-based Catholic news agency, Fides.

Esua was speaking following the decision by some separatist groups to call for a unilateral ceasefire to enable medical teams and humanitarian assistance to reach the most vulnerable people at risk from the COVID-19 coronavirus.

One of the armed groups, the Southern Cameroons Defence Forces (SOCADEF,) agreed to the United Nations’ call for a worldwide cessation of hostilities during the pandemic.

On March 25, Ebenezer Akwanga, the group’s leader, said that “SOCADEF are prepared to support the ceasefire and will ensure the security and free circulation of international observers and humanitarian organizations in Ambazonia … in accordance with human rights law.”

Ambazonia is the term used by the separatist rebels for the English-speaking regions of the majority French-speaking country. However, no country has recognized Ambazonia’s independence.

The release, addressed to Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, also called on the “authorities and security forces of the Republic of Cameroon to respond to the call made by the secretary-general of the United Nations.”

Akwanga added that “we are ready to meet with representatives designated by the Republic of Cameroon to work out the appropriate implementation of the ceasefire.”

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, on March 23 called for an “immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world” to protect the most vulnerable civilians in conflict-ridden countries from the “fury” of the coronavirus pandemic.

Esua has welcomed the developments, saying that as bad as the coronavirus may be, it might be an agent of peace in Cameroon.

“Here, for example, clashes between the separatists of the Republic of Ambazonia and the army have greatly diminished, if not suspended, and we have had no news of fighting for weeks. A dozen days ago, Samuel Ikome Sako, interim president of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, announced a total lockdown, with the closure of the borders of the English-speaking regions due to the virus. So far, the separatists are respecting the directive: There is a general calm in the area, there have been no cases of direct confrontation with the military or kidnappings by the ‘Amba Boys’ (the name of the separatist groups in action,” the archbishop said.

However, the peace is not universal, and Bishop George Nkuo told Crux the fighting has not abetted in the Diocese of Kumbo.

“As for the cease fire I am not aware that anything like that had taken place here in Kumbo,” he said.

“I guess those who are calling the shots here are not ready to use the coronavirus to derail their struggle. There is obviously a need to take this virus seriously and it is a common enemy, and in the face of such a war the warring parties need to review their goals. So far, nothing has changed as I see it. I think it is unfortunate because if we don’t fight it together, if it ever reaches Kumbo many people will perish.”

Some armed separatist groups have made it clear that there would be no ceasefire on their part.

On March 27, a statement from Julius Nyiawung, the vice president of the Ambazonia Governing Council – one of several separatist groups claiming to be the legitimate government of the area – said there shall be not be a “unilateral ceasefire in the Ambazonia war of independence because of COVID-19 pandemic.”

The statement explained that “to permit such unilateral action will be to provide Cameroon unhindered access to everywhere in our towns and villages.”

Those fears are not unfounded, since there is no indication that the Cameroonian military is ready to implement a ceasefire.

Esua admitted the army “continues to patrol the streets with tanks and in some cases, especially in the villages, there have been ambushes or killings.”

The current conflict began in 2017 after government forces ruthlessly put down strikes organized by Anglophone teachers and lawyers over perceived attempts by the government to destroy the common law and British-style education systems practiced in Anglophone regions. The breakdown in attempts at dialogue resulted in the growth of several separatist movements.

The resulting conflict, now in its fourth year, has killed over 3000 people, with about a million forced from their homes. Esua insists the ceasefire by at least one of the separatist groups offers a lot of hope.

“Overall, we hear fewer gunshots or gunfights here in Bamenda and we really hope that the emergency due to the spread of the virus will lead all actors involved to rethink their strategies and reach an agreement,” the archbishop said.

He added that he believes such a ceasefire could offer a pathway towards a resolution to the Cameroon Anglophone crisis.

Source: Crux

13, April 2020

The Holy Father calls for global ceasefire amid Covid-19 pandemic in livestreamed Easter address ⁰

Pope Francis called on Sunday for global solidarity in fighting the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout, urging the relaxation of international sanctions, debt relief for poor nations and ceasefires in all conflicts.

“May Christ our peace enlighten all who have responsibility in conflicts, that they may have the courage to support the appeal for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world,” the pope said in a live streamed Easter message.

