Cameroon

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Archbishop Nkea reflects on the toll of war

29, October 2026

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Archbishop Nkea reflects on the toll of war 0

Archbishop Andrew Fuanya Nkea of the Archdiocese of Bamenda, Cameroon, has lamented war’s devastating effects and called on all nations to do everything possible to preserve peace in their countries and communities. His appeal reflects his experience of a decade-old conflict in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.

In a recent interview with Vatican News in Rome, Archbishop Nkea emphasised that peace, once lost, is difficult to regain. He urged everyone to work hard to preserve peace in their communities and in the world.

“Peace is priceless. Peace is something that you cannot buy with money. Peace is something that when you lose, it is not easy at all to regain, and so with all these, I encourage all those who are in peaceful countries to do everything possible not to lose the peace; and those who are in war-torn countries to work very hard to regain peace in their communities. After all, Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace,” said the Bamenda prelate, who is also President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (C.E.N.C.).

The Anglophone Crisis – how it started

Archbishop Nkea recounted how the Anglophone Crisis began in Cameroon: In late 2016, lawyers and teachers in the English-speaking regions led protests to voice concerns about marginalisation by the French-speaking majority.

Cameroon is a bilingual country with two official languages. About 80 per cent of its population speaks French, while the remaining 20 per cent speaks English. For decades, Francophones and Anglophones had lived in ‘relative harmony.’

War and its effects on education

The protests by lawyers and teachers, initially peaceful, soon escalated. By 2017, the Crisis had become an armed conflict between government forces and separatist fighters seeking independence for the English-speaking regions. About ten years later, neither side has achieved a decisive victory. In the meantime, the protracted conflict has taken a heavy toll on human life, caused widespread Internal Displacement, and forced some citizens to flee as refugees.

“For about four or five years, children were all banned from going to school, which was a big big disadvantage to our children,” explained Archbishop Nkea. Nevertheless, he added that schools were gradually reopening, allowing children to return to learning.

Pope Leo XIV’s Catechism of Peace

Archbishop Nkea said Pope Leo XIV’s April 2026 Apostolic Visit to Bamenda greatly boosted efforts to promote peace in the country. The Pope met with religious, traditional, civic and community leaders at St. Joseph’s Cathedral of Bamenda. In his homily at Mass for the faithful of the Archdiocese of Bamenda, the Holy Father reiterated his message of peace.

To preserve the Pope’s message of peace, Archbishop Nkea said he had compiled a new pastoral book inspired by the Pope’s Apostolic Visit to Bamenda.

The book is titled “The Catechism of Pope Leo XIV on Peace.” It contains 100 questions on peace, with answers drawn directly from the speeches and homily that the Pope delivered in Bamenda on 16 April 2026.

Source: Vatican News

Archbishop Nkea to battle decade of war with new peace Catechism

16, September 2026

Archbishop Nkea to battle decade of war with new peace Catechism 0

Archbishop Nkea is preparing a unique catechism on peace aimed at rebuilding a generation scarred by a decade of violence – after thousands were killed and up to a million people displaced in the north-west.

Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya said the project, inspired by Pope Leo XIV’s message of peace, will consist of 100 questions and answers designed to teach young people of all faiths the values of human dignity, reconciliation and respect for life.

With support from Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the archbishop hopes to print and distribute the catechism widely among children and young people in north-west Cameroon, where conflict between separatist groups and government forces has raged since 2016.

He said: “During these ten years of suffering, our young people have grown up surrounded by violence.”

The crisis has left deep wounds across Cameroon’s English-speaking regions. According to figures cited by Archbishop Nkea, between 8,000 and 10,000 people have been killed, although he believes the true number could be higher, while between 800,000 and one million people have been forced to flee their homes.

The impact on children, who make up around 60 percent of the population, has been especially severe.

“The war has created a new generation deeply marked by conflict,” the archbishop said.

For around five years, many children were unable to attend school because of insecurity and attacks linked to the conflict. When some schools eventually reopened, many pupils had become too old to return to primary education.

The violence has also affected the Church, with priests, religious and bishops kidnapped during the unrest.

In one of the worst-hit areas of the archdiocese, abductions became so frequent that Archbishop Nkea took the dramatic decision to close parishes and withdraw clergy until their safety could be guaranteed.

What troubled him most, however, was that many of those involved were not strangers to the Church.

He said: “They were young people from the community itself. Many of their parents were Christians, and some of them also considered themselves Christians. They could attend Mass on Sunday and shortly afterwards kidnap a priest.”

Faced with the escalating violence, the archbishop rejected any suggestion of retaliation.

He stressed: “We are not going to fight anyone.”

The Church suspending its presence in some areas, prompted an unexpected response from local communities.

According to Archbishop Nkea, mothers began confronting their sons, warning them that the loss of churches, schools and hospitals would have serious consequences.

“They told them: ‘We cannot live without Mass.’ ‘If the bishop closes the Church hospitals, where will we go when we are sick?'”

Gradually, local residents became involved in efforts to secure the release of kidnapped clergy.

Determined not to lose the services provided by the Church, community leaders pressured armed groups and negotiated for the release of their captives.

For Archbishop Nkea, the experience highlighted the urgent need to address the damage done to a generation raised amid bloodshed and instability.

“They have witnessed killings. They have witnessed kidnappings. They have seen respect for human life and human dignity decline,” he said.

He believes the answer lies not only in ending violence but also in teaching a new way of thinking.

“We want to build a new culture. A culture based on respect for the human person, the value of life, reconciliation and peace.”

That conviction led to the creation of the peace catechism, inspired by a visit to Bamenda by Pope Leo XIV, who left what the archbishop described as “a very powerful message of peace” that shouldn’t be squandered.

Around 15,000 pupils attend Catholic schools across the archdiocese, including Christians, Muslims and followers of traditional religions. As a result, the text will focus not on Catholic doctrine but on universal values such as forgiveness, peaceful coexistence, respect for human dignity and the sanctity of life.

“It will be a text based on the Holy Father’s message of peace. This catechism will not be intended only for Catholics. We believe it is a concrete way of sowing peace among the younger generations,” Archbishop Nkea said.

With ACN’s support, he hopes the catechism can be distributed widely and introduced to children from an early age.

After ten years in which many young Cameroonians have known little except conflict, the Church in Bamenda hopes the initiative will help cultivate a different future rooted in reconciliation, respect and peace.

Culled from Independent Catholic News

Bishop George Nkuo marks 20 years of Episcopal Ministry

8, September 2026

Bishop George Nkuo marks 20 years of Episcopal Ministry 0

Bishop George Nkuo of Cameroon’s Catholic Diocese of Kumbo has marked the 20th anniversary of his Episcopal Ordination with thanksgiving, reflecting on the journey of his Priestly and Episcopal ministry and asking for the grace to continue serving God’s people with hope, compassion and perseverance.

