Martin Jumbam

The day Cardinal Tumi was very angry

By Martin Jumbam

Chapter 8 of Christian Cardinal Tumi’s very readable book, The Political Regimes of Ahmadou Ahidjo and Paul Biya, and Christian Tumi, Priest, is the shortest of the 9 chapters that constitute this book. It is tugged in just before the conclusion more like an afterthought than as an integral part of what had informed the writer’s original thinking. And he admits it himself that this chapter was inspired by an incident that occurred just as he was rounding up his book. 

How CRTV Covered the Pope's Visit to Cameroon

By Martin Jumbam

A few days before the Holy Father's arrival in Cameroon, I did what I would, under normal circumstances, not do, that is, take the time to listen to CRTV radio or watch its television.

However, since the Pope's visit was an extraordinary event, it called for extraordinary action on my part; and so I found myself sitting in my office one morning listening to a guest speaker on a CRTV morning French program.

“The creation of more dioceses is the work of the Holy Spirit,” says Monsignor Immanuel Bushu

Martin Jumbam

The Diocese of Buea once stretched from the coastal town of Victoria to Nkambe, where the northern tip of English-speaking Cameroon snugly rubs its head against the belly of our neighbouring giant, Nigeria. Today, however, the Diocese of Buea looks like a shadow of its former self, having lost territory, first of all to what is today the Archdiocese of Bamenda, which, in turn, gave birth to the Diocese of Kumbo; then to the Diocese of Mamfe, and now the Diocese of Kumba-in-the-making. With such loss of territory, one would have expected the present occupant of the See of Buea, Monsignor Immanuel Bushu, to feel a tinge of sadness because his “power” seems to have been considerably eroded. Instead, he applauds the creation of other dioceses from the mother Diocese of Buea as the marvellous work of the Holy Spirit. Excerpts.

Come, follow me.

By Martin Jumbam

On Sunday, July 24, 2007, the Catholic men of the Douala Archdiocese held the general assembly of the Catholic Men’s Organization (CMO) at the Our Lady of Annunciation Parish in Bonamoussadi. I was asked to lead the assembly in a bible reading but I instead chose to reflect with the group on three words from Sacred Scripture: “Come, follow me”, some of the most frequent words on the lips of our Blessed Lord as he began his public ministry.

The Apostolate of Divine Mercy comes knocking

By Martin Jumbam

First carried in L'Effort camerounais # 373, April 2006

The Douala and Buea chapters of the Apostolate of Divine Mercies, a relatively new apostolate in the religious landscape in Cameroon, held a joint meeting on Sunday, February 19, 2006, at the Our Lady of Annunciation Parish in Bonamoussadi, Douala. The nearly fifty delegates from the two branches reflected on the message of Saint Faustina and how to spread this message to the whole country. L’Effort camerounais met the President of the Buea Chapter, Dr. Mrs. Theresa Elad, for a chat after their meeting. Excerpts.

Stand up in the presence of one with grey hair.

By Martin Jumbam

First carried as an editorial in L'Effort camerounais # 378, May 2006.

“Seventy is the sum of our years, or eighty if we are strong,” sings the Psalmist, before lamenting that many of these years constitute “fruitless toil, for they pass quickly and we drift away” (Ps 90:10). The United Nations Organisation, as if guided by this Psalmist’s lament over the brevity and harshness of life, challenged humanity by declaring 1999 as “The International Year of Older Persons.”

Ecclesia in Africa: Stock-taking Ten Years After

By Martin Jumbam

On September 14, 1995, His Holiness Pope John Paul II, Servant of the Servants of God, Supreme Pontiff of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, who is today blessing us from a window in heaven, to borrow those felicitous words of his successor, Benedict XVI, signed a Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, an ecclesial document that has been serving as a road map for the Catholic Church that is in Africa. He entitled it Ecclesia in Africa (The Church in Africa).

"A Light Suddenly Shone on Me" by Martin Jumbam

Foreward by Father Humphrey Tatah Mbuy (Bamenda Archdiocese)

Christian literature is not common; this is even less so when the author is a lay member of Christ’s faithful. A few years ago, Martin Jumbam’s spiritual experiences made a remarkable impact on the readers of Cameroon Panorama, an indication that the days are far gone when anything Christian was only seen and heard from the perspective of the clergy. Now collectively entitled A Light Suddenly Shone on Me, Martin’s two essays – “I Marched with Christian Cardinal Tumi” and A Week with the Cistercian Monks” – are an encouraging sign that the Church is basically the “Community of Christ’s Faithful”, each with the right and obligation to evangelise.