He condemned arms manufacturing and said the pandemic should spur leaders to finally end long-running wars such as that in Syria. He also appealed for help for migrants and others suffering from existing humanitarian conflicts.

The pope also warned the European Union that it risked collapse if it did not agree on how to help the region recover.

The pope’s Easter “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message, delivered from an empty St. Peter’s Basilica instead of to the usual crowd of tens of thousands in the square outside, was by far his most pressing and political since his election in 2013.

Saying the message of this year’s “Easter of solitude” should be a “contagion of hope,” he heaped praise on doctors, nurses and others risking their lives to save others and hailed those working to keep essential services running.

“This is not a time for indifference, because the whole world is suffering and needs to be united in facing the pandemic,” he said in the message, almost entirely dedicated to the pandemic’s effects on personal and international relations.

“Indifference, self-centredness, division and forgetfulness are not words we want to hear at this time. We want to ban these words forever!” he said.

Easter in the time of Covid-19

Francis expressed sympathy for those not able to bid farewell to their loved ones because of restrictions, for Catholics who have not been able to receive the sacraments and for all those worried about an uncertain future.

“In these weeks, the lives of millions of people have suddenly changed,” he said.

The pope said it was up to politicians and governments, too, to avoid “self-centredness” and take decisive, concerted action to help each others’ populations live through the crisis and eventually resume normal life.

“May international sanctions be relaxed, since these make it difficult for countries on which they have been imposed to provide adequate support to their citizens,” Francis said.

He also called for debt reductions or forgiveness for the poorest nations, without naming any countries.

Europe’s divisions

Francis expressed particular concern for the future of Europe, saying it was vital that rivalries that existed before World War Two “do not regain force” as a result of the pandemic.

European Union nations are divided over how to help the continent’s economy recover – with Italy and other eurozone members seeking the issuance of euro bonds backed by all, but Germany, the Netherlands and other countries opposed to this.

“The European Union is presently facing an epochal challenge, on which will depend not only its future but that of the whole world,” Francis said.

That echoed a position by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, whose country has suffered one of the highest death tolls from Covid-19.

“This is not a time for division,” Francis said.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS and AFP)

12, April 2020

Empty churches belie Trump’s Easter promise, highlight science’s role in keeping faithful safe ⁰

US President Donald Trump last month predicted “packed churches” on Easter Sunday despite a raging coronavirus death toll. His prediction has proved horribly wrong and highlights the inconsistencies populist leaders who have exploited religion now face.

Easter, Passover and the start of Ramadan all fall in April this year, a coincidence that, in normal times, would see millions of followers of the world’s major monotheist religions come together in congregational prayers or family gatherings.

But the coronavirus pandemic has physically atomised the faithful, with lockdown measures sparking unprecedented scenes of clergymen conducting Holy Week services in empty churches and cathedrals across the world.

Inside the fire-ravaged Notre Dame cathedral, Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit joined a small group of priests for a Good Friday service minus a congregation commemorating one of Christianity’s holiest days as well as the first anniversary of the inferno that ravaged the Gothic landmark. In a haunting sight inside the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem on Friday, a handful of Franciscan friars in dark robes and face masks walked through deserted streets under the pelting rain along the Via Dolorosa, believed to be the path Jesus took to his crucifixion.

Saudi Arabia has already suspended the year-round umrah pilgrimage and has asked Muslims to delay their travel bookings to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina for the annual Haj in July and August amid questions over whether the world’s largest religious gathering can go ahead on schedule.

There’s no doubt however that the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins around April 23, will be very different this year with the faithful unable to gather together for the iftar evening meal ending the day’s fasting.

Earlier this week, Jews across the world celebrated Passover with Zoom Seders instead of the traditional family gathering of generations around tables. Israeli authorities tightened the existing lockdown measures with a special nighttime curfew on Wednesday to dissuade visits and gatherings. Joining “grandma and grandpa” for a Seder, Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett warned in a stark pre-Passover message, “could kill them”.

The deadly Covid-19 virus has killed more than 100,000 people across the world and it’s attacking what French sociologist Emile Durkheim identified as the fundamental purpose of religion: the social phenomenon of drawing communities together in rites and ritual observances. It is also exposing the fault lines between religious faith and science as well as tensions between spiritual and secular powers. The infectiousness of the disease has undermined the congregational nature of religious practices while the failures by some religious groups to follow social distancing has exacerbated the targeting and stereotyping of religious followers.