Speaking during a Thanksgiving Mass marking the anniversary on Tuesday, September 8, Bishop Nkuo thanked members of the St. Augustine’s College (SAC) community who joined him in prayer, saying the occasion offered him an opportunity to look back on the two decades since he was ordained a Bishop.

He reminded those gathered that while the occasion marked a personal milestone, the celebration of the Holy Eucharist must remain centered on Jesus Christ.

“It’s Christ who is the center of our celebration. So let us not shift our attention from Christ to the Bishop. It’s Christ Himself who is present with us,” he said.

The Local Ordinary of Kumbo shared a personal prayer inspired by his reflection earlier in the day on the Blessed Virgin Mary, inviting the faithful to pray with him as he renewed his entrustment of his Priestly ministry to the Mother of Jesus.

“Mary, Mother of Jesus and my Mother, I entrust my Priesthood to you again,” he said.

Reflecting on two images of Mary — holding the infant Jesus at Bethlehem and standing with Christ in the mystery of His suffering and redemption — the Catholic Bishop asked for the grace to make his ministry one of liberation and service.

“I ask for intercession that my Priestly ministry will always be one of redeeming the people I serve from whatever holds them back from becoming more than the human being God wants them to be. This is my vocation. This is my work. This is my life,” he said.

The Local Ordinary of Kumbo, since September 2006 asked Mary to help him treasure in his heart the blessings God has bestowed upon him and to develop a more positive outlook in the face of difficulties and disappointments.

Bishop Nkuo acknowledged that ministers of the Church can sometimes become overly focused on what goes wrong, the suffering people experience and the disappointments encountered in life.

He said he had prayed for the grace to look beyond suffering and failure and to recognize the hope offered by Christ’s Resurrection.

“I need you to have a more positive outlook. That’s my prayer this morning, and I know you can help me,” he said.

The Catholic Bishop then expressed one of the central reflections of his anniversary prayer: “I want to be able to look at the crucifix and see Easter.”

Bishop Nkuo said he wanted to learn to see failure and rejection not as reasons for despair but as opportunities to learn and improve.

“I want to treat failure and rejection as information about how I can do better. I know from experience that I have a chance. I can dwell on negative outcomes or on positive projections. Help me to choose the latter,” he said.

The Bishop of Kumbo said a more positive attitude would enable him to approach those entrusted to his pastoral care with greater hope.

“With a more positive attitude, Mary my Mother, I can approach the people I am serving with greater hope. And this is certainly what they need,” he said.

Reflecting on his ministry as a preacher of the Gospel, Bishop Nkuo noted that many people who come to Church carry the burdens of difficult experiences from their daily lives.

“When I stand at the pulpit on the weekend, I need to realize the people before me have come from a week of hardships, difficulties, disappointments, tensions, and heartaches. And they are looking to me to give them a reason to go back into their daily lives and try again to persevere,” he said.

He therefore asked Mary, whom he described as one who persevered through the different stages of her Son’s public ministry and stood at the foot of the Cross, to help him nourish God’s people with the Gospel.

“You know what people need, and you can help me to feed them the solid food of the Gospel to nourish them in their perseverance,” he implored.

The Bishop also asked for the grace to empathize with those facing difficulties even when he himself needs encouragement and support.

“Help me, Mother of Joy and Mother of Sorrow, to bring reinforcement into the people’s lives and to empathize with people’s problems even while I myself am looking for understanding and support,” he said.

Bishop Nkuo, who was ordained a Priest for the Diocese of Buea in April 1981, expressed his desire to remain rooted in the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation, suffering, death and Resurrection.

He prayed for the grace to “kneel before the King of Bethlehem” and to remain faithful at the Cross of Calvary, believing that the Risen Christ continues to accompany and strengthen him.

He asked Mary to help him remain convinced “with all my heart that the Son now risen is always with me and within me, strengthening me with the resurrection power to persevere.”

Culled from aciafrica

Yaoundé: Papal Nuncio says ‘preventing children from going to school is diabolical’

8, September 2026

Yaoundé: Papal Nuncio says ‘preventing children from going to school is diabolical’ 0

At the start of the 2026/2027 academic year in Cameroon, the Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon, Archbishop José Avelino Bettencourt, warns against the forced boycott of schools in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.

For the past ten years, the North West and South West regions have been reeling from a separatist crisis, with the boycott of schools a cornerstone of the separatist strategy.

The statistics have been stark. According to UNICEF, the crisis has forced the closure of more than 6,000 schools, affecting more than 800,000 children.

A report by Save the Children indicates that, on average, children in the North West region have lost three and a half years of schooling due to the crisis, and that the number of teenage pregnancies in the North West region has increased by 45 percent because of the crisis.

In addition, thousands of teachers have fled the region, with the World Bank reporting that absenteeism rates in both regions are as high as 50  percent.

According to Human Rights Watch, armed groups have attacked at least 75 schools and abducted over 150 education personnel since 2016.

Bettencourt says children have become the ultimate victims of these developments.

With schools opening their doors on September 7 for the start of the 2026/27 academic year, the Portuguese-Canadian prelate warns that forcing kids out of school is “utterly diabolical.”

“As the new school year begins, our thoughts go to the most vulnerable members of our community, the children,” the archbishop said.

“Preventing children from going to school is wrong,” the nuncio said in a video message published on September 1.

“Violence is never acceptable. Let that be quite clear,” he added.

Bishop George Nkuo of Kumbo in the North West Region has issued a similar call, telling Crux Now that children’s right to education must not be negotiable.

“Ask me what can be the greatest gift that can be given to children, especially the underprivileged, in a community plagued by sociopolitical unrest, and I will remind you of what men of old used to say: that the man who turns his back to education invites poverty into his household,” Nkuo said.

Kumbo has been the epicenter of separatist violence, and the impact on society has been incalculable.

“Kidnappings and torture — both physical and psychological — have tragically become common in Kumbo over the past few years. I have witnessed thousands of children of all ages leaving Kumbo out of fear,” Nkuo told Crux Now.

“The population is on edge; they are terrified of the lockdowns and the chaos that rules the streets,” he added.

“We have seen so many people flee Kumbo because they have been targeted, and the number of victims is staggering. I have seen people begging for food just to feed their children,” the bishop explained.

“Confused and lost, they face military checkpoints and heavy separatist controls on the roads where we are all advised to stay away. So many people have been kidnapped — victims of a senseless cycle of abduction,” Nkuo told Crux Now.

On Aug. 30, the bishop celebrated Mass for a male-dominated Church group in the diocese known as the Samba Action Group. It’s an annual Mass usually celebrated at the start of each school year.

