The Catholic Archdiocese of Bamenda has got seven new priests. The seven priests were ordained on April 8 after seven years of biblical studies at the St Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary, Bambui.
Auxiliary Bishop to the Bamenda Archdiocese, His Lordship Agapitus Nfon who carried out the ordination rites of the new priests at the Bamenda Metropolitan Cathedral, tasked the new Ministers of God to serve the Almighty without any reservation.
The Bishop said for this to be a reality, they should avoid focusing on material things and pleasures of this world, forgetting the mission to which God has called them, that of winning souls for His Kingdom.
In a world fast becoming very materialistic driven, the Bishop said priests are falling prey to the temptation of going the society way and trying to amass wealth. He admonished them to depend on God through constant prayers and adoration for wisdom in the service for His people.
Besides being told to reach out to the spiritual needs of the faithful in order to bring them closer to God, they were also cautioned against vices like bribe, intolerance, impatience and arrogance.
The Bishop urged Christians to continuously pray and support their priests given that the task they have to carry out on a daily basis is very daunting.
The Laity Council of the Archdiocese through its Vice chairperson, Precilia Agendia said the new priests and those who had earlier answered the call to work in God’s vineyard must allow the Holy Spirit to lead them. She said the priests should guard against disunity among themselves and avoid bringing their differences to the presence of Christians because it does not speak well of them as servants of God and the church as a whole. She insisted on the Christians offering more prayers and not always criticizing them where they go wrong.
The new priests expressed readiness to serve God’s people. “We know the world needs priests, the church needs priests and for God to have chosen us is a special mark of favour for us. That is a very big challenge which pushes us to re-examine ourselves and to ask, what are the needs of God’s people and the church.
For people to have come out to celebrate with us is a great mark of faith, a mark of love that sets us to commit ourselves to the growth of the local church” said Rev. Parfait Cheo Zoa, one of the new priests.
Among the seven newly ordained priests Rev. Leo Ndanjong Asanga Awa, son of the governor of the West region, his father Awa Fonka Augustine handed him over to the church.
North West governor, Adolphe Lele L’Afrique, SDF chieftain John Fru Ndi, Bamenda City Council delegate, Vincent Nji Ndumu and a host of other dignitaries joined the over 100 priests and clergy and thousands of Christians for the event that was very rich in colour.
