Mamfe Catholic Diocese Gets Coadjutor Bishop

Pope Francis on Wednesday, July 10, 2013, appointed Reverend Father Andrew Nkea Fuanya.Roman Catholic Christians in Cameroon are once more in jubilation over the appointment by the Holy Father, Pope Francis, yesterday July 10, 2013, of a Coadjutor Bishop for the Mamfe Diocese in Manyu Division of the South West Region.

The release by the Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon, Piero Pioppo, at midday said the appointment of Reverend Father Andrew Nkea Fuanya of the Buea Clergy was published in the official journal of the Vatican and simultaneously announced to the clergy and Christians of the concerned dioceses yesterday.

Reverend Father Nkea is Secretary General of the Catholic University of Bamenda in the North West Region. He is also trainer at the St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary, Bambui, near Bamenda. Father Nkea was born on August 29, 1965 in Widikum, Momo Division of the North West Region. He did his priestly formation in St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary, Bambui and was ordained priest for the Diocese of Buea in 1992.

Since ordination, he has served in several pastoral, administrative and academic roles. He was Assistant Parish Priest in the St. Bosco Parish of Mbonge and later Parish Priest of St. Luke's Parish in Nyandong from 1994 to 1995. He was also Secretary to the Bishop in Buea from 2003 to 2007 and lecturer in Canon Law at the John Paul II Institute of Theology, Buea from 2007 to 2010. He became the Defender of the Bond at the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of First Instance of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda between 2007 and 2011.

Since 2007, Reverend Father Nkea has been member of the Episcopal Commission for the Doctrine of Faith of the National Episcopal Conference in Cameroon. In 2011, he was elected first President of the Central African Association of Canon Law based in Yaounde. With this new papal appointment, Reverend Father Nkea becomes the Bishop-in-waiting of the Mamfe Diocese.