Given the crisis’s impact on education, the group has initiated what it calls “Giving Someone a Future,” with the overarching aim of supporting the bishop in sponsoring underprivileged children in school.

Nkuo said he was glad that, despite the ongoing socio-political crisis, the group has continued to encourage children to pursue an education.

“This resilience is remarkable given that kidnappings and torture, both physical and psychological, have been all too common in Kumbo in recent years,” the bishop said.

Describing the members of the Samba Action Group as modeling the Christian values of parenthood, he noted that “even those [members] who may not have had the educational opportunities they desired understand that education is indispensable for any society hoping for a bright future.”

“Is this, then, not an initiative worthy of emulation and support by all?” Nkuo said.

Meanwhile, various separatist factions, historically united in calling for a boycott of schools in the two regions, have been sending mixed signals ahead of the start of the new school year.

The Ambazonia Governing Council (AGovC), the largest separatist faction, has urged parents to facilitate the unconditional return of children to school.

The Interim Government (IG) has also said it is open to allowing kids to resume school.

John Mbah Akuroh, who leads The Consortium, a civil society group advocating for the independence of Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, told Crux Now that separatist groups had ended the era of school boycotts.

“We don’t do school boycotts anymore,” he said.

“We need our children back in school, and we are doing everything to ensure that children go to school in a very conducive environment,” Akuroh told Crux Now.

Culled from Crux

When politics fails a nation, football and the Church become the battleground

3, September 2026

When politics fails a nation, football and the Church become the battleground 0

Cameroon has reached a troubling point where the country’s deepest political failures are increasingly being played out through institutions that should in principle stand above partisan confrontation.

The spectacle surrounding the Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT) is one example. During the inauguration of its new headquarters in Yaoundé, the presence of the Prime Minister, Dion Ngute, and the wider government establishment demonstrated the enormous political attention attached to football. Yet, almost simultaneously, university lecturers, commentators and other public voices have turned television studios into arenas for fierce attacks against FECAFOOT president Samuel Eto’o.

In the English-speaking regions, the battlefield appears different. There, Catholic bishops and other church leaders who have repeatedly called for peace, restraint and responsible public conduct are themselves increasingly exposed to harsh criticism. The contrast between the two situations is striking, but the underlying problem is the same: institutions and personalities that should not be the primary targets of political frustration are becoming convenient victims of a much deeper national crisis.

The question Cameroonians should be asking is not simply whether Samuel Eto’o is right or wrong, or whether a particular bishop has said something that pleases or displeases the masses. The bigger question is: How did Cameroon arrive at a point where football administrators and religious leaders have become proxies for battles that are fundamentally political?

For more than four decades, President Paul Biya’s political system has promised stability, development and national unity. Yet today, too many Cameroonians experience a country marked by economic hardship, declining public confidence, institutional mistrust and seemingly endless political confrontation. The persistence of the Anglophone crisis has deepened the sense of abandonment in the Northwest and Southwest, while the wider population continues to struggle with unemployment, rising living costs and limited opportunities.

A government that has been in power for decades cannot indefinitely escape responsibility for the condition of the nation it governs.

This is not to say that football officials should be above scrutiny. They should not. Nor should bishops, politicians, academics or any other public figures be immune from legitimate criticism. Accountability is essential in any functioning society.

But accountability becomes something else when public debate degenerates into permanent character attacks, televised humiliation and political mobilisation against individuals. At that point, the real issues confronting the population disappear from view. Football becomes the distraction. Religion becomes the distraction. Personalities become the distraction.

Meanwhile, the ordinary Cameroonian is left asking the most basic questions: Where are the jobs? Where is affordable healthcare? Where are the functioning schools? Where is meaningful decentralisation? Where is the security that allows citizens to live without fear? Where is the political environment in which disagreement does not automatically become a confrontation?

This is perhaps the greatest indictment of Cameroon’s political class: after decades of political dominance, the country has become so consumed by institutional and personal battles that citizens can be left feeling as though there is little tangible progress to defend. And when citizens have little confidence in politics, every major institution becomes vulnerable to political capture.

Football, because it commands extraordinary emotional power, becomes an easy target. The church, because it retains moral authority among millions, becomes another. Universities, the media and civil society are drawn into the same contest. Instead of providing spaces for national dialogue, they can become extensions of the political battlefield.

Samuel Eto’o therefore represents more than a controversial football administrator in this debate. Catholic bishops represent more than churchmen calling for peace. Both can become victims of a broader political environment in which public frustration is redirected toward prominent individuals rather than toward the structural problems producing that frustration.

Cameroon deserves better. The country does not need more television shouting matches masquerading as national debate. It does not need citizens divided into camps around football personalities or church leaders while fundamental questions about governance remain unanswered.

It needs institutions that can operate without intimidation. It needs criticism without persecution, accountability without political vendettas and leadership without the constant search for enemies. Most importantly, it needs a political system capable of renewing hope.

After decades of the Biya era, the central issue is no longer simply who is winning the latest institutional quarrel. The issue is whether Cameroon’s political leadership has delivered a country in which ordinary citizens can look to the future with confidence.

If football and the church have become the latest arenas for national anger, that should not merely provoke another round of accusations against Eto’o or the bishops. It should force Cameroon to confront the deeper truth: when politics fails to solve a nation’s problems, society eventually finds other institutions on which to unload its frustrations. Today, football and the church appear to be among the victims.

But the greatest victim may be the Cameroonian citizen—the citizen who has watched political battles continue for decades while the promise of a better country remains painfully out of reach.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Teachers in Cameroonian Catholic schools cautioned against selling marks

27, August 2026

Teachers in Cameroonian Catholic schools cautioned against selling marks 0

Bishop Michael Miabesue Bibi of Cameroon’s Catholic Diocese of Buea has cautioned teachers and administrators in Catholic schools against examination malpractice, the sale of marks, drug abuse and other misconduct, urging educators to uphold integrity and protect the students entrusted to their care.

In his homily during a thanksgiving Mass for teachers of the Diocese of Buea at the Divine Mercy Co-Cathedral, Bishop Bibi reflected on the 2025-2026 academic year and issued recommendations for the new academic year.

“Education is about the formation of the whole human person,” he said during the Wednesday, August 26 Eucharistic celebration, describing education as “one of the greatest investments we can make in the future of our society.”

Through education, he added, young people should not only be prepared to pass examinations but also to develop their minds and character, discover their talents and become positive contributors to society.

Bishop Bibi emphasized that Catholic schools have a responsibility to form students in integrity, discipline and compassion.

“The mission of a Catholic school cannot be reduced to producing excellent examination results. If all we do is produce students with excellent grades, but without integrity, discipline, compassion, that is why Catholic teachers must always make a difference,” he said.