For populist leaders who have exploited religion to rise to power or maintain their political positions, the crisis “could threaten the foundations of their religious support base as well as their discriminatory policies towards religious or ethnic minorities”, noted James Dorsey, senior fellow at the Singapore-based S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. This could play out in countries with “segments of ultraconservative religious communities that have different concepts of medicine or a blind faith in God to solve the problem”, explained Dorsey in a phone interview with FRANCE 24.

The health minister who put his faith in the Messiah

Tensions between the temple and laboratory were on stark display in Israel, where Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, a member of the ultra orthodox Ger Hasidic community, told Israeli media last month that he was “sure the messiah would come and save us”.

Litzman and his wife later tested positive for coronavirus, forcing several senior Israeli officials – including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of the Mossad intelligence service – into quarantine since they had been in contact with the health minister who put his faith in the messiah.

Critics have called for Litzman’s resignation and dubbed him “Typhoid Miriam” after “Typhoid Mary”, the New York cook who infected dozens at the turn of the 20^th century. Despite his cabinet position, Litzman’s “primary loyalty” was to the rabbinical leaders of his religious sect, Yehoshua Pfeffer, an ultra-Orthodox expert, told AFP. The health minister, Pfeffer noted, had failed to prevent members of his ultra-orthodox sect from conducting religious gatherings while the country had already imposed travel restrictions and banned mass events.

Netanyahu, who relies on the ultra-orthodox support base which makes up about 10 percent of the population, has struggled to enforce the closure of synagogues and yeshivas in places such as Bnei Brak, one of the country’s poorest, most congested cities and centre of the ultra-orthodox community. Members who live in self-imposed segregation have been particularly affected by the pandemic, with health authorities estimating that at least 38 percent of Beni Brak residents may be carrying the coronavirus.

The crisis has threatened Netanyahu’s coalition and its impact could stretch even deeper. The ultra-orthodox community’s disproportionate political influence and exemption from the country’s mandatory military service is a longstanding source of tension, with critics calling for the integration of the Haredim, as the community is called, into modern Israeli life.

The coronavirus crisis, Dorsey suggests, could also threaten the community from within. “In Israel, the ultra-orthodox live in their own world, they don’t listen to the media, they listen to the rabbi’s advice. The pandemic could undermine rabbinical authority on a scale not seen since the Holocaust, when rabbis advised members not to leave Europe and people paid a heavy price for that advice,” noted Dorsey.

Cow urine and #CoronaJihad in India

Political leaders who “seek religious legitimacy, cater to a religious support base or initially discarded scientific advice for expedient political reasons may have met their match in the coronavirus. Science has knocked religion and traditional healing methods out of the ring in the battle between rival approaches towards getting the coronavirus pandemic under control”, Dorsey noted in an April 7 blog, “Stopping COVID-19 in its tracks: Science gets the upper hand”.

In the first two weeks of March, while Italy was already under a nationwide lockdown, supporters of India’s Hindu right-wing Prime Minister Narendra Modi were hosting “gaumutra parties” across the country, where crowds, urged by saffron-robed religious leaders, gulped cups of cow urine which, they were told, was a miracle cure against the coronavirus.

Although some of the events were held by senior members of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Indian prime minister — who relies on a vast vote base of Hindutva [or “Hinduness”] supporters to win elections — kept silent on the issue.

As the number of coronavirus cases in India mounted, Modi finally took to the airwaves towards the end of March to call on his countrymen to unite in the fight against coronavirus. In a widely hailed address devoid of Hindu supremacist bluster or anti-elitist or anti-Muslim rhetoric, Modi called for solidarity in the face of the deadly pandemic.

But weeks later, as the number of coronavirus cases in India mounted, national unity calls appeared to fall on deaf ears as hate crimes against Muslims spiked following a coronavirus contagion spread from a religious event organised by the Islamic missionary group, Tablighi Jamat.

As #CoronaJihad and #CoronaTerrorism trended on Twitter, with government spokesmen devoting more time to lambasting the Muslim religious gathering than measures to tackle the humanitarian fallout of a hastily-imposed nationwide lockdown, fake news reports began to swell on WhatsApp and other platforms. They, in turn, sparked anti-Muslim attacks across the country with at least one person killed in the eastern state of Jharkhand, according to Indian media reports.

