Cameroon’s Catholic Bishops Convene to Deliberate on “synodality in the local context” in Annual Seminar

In 2021, Pope Francis officially inaugurated the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, the Synod on Synodality, as a multi-year journey to be realized under the theme, “For a synodal Church: Communion, participation and mission.”

The first session of the Synod on Synodality, which Pope Francis extended to 2024, took place from 4-29 October 2023, concluding with a 42-page summary report.

A 52-page Final Document of the XVI Assembly followed the 2-27 October 2024 second session of the Synod on Synodality. The Synod members approved the Final Document on 26 October 2024. On his part, Pope Francis approved its publication; he chose to directly implement it instead of the usual practice of issuing a Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation.

The Document that was approved by 355 Synod members in attendance outlines substantial proposals for Church renewal, including proposals to expand women’s leadership roles, greater lay participation in decision-making, and significant structural reforms such as a call to strengthen pastoral councils at Parish and Diocesan levels, and having regular ecclesiastical assemblies across all Church levels and heightening ecumenical dialogue.

In the January 4 interview, the Secretary General of NECC told ACI Africa that the Catholic Bishops aim to move from the text of the deliberations of the members of the Synod on Synodality to implementation, including among themselves as Local Ordinaries. 

“The theme is not just about the Synod on Synodality in Rome. It’s about how Bishops in Cameroon live synodality among themselves and in their particular churches,” Mons. Nyaga said.

Living synodality, he went on to say, “means no Diocese, no private church should be considered an island, because islands do not meet. But Dioceses are called to communicate and to share experiences on synodality.”

This spirit of collaboration, he added, fosters strength. “When we are united, working together in symbiosis, we are strong. Synodality is about walking together, growing together, and supporting one another,” Mons. Nyaga explained. 

The Annual Seminar of NECC members, the member of the Clergy of Cameroon’s Catholic Archdiocese of Douala went on to say, also provides “a time of prayer, a time of meditation.”

Happening at the beginning of the New Year, Mons. Nyaga said, “it's also a way to entrust the new year and their own mission to the Almighty.”

Holy Mass to officially open the NECC 2025 Seminar was scheduled for Sunday, January 5 at the newly constructed Divine Mercy Co-Cathedral of Buea Diocese, which is to be dedicated during the Eucharistic celebration. 

On Monday, January 6, NECC members are to have a recollection at the Our Lady of Grace Shrine in Sasse.

“On Tuesday, January 7 we'll have the solemn opening of the 48th annual seminar and I think the Governor of the Southwest Region will be there as well. We'll have opening speeches and then deliberation will start immediately,” Mons. Nyaga said.

NECC members are to continue deliberations on implementing they Synod on Synodality on Wednesday, January 8. They are to visit some historic sites in Buea Diocese on Thursday, January 9.

“Molyko and Buea are historic places; they are places not only to visit, but places to be,” the NECC Secretary General told ACI Africa during the January 4 interview. 

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Catholic Bishops in Cameroon are to have closed-door sessions on Friday, January 10.

The Seminar is set to conclude on Saturday, January 11 with Solemn Mass to be presided over by the Apostolic Nuncio in Cameroon, Archbishop José Avelino Bettencourt, who is also to bless the General Secretariat of the Catholic Men’s Association (CMA). 

The 48th annual seminar of Catholic Bishops in Cameroon coincides with the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the creation of the Catholic Diocese of Buea.

Reflecting on the anniversary celebration, the Secretary General of NECC said, “The most important aspect of an anniversary is not the celebration itself, but the content—faithfulness to Jesus. If Buea had not remained faithful, we would not be celebrating today.”

“If Buea Diocese is 75 years old, it is because the Diocese believed in the Gospel, embraced the Gospel and lived the Gospel,” Mons. Nyaga added.

He continued, “We give thanks to God for this grace. And we must celebrate this by asking for new strength to always go further for the glory of God, for the good of this same Church and for the sanctification of all the faithful.”

Mons. Nyaga recognized the Cameroonian Catholic Diocese as “the mother of all Dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of Bamenda and, in many ways, of Cameroon itself.”