He said teachers working in Catholic institutions, regardless of their religious affiliation, assume a particular responsibility to respect, uphold and promote the values of Catholic education.

“Our students are watching us. They listen to what we teach, but they also observe how we lead,” the Catholic Church leader said.

He added, “We are supposed to be light bearers. We are supposed to be a good example. We are supposed to be a model for the students that we teach.”

Bishop Bibi issued a particular warning against examination malpractice, insisting that Catholic schools must not compromise academic integrity in pursuit of impressive results.

“We cannot preach integrity in the morning and facilitate examination malpractice in the afternoon. The reputation of our Catholic schools must never be built upon fraudulent results. I would rather have an honest result that challenges us to improve than an impressive result obtained through dishonesty,” he said.

He called on teachers, administrators and other education personnel to protect the integrity of examinations and assessment.

“Marks are not commodities for sale. No student should have to pay a teacher in order to receive marks that he or she has legitimately earned. Likewise, no student should be able to purchase marks that he or she has not earned,” he said.

The Local Ordinary of Buea described the practice as corruption that is unjust to hardworking students and damaging to the education system.

“A teacher has been entrusted with enormous power over students. That power must never be exploited for financial or personal gain,” he said.

Bishop Bibi also urged parents not to encourage teachers to favor their children by offering money or other incentives.

He also warned against the growing challenge of drug abuse and immoral behavior among young people.

The Local Ordinary of Buea, who started his Episcopal Ministry in March 2017 as Auxiliary Bishop of Cameroon’s Bamenda Archdiocese, said Catholic schools cannot remain indifferent when such behaviors affect students and urged teachers never to become part of the problem.

“No teacher should introduce students to drugs, encourage substance abuse, facilitate immoral behavior, or exploit the vulnerability of the students,” he said.

Instead, he said, teachers should serve as protectors and guides by paying attention to changes in students’ behavior, listening to them, correcting them and offering appropriate support.

“Listen to them, guide them, correct them, love them, and make sure that you discipline them so that they don’t get involved in habits that would destroy their future,” Bishop Bibi said.

He reminded educators that the children entrusted to Catholic schools belong first to God and their families, who place them in the care of teachers with confidence.

The Bishop of Buea acknowledged the financial and economic challenges facing teachers, families and Catholic educational institutions.

Despite these difficulties, he praised teachers for continuing to make sacrifices in their work.

“As a diocese, we must continue listening to you and working together to improve our Catholic educational institutions and the conditions under which we carry out our mission,” he said.

Bishop Bibi called for continued dialogue between teachers, school administrators, the education secretariat and the bishop so that challenges can be addressed constructively.

As the new academic year begins on September 7, Bishop Bibi urged teachers to approach their work as a vocation rather than simply as employment.

“Do not enter the classroom simply because another academic year has begun. Enter with a mission,” he said.

Culled from aciafrica

Benedictus Lysinge: Homily, Mass of the Bamenda Provincial Association of Diocesan Priests

19, August 2026

Benedictus Lysinge: Homily, Mass of the Bamenda Provincial Association of Diocesan Priests 0

Homily: Midnight Holy Mass:August 12, 2026

In Memoriam: Most Rev. Francis Teke Lysinge

St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Mamfe

(Association of Diocesan Priests, Religious Men and Women, and Seminarians)