Muslim missionary movement under scrutiny

The Tablighi Jamat movement has come under scrutiny in a number of countries for its role in spreading the coronavirus in Asia.

A missionary movement that originated in India in the 1920s, the Tablighi Jamat has branches across the world, including Asia, Africa, Europe and the US. Given the loose nature of participation and membership, follower estimates are hard to gauge, with the Pew Research Center noting they range from 12 to 80 million across roughly 150 countries.

An apolitical group focused on proselytizing and worship, the Tablighi Jamat is known for its khuruj – or proselytizing tours which see devotees, dressed in simple clothing, traveling for days, sometimes months, while sleeping in mosques and other religious sites. The group’s country branches also hold annual ijtema events, which can gather millions in countries such as Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

A February 27 to March 1 ijtema in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, which was attented by more than 16,000 people, including 1,500 foreigners, triggered the epidemic in Malaysia as well as in Brunei, with cases traced to Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. It was followed by a mid-March ijtema near the Pakistani city of Lahore, which resulted in the spread of coronavirus as far afield as Gaza. It was cut short by Pakistani authorities last month.

In India, a gathering at the groups global spiritual centre, or markaz, in the Nizamuddin area of the Indian capital, New Delhi, was shut down on March 22, days before a nationwide lockdown went into effect at midnight, March 25.

While the religious group’s irresponsibility has been widely slammed, experts have noted that in India, a number of mass religious gatherings took place in the same period. These include a Sikh gathering in Punjab — where a single “super spreader” preacher who died of the virus sparked a quarantine of 40,000 people — and a Hindu temple festival in the southern state of Kerala. None of them sparked the level of public anger faced by the Tablighi Jamat.

Meanwhile, a more controversial breach of Modi’s strict nationwide lockdown occurred in Uttar Pradesh. Yogi Adityanand, the Hindu firebrand chief minister of India’s most populous state, led a ceremony to install a religious icon on a disputed religious site the morning after the lockdown was called. While the Uttar Pradesh police allowed the ceremony to go ahead, a criminal complaint was filed by the state’s police against the editor of the news site, The Wire, for covering the event, sparking condemnations from international press freedom groups.

Adityanath was allowed to perform the ritual with a select gathering of officials and religious supporters, sparking criticisms of elitism and hypocrisy that have also dogged Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan’s VIP prayers and Trump’s Easter prediction

On March 27, as Turkish Muslims were being urged to pray at home, Erdogan held a select Friday prayer service on the presidential palace grounds that has since been dubbed, “the VIP prayer”.

Photographs of the event was posted on Twitter by Diyanet, the country’s Religious Affairs Directorate that coordinates Turkey’s religious activities and has increasingly turned into a tool of Erdogan’s bid for leadership of the Sunni Muslim world.

Over the past few weeks, Turkey’s Diyanet has come under intense criticism for its failure to stem the spread of the epidemic. Some opposition politicians claim pilgrims returning home were given medication to conceal rising fever readings and allowed to return to their villages, spreading the epidemic to Turkey’s rural areas.

Religion and politics have a long, complicated history with each needing the other at different times in different ways in different places to survive. Blasting the role of the Evangelical movement in US politics in a New York Times column, author Katherine Stewart noted that “Donald Trump rose to power with the determined assistance of a movement that denies science, bashes government and prioritized loyalty over professional expertise.

“In the current crisis,” Stewart wrote, “we are all reaping what that movement has sown.”

Not all religious groups or leaders have been in opposition to science or public health directives. The vast majority of priests, imams and clergymen and women of different faiths across the world have seen no inconsistency in emphasising the importance of saving human life over the need for ritual gatherings.

But that depends on their acceptance of scientific principles and the primacy of the world of facts over issues of faith. The coronavirus pandemic is exposing the dangers of rejecting science for a blind acceptance of faith.

Last month, Trump was optimistic that the US would be “opened up and just raring to go by Easter”. The prospect of “packed churches all over our country”, Trump said, would make it “a beautiful time”. But as residents in his home city, New York, wake up to headlines of mass graves in the heart of the metropolis, Trump’s brash forecast of a beautiful Easter with packed churches is unlikely to be forgotten in some quarters, or forgiven in the spirit of the teachings of the risen Christ.

Culled from France 24