In the communiqué following their August 17-23 session at the Bishop’s House in the Catholic Archdiocese of Bamenda, BAPEC members call upon the people of God in the region to “work together to restore peace and justice, and to support initiatives that promote safety and stability.”
Turning their attention to perpetrators of violence, the Catholic Church leaders urge them to “give peace a chance, to opt for dialogue and justice over passion and to remember the words of Jesus to Saul the persecutor: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? ... I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
“Violence begets violence and those who take the sword perish by the sword. Nothing can ever justify the destruction of human life for it is always sacred and inviolable,” BAPEC members say.
While exhorting the faithful “not to allow their hearts to be filled with negative feelings such as hatred and the desire to revenge,” the Catholic Bishops call for “fervent prayers so that God for whom nothing is impossible, may give peace to his people.”
Cameroon’s English-speaking regions plunged into conflict in 2016 after a protest by lawyers and teachers turned violent.
An armed movement of separatists claiming independence for the so-called republic of Ambazonia emerged following the government’s crackdown on protesters.
School boycotts have become common in these areas, as have enforced moratoriums on public life, resulting in what is known as "ghost towns".
In the August 23 communiqué that the Secretary General of BAPEC, Fr. Giles Ngwa Forteh, signed, the Local Ordinaries of Bamenda Archdiocese and the Dioceses of Kumbo, Kumba, Mamfe, and Buea underscore the importance of the Eucharist in the life of the people of God, and urge Catholics to cultivate a “deep awareness of Christ’s real presence in the celebration, reception, and worship of the Eucharist.”
The Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life. For the Eucharist contains the Church's entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our Passover, and living bread,” they emphasize.
BAPEC members exhort Christians to receive Holy Communion with “profound respect and reverence, and to seek to preserve at all times unity and communion.”