Dear Rev. Fr. Augustine Nkwain, Chairman of the Provincial ADP,

Dear Esteemed Fathers, Religious Men and Women, Seminarians,

Dear Holy People of God,

  1. “We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus: God will bring them with him.” (1 Thess:  4:14). To the Thessalonians, it was not just enough to declare that Jesus is Risen. It was equally of utmost importance that they understood just why and how this singular resurrection of Jesus was consequential to their lives in the particular context of the First Century of Greek Macedonia. And this was the central nexus of the Pauline teaching: both the living and the dead share a future with Christ, as a consequence of Jesus’ resurrection.
  • The resurrection of Jesus is the Father’s eschatological event in history. It is the definitive epiphany of God. It is God’s verb in the grammar of human existence. God has done something in Jesus of Nazareth that has implications for the world. By raising Jesus from the dead, God has shown that He is interested in doing something about evil, pain, injustice, and sin in the world. Like the Thessalonians, we too have power to shape history. The resurrection of Jesus shows that love has quick steps, that love wants to do the good for the beloved and to do so quickly.Jesus’ resurrection is thus, an evolutionary leap that completely changes the dynamisms of history in both its linear and cyclic senses. As the Risen One, Jesus is now both the center and fulfilment of history. Heaven, the fullness of God, begins here. In the Risen One within history, the God that Greek philosophy articulated as the Unmoved Mover, as the One Beyond Being, is now Infinite Closeness, Infinite Nearness. We pass from bio to zoe, from life to life, because of the Risen One, Life itself. We need not fear, even if we go through the valley of darkness, as the Psalm of this liturgy reminds us.
  • Jesus died and rose again. God will bring us all with Jesus. These creedal statements by Paul, can offer us some keys that might enable us to grasp the message that comes to us from the life of our beloved Bishop Francis Teke Lysinge. Later today, we will bury the remains of our beloved Mola in the earth of this Cathedral Church that he labored with his whole heart to construct to the glory of God, as a seed of immortality – an immortality borne from memory, love, dialogical relationality with Christ, the Living One (Ratzinger, Eschatology).Hence, our relationship with the living Christ is the metaphysical condition for our immortality, which, for the Christian, is not just of the soul – as one finds in Plato, but even more, is bodily, glorified bodies, as Paul again explains in his letter to the Church in Corinth (1 Cor 15:43).Though our hearts are rightly saddened, in the light of our faith as explained to us by Paul, we are hopeful and grateful to God, for blessing this local Church with such a Christ-centered shepherd, a man of God, of profound faith, humble hope, and great love.
  • Jesus died and rose again! Because of the resurrection of Jesus, word and action are now efficacious. And this is the foundation of this Sacrament of the Holy Mass. A Sacramentis that which we do, that left to ourselves, we cannot do.We are only able to be and to do in the name of Christ, because He, Christ, has loved and called us first: vos autem dixit amicos – I call you friends. And this, our saintly Bishop Lysinge, so consistently lived out in his priestly life. Only one who has understood and experienced a certain level of intimacy with Jesus, could be so attached to Eucharistic Adoration, to the Office of Readings, to prayer, as our beloved Mola was.
  • The ancient Romans defined friendship as, same likes, same dislikes – idem velle, idem nolle. Friendship with Jesus is to love what Jesus loves. Because Jesus has made us his friends, we have been invited into his power, into his relationship with the Father. Standing by Jacob’s well (Jn 4:6-15), we suddenly realize that it is not the well that is deep and us having no cistern to draw from the well. The real well is Jesus, and the water Jesus gives us to quench our thirst is our friendship with him.  From this intimacy of Jesus and the Father, we too, like our beloved Bishop Lysinge did so fruitfully, become agents of bringing about God’s liberating love to our world that is so much in need of God’s love, and yet often unconscious of this need.
  • Idem velle, idem nolle: What was the young Godwill Teke Lysinge of Sasse College after, when he converted to Catholicism in 1955, chiefly influenced by a reading of the lives of the saints, especially that of St. Francis Xavier? Here again, we see the saints, as the main apologists of Catholicism. Like Francis Xavier, Francis Lysinge was after Jesus Christ. He sought Jesus with all his heart and might and was always eager to bring Jesus to others. His conversion in Sasse that led to the choice for the seminary shows us what our beloved pioneer bishop of Mamfe truly lived for, which is tied to what he truly worshipped: God in Christ Jesus. Like Ignatius of Loyola, Lysinge of Mamfe was drawn by an interior consolation in reading the accounts of the saints. And from this knowledge of the saints, our beloved Mola grew in intimacy of knowledge and communion with Jesus, his friend, for friendship always demands intimacy and knowledge. And starting from this friendship with Jesus, we can discern three hermeneutical keys thanks to which our beloved late bishop sought to help us know, love and understand Jesus better:
  • I am what I am, by the grace of God: (1 Cor 15:10) Every priest makes a decision at the time of his priestly ordination to adopt a text that captures his inner consciousness of the ministry he is about to undertake, thus providing an indication of how he intends to live out the gift of the priesthood. At his priestly ordination on April 17th, 1966, the young Fr. Lysinge adopted St. Paul’s retrospective analysis of his life: I am what I am, by the grace of God! Herein lies the first hermeneutical keyto understanding the great legacy of our beloved and saintly pioneer bishop. Bishop Lysinge’s life teaches us thatgrace is a dialogical relationship. A thingnification approach to grace misses out on what is most essential. Because of this dialogical relationality, there emerges, as a consequence, an anthropological eclipsing of the self,that was so unmistakably evident in the life of our beloved late bishop: Jesus, must increase;Lysinge must decrease.
  • We could characterize the life of our saintly late bishop using the category of “disposable anthropology.” Anyone who encountered Mola was immediately struck with the man’s Christ-centeredness. His life was an example of a Christian existentialism noticeable in the likes of Augustine, Pascal, Kierkegaard and Blondel. It was easily noticeable that for Bishop Lysinge, life was simply a standing for Another. He was a representative of Another, a being-in-reference to Another. From this, it became so evident that the life of this humble servant of God, had become so conformed to Jesus that it had a single purpose: to keep the window of the world open to the refreshing and life-giving breeze of God. Our beloved late bishop had responded to the call of the Lord as a priest with so much generosity that his life in the horizontalization of priestly ministry was a reflection of the verticalization that took precedence and shaped the resultant person-outcome of Francis Teke Lysinge.
  • But as Augustine came to discover as recorded in his Confessions, the eclipsing of the self in Christ, this decreasing of the self, is precisely the pathway to the finding the self – Sero teamavi – Late, have I loved you, O Beauty, so ancient and so new: late have I loved you! You were within me, and I was outside myself. I have tasted you: and now I hunger and thirst for more. You have touched me: and I have burned for your peace (Confessions, X, 27 (28). As Karl Rahner explains, in receiving God, the human being does not cease to be human. Rather, God’s ontological, total, self-communication actualizes humanity’s deepest potential. Humans are spirit-in-the-world, the supernatural existential. I am what I am, by the grace of God. Because of Christ, I am someone. I am being, to use a phrase of Heidegger. From April 17, 1966, Fr. Lysinge never lost this consciousness that all was grace, meaning the purpose of life was to be in Christ. We saw this in the life of our holy bishop Lysinge, that a life of grace shows that God is real, faith is real, and to live from God and for God, is something beautiful. The good, the true, and the beautiful, constitutive a comprehensive unity, a Hegelian synthesis if one may call it that, in what the spiritual masters, our beloved Lysinge clearly amongst such, characterize as the will of God.
  1. Fiat Voluntas Tua– Thy Will Be Done: This is the second hermeneutical key that unlocks the great life of Lysinge of Mamfe. To do the will of God at the present moment has always been the primary preoccupation of the saints. Following the drama of Gethsemane – Not as I want, but as you want – saints never seek to do their own will. Certainly, Gethsemane remains even today, the battle royale for many a Christian and priest. There is always the human appeal of our subjective freedom: “Take this cup from me.” This is the desire for self-realization, of the autonomous will of Kant, Voltaire, Nietzsche and Feuerbach. It is in human nature to construct a tower of Babel, based on the will to power!For us religious persons, this desire easily takes the form of a religiosity whose inner core has absolutely nothing to do with the God of Jesus Christ, as one finds in Dostoyevsky The Grand Inquisitor, Soloviev’s The Anti-Christ, andBenson’sLord of the World. But the saints, like our beloved Bishop Lysinge, show us another path: To discern, and do God’s will, as challenging as it is, is what eventually brings about human fruitfulness and joy. It is what ultimately endures. Only God truly matters.
