“Raise
not your hand against the Anointed of Yahweh”(1Sam.26:11)
(Pastoral Letter to all the Christians
and People of Good will in the Diocese of Mamfe about the recent Kidnapping of
Priests in Central Ejagham Area, in Mamfe Diocese)
My
dear People of God,
When the Diocese of Mamfe was
created on the 9th of February 1999, it was a moment of grace and
great joy to all the people of God in Manyu Division, Lebialem Division and
Nguti Subdivision in Kupe Muanenguba Division whose territory corresponds to
the territorial circumscription of the new Diocese of Mamfe. It is an
indisputable fact that this territory
of the Diocese of Mamfe has known a lot of spiritual growth, economic
development and social progress since the creation of the Diocese. Of all the
parishes of the Diocese, there is no one that has not felt the motherly hand of
the Diocese in its growth, especially through the instrumentality of the young
and dynamic priests of the Diocese who sacrifice and work through the very
difficult terrain of the Diocese to ensure that the Gospel reaches all the corners
of the Diocese.
This year 2019 marks exactly 20
years since the creation of our beloved Diocese of Mamfe, and again, it is a
moment of immense gratitude to God for all that we have achieved so far. We
render thanks to God for the blessings
he showered upon Bishop Frnacis Teke Lysinge, pioneer Bishop of the Diocese of
Mamfe for the first fifteen years of the Diocese, especially for the solid
foundation he laid and the way he sacrificed himself for the smooth take off of
the Diocese. I also thank God for the short time I spent with him as Co-Adjutor
Bishop and for the blessings he has bestowed upon me during the last five years
that I have led the diocese of Mamfe as the Local Ordinary. We have every
reason to thank God. However, it is clear that we could not organize a grand
celebration of the 20th
Anniversary of the Diocese because of the prevailing socio-political crisis
that has rocked the southwest and northwest regions in the past three years.
Mamfe was one of the first places to be hit very badly by the crisis, as it was
one of the first places where violence escalated and resulted to deaths, loss
of property, grave insecurity, many internally Displaced Persons and many refugees
who ran into Nigeria.
In all these difficulties, the
priests stood with their people and made sure that they consoled and comforted
them through the words of the Gospel and the daily celebration of the
Sacraments. Through the heavy gun shots, the fire and the dangers to life, our
heroic priests remained among their people as true shepherds who would never
abandon their sheep in times of danger. Like Jesus the Good Shepherd, the
priests of the Diocese of Mamfe were ready at all times to “Lay down their lives for their sheep”(Jn.10:15).
This pastoral consciousness and commitment even ended up in the tragic death of Rev. Fr. Cosmas Ondari
Omboto, the Parochial Vicar of Kembong Parish. Yet the priests did not feel
discouraged and they did not abandon their flock, not even in Kembong.
I am addressing this pastoral
letter to all of you about some unfortunate recent events that have happened in our Diocese in the last
two weeks, especially in the Central Ejagham Area. In the morning of 20th of October, 2019, some
unknown Gunmen who claim to be members of the restoration forces of Ambazonia,
abducted Rev. Fr. Felix Sunday, a Nigerian “Fidei
Donum” Priest and Parish priest of Afap, when he had just celebrated Mass
in a Mission station and was returning to Afap for the second Mass. They kept
him overnight and only released him on Monday the 21st of October,
2019. On that same Sunday, 20th October, another group of young men
with guns waited on the road between Ewelle and Ajayukndip to abduct the
Assistant Priest of Kembong Parish, Fr. Gabriel Romeo Foukwa, but the Angel of
God intervened and Father missed the road and arrived his parish through a
different route. The same fateful day, 20th October, there were
plans by again another group of armed young men to kidnap the Parish Priest of
Eyumojock, the Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Dzesinyuy in Tabor. But the innocent priest
celebrated Mass without knowing anything and left before his kidnappers
arrived. On Friday, 1st November, 2019, four gunmen went into the
Presbytery of Kembong Parish where the young Fr. Cosmas Ondari was brutally
murdered, and surrendered the parish priest and his assistant at gun point and
requested that they must be given one million Francs CFA before they are
released. Eventually they released them without any ransom paid. What was
painful about these abductions is that some of the Christians knew either hours
or days before hand that this would happen and never warned the priests.
What is the crime of these
priests? The young men who have been perpetrating these heinous acts against
the priests claim that they are venting their anger against the Bishop of Mamfe
because he attended the Grand National Dialogue in Yaounde, and that all those
who attended the Dialogue from Manyu must pay a fine of 500.000 frs CFA each.
Therefore, they told the Priests that their target was the Bishop and until he
paid his fine, they would track him down and kidnap him. The truth is that I
don’t have this kind of money to pay to anybody.
It is clear that it is not only
the priests who are suffering in the hands of some of these armed boys in
various villages, but the entire population is not getting it easy in their
hands either. The boys claimed that they took up guns to protect the population
and it is a great contradiction that these guns are now being used to terrorize
the very population they claimed to be protecting. We all joined to decry the
brutality of the military against the people but now it is our own children who
have turned against their own people and they think it is normal?
