Ordinations in Kumbo

Bishop George Nkuo of Kumbo Ordains His First Priests

Livinus Tal Bam

Barely seven months after his Episcopal ordination, Bishop George Nkuo of Kumbo has ordained his first priests. He has expressed profound spiritual joy for this first privilege in his pastoral ministry which began his first priestly ordination with seven priests, to continue the mysterious and fruitful work of the Eternal High Priest; Jesus Christ. He places the newly ordained priests into the hands of Mary the mother of Christ to be inspired and guided, to confide in her and be looked after as she did to John the beloved disciple.

Out of the seven priests ordained into the sacred priesthood last April 12, 2007 in the St. Theresia’s Cathedral in Kumbo with His Lordship George Nkuo as the Ordaining Bishop, six of them were capuchin Friars. The newly ordained priests included Rev. Gerald Jumbam Nyuykongmo as the lone candidate of the Diocesan priest and Br. Kerla Cyril, Br. Ketema Belete, Br. Pascal Fomonyuy Tatah, Br. Peter Tar Fonyuy, Temesgen Woldu Musa and Br. Wirkom Donatus as capuchin friars. Considering the fact that the capuchins are 25 years old in Cameroon and particularly in the Diocese of Kumbo and considering too that they were set in celebrating their Silver Jubilee the next day after the ordination in Shisong, Bishop George acknowledged that it was right and fitting for the capuchins to carry the lion’s share of the ordination candidates this year. To the bishop, it is a wonderful and symbolic jubilee gift from God to the capuchin community to welcome six young brothers into the sacred priesthood. With Gerald as the lone candidate for the Diocese of Kumbo, he said there is no need to complain of a poor harvest because the year was the capuchins’.

While seeing the moment of ordination as one which the newly ordained had long and anxiously waited for, he reminded them that amidst the striking moment of joy, they are chosen by Christ to be his co-workers. He described it as a moment of a wonderful happening in the life of mankind as sinful men are being endowed with divine power which is a thing a human being cannot sufficiently thank God for. Talking about the participants at the ordination ceremony, the occasion offers them a touching faith experience for they feel something very special is happening such that God touches the ordained in a way as to pass onto them some tremendous invisible divine power. Continuing with the newly ordained priests, His Lordship called on them to always treasure the gracious gift of celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Holy Mass which is the mission to which God calls them to.

Denouncing all forms of discouragements and obstacles to take control over the new ministers of the church as they join the Sacred Priesthood, Bishop George called on them to be faithful and steadfast to their mission as followers of Christ. Faithfulness and steadfastness he said, is a very vital part of following Christ. Acknowledging that trials and difficulties will be inevitable to make their pastoral work difficult, he cautioned them to always turn to God with faith, trust and patience as Christ did in the garden of Gethsemane where he experience an over whelming sense of sorrow and desolation. As Christ did to his disciples, Bishop George assured them that he will also pray to his father for their protection, unity among themselves and for their steadfastness as they take the challenge to answer his call to them. To the Christians, His Lordship called on them to be a source of protection and guide to the priests and to decease from all forms of scandals about the priests. Scandal he said destroys the holy church of God . He called on them to see them as their own brothers, forgive them as any other human being and pray for them for they are the ones who bring the Christians closer to the heart of God. The mass to ordain the seven priests in Kumbo was concelebrated by Archbishop Antoine Ntalou of Garoua and a host of priests from Kumbo and beyond

After a careful stock taking to evaluate the effort of the Christians of the Diocese of Kumbo, the Secretary of the Kumbo Diocesan Laity Council; Mr. Yubin Ernest termed them as a hard working set of Christians taking into consideration the number of successes recorded since the Episcopal ordination of His Lordship Bishop George Nkuo. The Episcopal ordination of the new bishop in Kumbo, the thanksgiving mass in his home village of Njinikom, the installation of Bishop Immanuel Bushu of Buea and the ordination of Seven priests within 7 months were remarkable proves to tell the world how much they love God and his Church. To the ordaining Bishop, the secretary in his speech classified his first fruits as the Bishop of the church of Kumbo with seven priests to a glaring testimony of divine approval from God while thanking him for having accepted them for ordination. Reminding the Christians of Kumbo of the majority of priests they get for ordination each year, he called on them to make an additional effort to their Seminary collection because the output each year to that effect has always been controversial to those of other dioceses of the ecclesiastical province of Bamenda who get far less number of priests to ordain from the St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary, Bambui than they do.