  1. Fiat Voluntas Tua – Your Will be done! Even for our beloved late bishop, discerning the will of God did not come easy. He was unsure what to make of the dream of the Dominican Nun who, months earlier, had forcefully declared to him in the sacristy one day after Mass, that she saw him being ordained a bishop. Sitting before Nuncio Felix Del Blanco, he was convinced that the priest that had accompanied him to the Nunciature in Yaoundé had more administrative skills than he and had made up his mind to ask the Nuncio to instead recommend that priest to the Holy Father for the See of Mamfe. On the eve of his episcopal ordination, while in Adoration and almost inimical to Gethsemane, he worried if he was doing the right thing accepting ordination as bishop of Mamfe. He disliked the fact that in a sense, he was at the center of the event. It is always the mark of saints: Jesus must increase, they must decrease: “Not to be encompassed by the greatest, but to let oneself be encompassed by the smallest – that is divine. – Non coercerimaximo, contineritamen a minimo, divinum est” (Ratzinger, Christianity, 146). Saints are always uneasy about themselves, because their God-centeredness amplifies their own littleness and unworthiness. To saints, Chalcedon, by upholding both the divinity and humanity of Jesus in a healthy tension, provided the foundational framework of Christian living.
  1. Like all saints, Francis Lysinge was very conscious of his own inadequacies and limitations. He was not a Nietzschean Übermensch. Bishop Lysinge,like Augustine of Hippo, saw the episcopacy as communion and love. Like all saints, he believed that the Church was ultimately the work of God. Like all saints, he was knowingly ignorant of human sinfulness, of the abuse of human freedom. Like all saints, he too had his hours of desolation, his Good Fridays. But again, like all saints, our Christ-centered bishop believed very firmly that Mamfe was the work of God. And as Jesus’ resurrection shows us, It is in the nature of God to live, not to die.
  1. Now is not the time to do an assessment of theenormous human and material enhancements and constructions carried out by our beloved pioneer bishop, thanks to his tireless appeals and trips, both within the diocese and in the diaspora: from his legendary relationship with the Church in Nigeria that brought so much good to Mamfe, material and personnel wise, especially regarding the formation of our seminarians; to his frequent trips to Germany that formed bonds of partnerships with Mamfe; from Austria to Italy; from France and the UK to the USA, and the list goes on.Bishop Lysinge went everywhere that it was possible to go to, to secure help for this diocese. Christian Cardinal Tumi once said to Bishop Lysinge in my presence: “Francis, from where are you getting all these monies that you are building all these things in Mamfe? Whenever I ask you, you say it is God! Are you the only one who know God? I know you won’t tell me. Italian Mafia!” Our beloved late Bishop established firm essential diocesan structures that continue to serve the pastoral and administrative needs of our  diocese.
  1. But even more, to those seeking to play the administrative judgment card in terms of suitability, it might be helpful to listen again to these words of Ratzinger at the Holy Mass Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice preceding his election as Bishop of Rome: (April 18, 2005): “All people desire to leave a lasting mark. But what endures? Money does not. Even buildings do not, nor books. After a certain time, longer or shorter, all these things disappear. The only thing that lasts forever is the human soul, the human person created by God for eternity. The fruit that endures is therefore all that we have sown in human souls: love, knowledge, a gesture capable of touching hearts, words that open the soul to joy in the Lord.” And again: “To him who as spirit upholds and encompasses the universe, a spirit, a human heart with its ability to love, is greater than all the milky ways in the universe. Quantitative criteria become irrelevant; other orders of magnitude become visible, according to which the infinitely small is the truly embracing and truly great.” (Ratzinger, Christianity, 146 – 147). And more: “The highest power is demonstrated as the calm willingness completely to renounce all power; and we are shown that it is powerful, not through force, but only through the freedom of love, which, even when rejected, is stronger than the exultant powers of earthly violence.” (Ratzinger, Christianity, 150). Mola’s enduring fruitfulness and greatest legacy are not the constructions especially in setting up the basic diocesan structures upon which his successors have continued to build, as great and broad as these are, but more importantly, the fruits of love, tenderness, humility and compassion that so marked his pastoral ministry in Mamfe
  1. Mola’s was a pastor’s heart that we find in the Gospel of this liturgy. Like Jesus, he saw, he felt pity, he moved towards the bereaved and downcast, he comforted all.His frequent visits to the sick, irrespective of their religious creed, to prisoners, to the homes of the Christians, brought alive the reality of the articulated in the Gospel of this liturgy: “A great prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people.” His pastoral generosity made the people of Mamfe, Catholics and non-Catholics alike to know that they had a bishop amongst them. “Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it” (Lk 17:33).The characteristic humble, generous and sacrificial spiritof the priests of Mamfe Diocese is traceable in large part to the spirit instilled in this presbyterium by Bishop Lysinge. You could accept to stay in the small rectory in Mbeme at the time, because you saw Lysinge living in the same rectory with you, without complaining. And he was always eager to welcome the priests of Mamfe into his house, which he fondly referred to as the “people’s house.”
  1. AliquodPulchrum Deo – Making Mamfe Diocese Something Beautiful for God. This is the third hermeneutical key into the life of our beloved late bishop Lysinge. This was not just a maxim for our saintly bishop. He truly believed it and gave his whole soul to building up our beloved diocese. This was the overarching goal of his pastoral ministry. And even before synod and synodality became fashionable in the universal church with the Francis pontificate, Bishop Lysinge, in one of his major final episcopal acts, gave Mamfe Diocese our own Synod, whose fruits he gathered in the post synodal episcopal exhortation, AliquodPulchurm Deo – a great roadmap for the evangelization of our diocese, with its very Christocentric focus – to renew all things in Christ, who has made us for himself, and restless are our hearts, until they rest in God (Confessions, I, I, (I).
  1. “I am what I am by the grace of God;” Thy Will be Done;” “Something Beautiful for God;” ; – in these three expressions, we see the heart and soul of our beloved Bishop Lysinge. In the first years of his episcopate, he went from village to village in this Diocese, guided by Christ. But after his retirement, he increasingly entered into the communion of Christ’s sufferings. Eventually, the one who had spent countless hours gazing at Our Lord, hidden in the Eucharist, completely lost his physical sight. BishopLysinge then increasingly came to understand the truth of the words our Blessed Lord had addressed to Peter: “Someone else will fasten a belt around you.” (Jn 21:18).In this very communion with the suffering Lord, he continued to proclaim the Gospel.
  1. Ever so often, our saintly bishop, on seeing the hills along the Obang-Bachuo road, will allude to the eternal hills of heaven. He often spoke about heaven with such mystical certainty and metaphysical realism that was so akin to the fire of Pascal: Fire! Fire! Fire! God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers – a text that our good bishop often loved to invoke at table lively table conversations. We can be sure that our saintly Mola, the people’s bishop, Lysinge of Mamfe, now amongst the blessed, no longer beholding the LordHidden in the Eucharist in the lumen fide, but is now beholding Him, face to face, in full sight, in the lumen gloriae. Our cherished bishop completed his Licentiate in Sacred Theology focusing on the remarkable Lutheran pastor and anti-Nazi dissident, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. How often did he reference those profound words from Bonhoeffer: “Death is the supreme festival on the way to freedom”? Like his academic mentor, we hold the belief that our beloved Mola is now truly free, in the blessed company of the saints.
  1. With immense gratitude and uplifted hearts, we thank you, our humble and gentle bishop, for your Christ-centered life. We thank you for your total love for this diocese. We thank you for giving your life totally for this diocese, which the Lord entrusted into your hands on April 21, 1999. Mamfe will never forget you. You so much loved the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary and committed your life to this devotion. We entrust your gentle priestly soul into the merciful hands of Jesus and loving hands of Mary. Yes, Benedictus Lysinge, friend of Jesus Christ, continue to pray for us, continue to watch over us, and as you follow the Lamb wherever He goes (Rev. 14:4), bring all of us your children, and Mamfe Diocese along with you, Amen.