When David found out that King Saul was helpless
and sleeping, his servant Abishai urged him to kill him, but David said, “Yahweh Forbid that I should raise my hand
against Yahweh’s anointed”. He warned Abishai in the following words, “For who can lift his hand against Yahweh’s
anointed and be without guilt?”(1Sam.26:9). Touching the anointed one of
God never goes without a guilt and this guilt follows such a person right into
the grave. The priest is a man of God and all those who lay hands on such an
anointed incur a malediction upon themselves.
The gospel of John tells us that
when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and he asked
them who they wanted, at the mention of his Name, “Jesus of Nazareth”, they all went back and fell on the ground. It
did not dawn on them that they were going to commit the most atrocious act in
history, by laying hands on the Son of God(cf John 18:1-10). When they brought
Jesus to Pilate and questioned him, Jesus ended his dialogue with Pilate by
stating that “the one who handed me over
to you has the greater guilt”(Jn.19:11). Let us not make the mistake of the killers of
Jesus who said to Pilate, “Let his blood
be on our heads and on our children”. These are words that carry heavy and
very lasting consequences.
The Code of Canon Law states the
following sanctions upon those who lay violent hands upon clerics and
religious: “A person who uses physical
force against the Roman Pontiff incurs a latae Sententiae Excommunication
reserved to the Apostolic See…”(Can.1370 par.1); “One
who does this against a Bishop incurs a latae sententiae interdict and if a
cleric, he incurs also a latae sententiae suspension”(Can.1370 par.2); “A person who uses physical force against a
cleric or religious out of contempt for the faith, or the church, or
ecclesiastical authority or ministry, is to be punished with a just penalty”(Can.1370
par.3). This is the teaching of the
Church and it is important that all those who violate these law either
knowingly or unknowingly, be aware of the consequences.
Because of the constant threat to
the lives of priests coming from the very people they are risking their lives
to serve, I have decided on the following action:
I
have withdrawn all the priests from the Parishes of Kembong, Ossing and
Eyumojock and they will be out of the Parishes till further notice. This will
hold good for any other parish where the people decide to harass their priests.
These
boys who harass the priests are from these villages, and until the population
dialogues with their children and give me a written guarantee of the safety of the pastors who work for them,
the parishes will remain without pastors.
I
have suspended all development projects in these parishes because the very
people for whom the projects are meant, have made the areas unsafe for any
development, and even those who work on these projects are not safe.
I appeal to the boys who have
caused this embarrassment to the entire Christian community and their villages,
to change their hearts and work towards the growth and progress of their
various communities. They should collaborate with their village and Christian
leaders, so that their priests can return soonest to their parishes and
continue to work in peace. I appeal equally to those who give them orders to do
such acts against the people, to stop from pushing these our brothers into
calling malediction upon themselves.
As I round up this letter, I
invite all the Christians to appreciate and value their priests, especially for
the services they render to them. Your priests love you and they are ready to
continue serving you with all their hearts, their minds and their energy. Yet
in these prevailing unfortunate circumstances, each priest can sorrowfully look
at his people and echo the adapted words of the Reproaches during the Good Friday Liturgy saying:
“My people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me.
I
pray for you everyday and celebrate Masses for you; but you have wished evil on
me.
In
the confessional I bring you freedom from sin; but you have led me to captivity
with your guns.
Through
Caritas I bring food to your hungry, bring medication to those who are sick,
and bring the pregnant women to the hospital; but you threaten me with death.
I
have suffered with you to protect you, cried with you for the dead; but now you
turn round to destroy me.
I
have built churches for you, presbyteries, schools etc, but today you pull me
out of the mission house and turn me to an Internally Displaced Person without
shelter.
My
people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me.”
In conclusion, I want to assure
all the Christians of these parishes of my pastoral solicitude and my prayers.
Like the Chief Pastor of the Diocese of Mamfe, I wish to borrow the words of
Christ and pray for these boys who are disturbing our priests and say, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know
what they are doing”(Luke 23:34). I will never stop loving the people of
Mamfe Diocese and giving my all for them. There is no family without
difficulties, but the Christian faith helps us to solve our problems peacefully
without violence and move ahead as one family.
May
Mary the Queen of Peace intercede for us and may God bless the people of Mamfe
Diocese.
Given
in Mamfe, this 9th Day of November, 2019, the Feast of the
Dedication of the Lateran Basilica.
10, November 2019
Bishop Andrew Nkea issues pastoral letter on recent kidnapping of priests in Mamfe Diocese 0
by soter • Cameroon, Headline News, Religion
“Raise not your hand against the Anointed of Yahweh”(1Sam.26:11)
(Pastoral Letter to all the Christians and People of Good will in the Diocese of Mamfe about the recent Kidnapping of Priests in Central Ejagham Area, in Mamfe Diocese)
My dear People of God,
“My people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me.
I pray for you everyday and celebrate Masses for you; but you have wished evil on me.
In the confessional I bring you freedom from sin; but you have led me to captivity with your guns.
Through Caritas I bring food to your hungry, bring medication to those who are sick, and bring the pregnant women to the hospital; but you threaten me with death.
I have suffered with you to protect you, cried with you for the dead; but now you turn round to destroy me.
I have built churches for you, presbyteries, schools etc, but today you pull me out of the mission house and turn me to an Internally Displaced Person without shelter.
My people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me.”
May Mary the Queen of Peace intercede for us and may God bless the people of Mamfe Diocese.
Given in Mamfe, this 9th Day of November, 2019, the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica.
+Andrew NKEA,
Bishop of Mamfe