By Sheron Tita
The 48th Seminar of Bishops in Cameroon has commenced in Buea with a holy mass held at the Divine Mercy Co-cathedral Molyko, Buea, on Sunday January 5 th , 2025.
The Holy Mass presided by the Bishop of the Diocese of Buea, His Lordship Michael Bibi, had in attendance the Governor of the South West Region, H.E Bernard Okalia Bilai; the President of South West Regional Assembly, Bakoma Elango Zacheuse ; the Mayor of Buea, David Mafani Namange, amongst other officials.
The opening Holy Mass also saw the presence of the President of the National Epispocal Conference, Bishop Andrew Nkea; Emeritus Bishop Immanuel Bushu; Arch Bishop Jean Mbarga from the Yaounde Ecclesiastical Province: Bishop of Ebolowa, Mgr Alain Philip Mbarga among others.
About 36 Bishops and ArchBishops were present at the opening holy mass of the Bishops of Cameroon Conference in the town of legendary hospitality.
To Bishop Michael Bibi , the presence of all the Bishops of Cameroon in the Diocese of Buea is a blessing in disguise.
The symbolic opening mass witnessed the dedication of the Divine Mercy Co-cathedral, spearheaded by the Bishop of the Diocese of Buea. It is worth recalling that the Divine Mercy co-cathedral project was conceived by Emeritus Immanuel Bushu, in the year 2009 for the accommodation of the ever growing population of the Diocese of the Buea, in major events. In this light, Bishop Michael Bibi emphasized on the motive behind the conception the Divine
Mercy Co-cathedral project.
“ This dedication to be very honest with you is what we have been looking forward to. The Co-cathedral was started by the Emeritus Bishop Immanuel Bushu in the year 2009 because he saw the increasing number of the population of Christian faithful and the cathedral in Small Soppo which is meant to accommodate only 500 people, could not accommodate the Christians”.
Bishop Michael Bibi, after taking over from Bishop Emeritus Immanuel Bushu, as Bishop of the Diocese of Buea, organized series of fund raising. The funds obtained from the various fund raisers were used for the completion of the Divine Mercy Co-cathedral. He told the men and women of the press: “When I came into the Diocese of Buea, the bishop informed me that the project of the co-cathedral and I also decided that I am going to pick it up together with the priests, religious, Christian people to have worked within the past five years for this cathedral to be where it is now. So I think that the entire Christian community is happy for what has happened here today with the dedication of the Divine Mercy Co-cathedral”.
Bishop Bibi further emphasized that the Divine Mercy Co-cathedral after its dedication shall serve as a house of prayer: “ A house of prayer where people come in order to solicit the help of God as far as their Christian life is concerned. So my prayer and wish is that the spiritual benefits that this house of prayer is supposed to bring that all of us may experience it and that they may help us to grow spiritually”.
The Governor of the Southwest Region, for his part, after the opening mass applauded the Bishop of the Diocese of Buea for the completion of the beautiful edifice that has over 3000 seats and can host more than 1000 people.
Aside from that, Bishop Michael Bibi in his homily reiterated that life is slowly returning to normalcy in the town of Buea, despite the ongoing crisis .“ I said in the homily that since 2016, when we are having the crisis in the Northwest and Southwest Regions. If you look at the situation when it started in 2016 and look at the situation that we are having now in 2024, you will agree with me that progressively there has been changes; progressively children are going to school”.
In this he applauded the Government for their efforts in ensuring the progressive return of peace in the South West Region and Buea in particular while appealing to the citizens to work together for the return of peace “ We have seen that fighting can never resolve a problem, that is why we must work together as one family to see how we can make sure that they build up justice, we have peace in our midst”.
The Governor of the Southwest Region, Bernard Okalia Bilai, for his part, applauded the role played by the church in encouraging parents to send back their children to school despite the ongoing socio political and economic crisis plaguing the Southwest Region. The holy mass concluded with the bishops expressing words of congratulations to the Bishop Bibi for ensuring the co-cathedral comes to fruition.