Rev. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai

Priest of Mamfe Diocese

Where is Bishop Francis Lysinge now?

14, August 2026

Where is Bishop Francis Lysinge now? 0

There are moments when words seem too small for the mystery before us. The burial of Bishop Emeritus Francis Teke Lysinge, former Bishop of the Diocese of Mamfe, is one such moment.

He has been laid to rest. The Church has prayed. The faithful have mourned. The solemn rites have been celebrated, with the Papal Nuncio to Cameroon, His Grace Archbishop Avelino Bettencourt leading the historic ceremony. And now, beneath the silence that follows the final farewell, one question rises above all others:

Where is Bishop Francis Lysinge now? For the believer, the answer is not found merely in the grave. He has met HIM. He has met the One to whom he gave his life. He has met Christ the King.

For decades, Bishop Francis Lysinge stood before God’s people proclaiming the Gospel, administering the sacraments, consoling the brokenhearted, challenging the powerful, encouraging the weak and reminding the Church that this world is not our final home. He spoke of Christ, prayed to Christ, served Christ and called others to follow Christ.

Now Bishop Lysinge the preacher has encountered the One he preached. The shepherd has met the Shepherd. The servant has met the Master. The pilgrim has reached the destination. And perhaps this is where the mourning Christian must allow grief to give way, slowly and painfully, to hope.

We of the Cameroon Concord Group mourn Bishop Francis Lysinge because death creates an emptiness that cannot be easily explained away. His voice will no longer be heard in the familiar places. His presence will no longer be felt among the people he served. Mamfe has lost a father. The Church has lost a shepherd. Cameroon has lost a son. But the Christian faith dares to look beyond the coffin.We believe that death does not have the final word.Christ does.

And so, as we stand at the threshold between farewell and eternity, we can imagine Bishop Francis Lysinge standing before the King he served—not with the MITRE of a bishop, not with the titles of office, not surrounded by the ceremonies of this world, but simply as a child of God. There, every earthly distinction falls away. There is no diocese to govern, no homily to prepare, no administrative burden to carry, no controversy to explain and no human expectation to satisfy. There is only Christ. Christ the King! The One who called him! The One who sustained him! The One whom he sought, sometimes through triumph and sometimes through trial. And now, by the grace for which every Christian prays, the One whom he has finally met face to face.

That thought should also make us examine ourselves. Because Bishop Francis Lysinge‘s funeral is not only about remembering the dead, it is about confronting the living. One day, every title we carry will become past tense. One day, every office we occupy will belong to someone else.

One day, the applause will stop, the arguments will cease, the possessions will remain behind and our journey will come down to the most fundamental question of all: Did we know Christ? Not merely know about Him. Did we love Him? Did we serve Him? Did we recognize Him in the poor, the wounded, the forgotten and the stranger? Did our lives point people toward Him? Did we remain faithful when faith became costly?

That is the soul-searching question Bishop Lysinge’s departure leaves with us. The funeral procession has ended, but the examination of conscience has begun. Perhaps that is one of the greatest tributes we can offer him—not merely to praise the life he lived, but to allow his death to change the way we live ours.

Bishop Francis Lysinge has gone before us. And if his life taught us anything, it is that the Christian vocation is ultimately a journey toward a Person. Not toward a title. Not toward an institution. Not toward earthly recognition. Toward Christ the King.

So let the bells of Mamfe town ring not only with sorrow, but with hope. Let the Church grieve, but let her also believe.

Let those who loved Bishop Lysinge shed their tears, but let those tears be accompanied by prayer. And let us say, with reverence and with the hope of the Resurrection: Rest in peace, Bishop Francis Teke Lysinge.

You preached the King. You served the King. You carried His cross. And now, after the long pilgrimage of faith, you have met HIM. Christ the King.

May HE receive His servant into the fullness of His Kingdom, and may Bishop Lysinge’s memory become not merely something we preserve, but a summons to each of us to prepare for the day when we, too, shall stand before the King.

To this I put my name

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Bishop Francis Lysinge laid to rest today

13, August 2026

Bishop Francis Lysinge laid to rest today 0

The late Bishop of Mamfe, Francis Teke Lysinge, will be laid to rest today (Thursday) following a requiem Mass at the Cathedral led by the Papal Nuncio to Cameroon His Grace Archbishop Avelino Bettencourt and burial afterwards in the church grounds.

Bishop Lysinge, who was 87 was in poor health and died on Wednesday, July 29, at 11:30 a.m. at St. John of God Health Centre in Mamfe.

The late Bishop Emeritus spent long hours before the Blessed Sacrament discerning God’s will and embraced it with fidelity, courage, simplicity, and joy.

His ministry was marked throughout by great compassion for the most vulnerable.

In his fourteen years as Bishop, he travelled with his secretary twice to the Federal Republic of Germany, where he was hands-on labouring to build the Cameroon Catholic Community in Mulheim.

The late Bishop undertook a walk across all parishes of the diocese at the tail end of his ministry assuring Christians that there is no hope without Christ.

He marked his 87th birthday with a mass at his home in Bachuo-Ntai and a surprise gathering was thrown for him by the current Bishop of Mamfe, Rev Dr Abangalo.

Originally from Fako Division in the South West, he was ordained Bishop of the Diocese of Mamfe, which stretches from Kupe Muaneneguba Division via Lebialem to Manyu on the 21st of April 1999 and remained in the position until December 28, 2013.

Bishop Lysinge was described by several priests of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province as the most gentle of men and a steady and consoling presence for the people of the diocese of Mamfe, particularly those experiencing any kind of struggle or sadness.

Archbishop Andrew Nkea said there is profound sadness at news of the death, describing Bishop Lysinge as dearly loved by the many whose lives he touched in his extraordinary pastoral ministry.

His Episcopal motto was Annunciation, Fiat voluntas tua (“Thy will be done”) and his ministry radiated that in his care for the poor, anyone who was in trouble and anyone struggling in life.

By Kingsley Betek in Mamfe with additional reporting and photos from Soter Agbaw-Ebai

Bishop Francis Lysinge: revisiting his courage to step aside

3, August 2026

Bishop Francis Lysinge: revisiting his courage to step aside 0

The Bishop has defined in practical terms, the true meaning of leadership, in a country held hostage by a gerontocracy. Surely he personifies the leader that Cameroon needs.

The decision of Bishop Francis Teke Lysinge to retire from his exalted position as Bishop of Mamfe Diocese, upon reaching the canonical age (75years) for the retirement of bishops on December 28, 2013, speaks of an uncommon courage and humility. By stepping aside and walking away from the ephemeral active Episcopal ministry in favour of a well-deserved retirement; a spiritual life dedicated to prayer, Bishop Lysinge has set a template for true leadership, not only in the spiritual world but in the secular too.

A prodigally gifted man, Bishop Lysinge is an erudite and well-travelled scholar, whose ebullient stature and convivial nature are ably augmented by his simplicity. He is also an urbane social crusader and motivator with a self-effacing and unassuming style. What’s more? He is tenacious with a magnanimous disposition, but he is not vociferous. Besides his pastoral and intellectual pedigree, he has been a dogged promoter of justice and champion for the poor, and an inspiration to many who have met him. An intellectually sophisticated man of distinction, Bishop Lysinge knows when to quit the stage, and has chosen to leave honorably; when the ovation is loudest.

This move has, naturally, shocked not only the community of Catholic faithful in Mamfe Diocese, the entire Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province, but even the whole nation. For the reasons that the Bishop was both the spiritual head of the local Church, and pioneer Bishop of Mamfe Diocese, this move cannot but bear in different ways – doctrinal, spiritual and moral implications for the church. Bishops are men of no mean influence. As ecclesiastical authorities, they have their Diocese as their constituency, and as servants in the Lord, they enjoy the powers and privileges that high public office bestows. Besides being men of demonstrable spirituality, they are also men of perceptible moral stamina, champions of faith and instruments of peace and compassion, and defenders of human dignity. In short, Bishops are great men. Being part of this clique carries a great responsibility. This in itself speaks volumes of the prestige, power, authority, and influence that attend this one-of-a-kind office; privileges and appurtenances that would derange the thinking of and entrap most mortals.

Not so for Bishop Francis Lysinge. His candor in admitting that, “after fourteen years as Bishop of Mamfe, and forty-seven years as a priest, by the grace of God, the Holy Father rightfully thinks that I deserve some rest from active pastoral ministry. I will therefore, be at the service of my bishop, the Most Rev. Andrew Nkea, once I hand over the baton to him upon reaching the canonical age for the retirement of bishops, on the 28th of December 2013” is worthy of commendation and his example is rare, in present day Cameroon; where the mantra is: “he is up, so he must be brought down; he wants my post, so I must destroy him; pull him down and take his place.” Announcing the appointment of his successor in a pastoral letter entitled “Something Beautiful for God”, Bishop Lysinge said: “it was my wish that (Mamfe) Diocese be assigned a Coadjutor who will govern with me for a while to ensure that there is a smooth transition when I turn the canonical age of retirement. From the very beginning of my Episcopal ministry, I have always prayed for a smooth transition so that the work of evangelization in our young diocese of Mamfe continues without any interruption…I did not want to leave things to a vague future after I retire”

However one looks at it, Bishop Lysinge’s Episcopal retirement is indeed an epochal event. There has not been one in the Mamfe before. It is, therefore, important to emphasize the lessons – spiritual and temporal – to draw from this unusual incident; lessons that are worth commending to all men and women in leadership positions at any level in Cameroon; where the humility to admit to advancing age or failing health is viewed as a sign of weakness. The country is replete with too many ignoble examples of sit-tightism. In contradistinction, Bishop Lysinge had no difficulty recognizing that both the strength of body and mind are necessary to fulfil the episcopal ministry entrusted to him. His popularity as the “Peoples’ Bishop” is a measure of the trust placed on him, his distinct attribute as a leader; his incorruptibility, courage, sincerity, firmness and decisiveness. These traits, highly required of a true leader, are sadly in short supply with Cameroonian leaders.

Put in perspective, between a choice to remain in office while still capable of providing effective leadership; and the desire to respect the rules of engagement and stand down for another able shepherd, Bishop Lysinge chose the latter. By putting the common good of Mamfe Diocese above his self-interest, Bishop Lysinge demonstrated that he has conquered the self; indeed, he has waged and won the first and the greatest of all human struggles, without compromising principles. This is the hallmark of greatness. In truth, the work of a bishop is to be a father; responsible to those for whom he cares but at the same time accountable to the Lord for the divine commission given by the Good Shepherd Himself; to be faithful is to be true to the One who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, not seeking personal gain or private fulfilment but always and only what the Lord requires.

Therefore, the Ministry of a Bishop is not measured in terms of achievements or successes but is understood only in the language of faith, hope and love. Steadfast in faith, inspired by hope, and motivated by love, Bishop Lysinge employed his eloquence and personal charisma to articulate an evangelization campaign that brought the “medicine of mercy” to thousands of Christians and non-believers alike. He was unwavering in this pursuit. An intellectual of no mean order, Bishop Lysinge, read the signs correctly that, after 51 years in the service of the Lord, he is entitled to a well-deserved rest from active episcopalism. Surely he personifies the leader that Cameroon needs.

The appointment of Andrew Nkea as Coadjutor Bishop of Mamfe Diocese could not have been more proverbial. However, among those who have known Bishop Nkea or followed his career, the appointment was not a surprise. In Bishop Lysinge’s own words, Bishop Nkea: “is my spiritual son, having been his spiritual director in the Major Seminary in Bambui. As an efficient administrator and canon lawyer, he will definitely lead our diocese along the beautiful path of God. It is a happy coincidence that the then Bishop of Buea, Most Rev. Pius Awa, charged the Bishop-Elect, then his Secretary and Chancellor of the Diocese of Buea, to prepare for my Episcopal ordination in Mamfe on the 21st of  April 1999. He read the bull of my appointment by the Holy Father at that mass. How mysterious are the ways of God! Who could tell that fourteen years later, the one reading the bull will take over from me? How mysterious are the ways of God! How unfathomable his ways!”

As admirers wait to see how the new Bishop would engage his flock, Bishop Nkea should be reminded that being a Bishop lends him a transcendent voice that translates his position to a call to duty. The trickling effects of his profound intellect, cultural intelligence, motivating power, and solicitude, as well as the influence of his new position should be harnessed to resolve the hydra-headed problems bedevilling not just Mamfe Diocese, but the entire country. In practical terms, this would entail turning his lectern into a bully-pulpit to fight not only for the souls of his congregation, but for the cause of all Cameroonians; speaking truth to power, when and where necessary.

 As the first Bishop of Mamfe Diocese is celebrated in impressive words and colours – a well-deserved celebration – the question for the Catholic faithful and Cameroonians is: what lessons can be learned from Bishop Lysinge? His retirement signals a new direction in the Mamfe Diocese, as well as introduces a new value into, not just the Diocesan leadership, but leadership everywhere. Deriving from this, it may be said that any man worth the honour of leading at any level must have the humility, the courage, and the selflessness to, in a manner of speaking, walk away from it all. It is in this context then that it can be said that, like great men who define real greatness by challenging the spirit of their age, Bishop Francis Lysinge has, by his decision to retire, altered the spirit of the age in Cameroon where a gerontocracy has taken the nation hostage. And in doing so, he defined in practical terms, the true meaning of leadership. The lessons of his episcopal ministry ought to be paramount and imbibed by present and future Cameroonian leaders.

By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

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