(First published in Summit Magazine, July-September 2021 edition).
There is, or there should be, a Petrine and a Pauline element in every Catholic priest, bishop, archbishop, cardinal, or pope. The Petrine element emerges when the priest, like Saint Peter, governs, directs and establishes order in the church, and guides his flock to recognise Christ as the “Son of the living God,” (Mt 16: 16).
The Pauline element emerges when the priest, like Saint Paul, boldly and daringly evangelises, often leaving the comfort of his presbytery for what Pope Francis calls ‘the peripheries’ where the poor people live. There, like Paul, he preaches the Gospel from the rooftops in total defiance of whatever obstacles may stand on his way. These two elements are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they exist in every priest, although one may, depending on the circumstances, hold sway over the other.
I saw these two elements embrace and perfectly blend in Christian Wiyghan-nsai Cardinal Tumi, the recently deceased Emeritus Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Douala in Cameroon. When he took over possession of the Metropolitan See of Douala in 1991, that Archdiocese was in a sorry state -- financially and structurally. Its coffers were practically empty and the list of debtors knocking at the church’s door and asking to be paid overdue loans, stretched for miles. The Cathedral, and just about all the parishes, were in ruins. The situation was made worse by the amorphous nature of the Archdiocese itself. It covered such a large surface area that it literally sat astride two administrative entities: the Littoral and the Center Provinces. Like Saint Peter, Cardinal Tumi set out to bring order into the diocesan structure, especially its finances. He undertook lengthy negotiations with diocesan creditors (banks and other financial institutions) for them to re-schedule the reimbursement of the diocesan loans. Luckily for him, and for the Archdiocese, his long-established reputation for uprightness, integrity and bravery had preceded him and was already making headlines in the media. It was clear that many of his creditors were sensitive to the media depiction of him, and when he approached them for more lenient repayment terms, they quickly agreed.
With the archdiocesan credibility once more re-established in the eyes of the financial sector, Cardinal Tumi picked up his command baton – his crosier and his mitre -- and went out in search of his flock. He went from parish to parish throughout the then vast territory of the Archdiocese of Douala. He visited parishes that had even long forgotten that there was a bishop in the diocese. In his ears, he must have heard the warning God gave to the shepherds of Israel, through the prophet Jeremiah, because they had “scattered my flock [and] driven them away and have not visited them” (Jer 23:2).
After those extensive parish-to-parish contacts, Cardinal Tumi became convinced that, for easy administration, he had to dismember his Archdiocese as a matter of urgency. Such a breakup would also bring the pastors closer to their sheep. As Pope Francis says, a good shepherd must have the smell of his sheep on him. The smell of the sheep clings to pastors who dare venture into the peripheries from where they can be in close proximity with their sheep, not those who bury themselves only in clerical duties, useful though such duties may be.
Segmenting the Archdiocese
With the head-nod from the Vatican, Cardinal Tumi undertook the delicate task of breaking up his previously single Archdiocese into three separate dioceses, namely, the Archdiocese of Douala under his care, the Diocese of Edea with Bishop Jean-Bosco Ntep at its head, and the Diocese of Eseka, the chief shepherd being Bishop Dieudonné Bogmis, now of blessed memory. Having surrendered a huge chunk of his Archdiocese, he then embarked on the reconstruction of a territory covering only the entire city of Douala and the immediate peripheries, including Manoka, one of the small islands in the Wouri creeks.
He then initiated extensive material and structural reforms, an act that brought to the fore the Petrine elements of good governance, order and direction. He revolutionised his administration by encouraging his parish priests to involve Christ’s lay faithful at the parochial level in the management of parish resources, especially its finances. He set the tone by seeking assistance, at the diocesan level, from Catholic men and women of the banking sector, the legal profession, academicians, and technicians from all fields. Many of those invited willingly stepped in to help their bishop navigate some thorny areas that he would otherwise have found quite challenging. For example, when he set out to recover all diocesan land that had long been usurped mainly, but not exclusively, by priests, religious and other diocesan officials, he met with understandable resistance. Had it not been for the gracious assistance of Catholic lay experts in legal and real estate matters, he would not have been able to recover what had been wrongly and illegally snatched from the Archdiocese.
Cardinal Tumi, the builder
Being the great builder and administrator that he was, Cardinal Tumi undertook an extensive renovation of parishes throughout the Archdiocese, beginning with the Cathedral parish itself. He tore down the old Bishop’s House, replacing it with a much more modern structure with many rooms that now house many visitors (bishops, priests and religious, for example). He carried out extensive work inside the Cathedral, painting the walls and providing new pews and ceiling fans. Outside, he paved the Cathedral courtyard where previously there was just sand that became a massive sludge whenever it rained. With the paved surface area, church-goers could happily linger around a bit longer after Mass to socialise before going back home. He undertook the building of new hospitals, schools, colleges, and a university, Saint Jerome University, while renovating and upgrading existing structures. He set up a printing press called “Maison Catholique de la Communication Sociale” (MACACOS) [Catholic Media House] which, at its peak, churned out almost three-quarters of the newspapers then sold in Cameroon. He was the first bishop in Cameroon to set up a diocesan radio station, Radio Veritas, a powerful tool of evangelisation that was met by general applause from Catholics and non-Catholics alike living in the city of Douala.
Cardinal Tumi, the evangeliser, was constantly on the move, visiting parishes every weekend when he was in town, baptising and confirming those new to the faith. He promoted priestly and religious vocations that greatly boomed on his watch. He did not only form priests locally, he also sent some of them to seminaries and universities all over the world, particularly Europe and North America, and those priests came back to evangelise with “new ardor, methods and expression,” to borrow the felicitous words of Saint John Paul II.
In Christian Wiyghan-nsai Cardinal Tumi, the Petrine elements of leadership, order, and direction, blended harmoniously with the Pauline elements of evangeliser, theologian, assembler of the sheep, to give the Archdiocese of Douala a unique and enviable spot in the modern history of Catholicism in Cameroon. Whenever, and wherever, his name came up, it sparked a reaction, either of praise, or of anger, depending on who the interlocutors were. Those from the ruling circles often accused him of abandoning the sacristy to meddle in politics – an accusation he always refuted to his last day.
Had Cardinal Tumi not insisted, as powerfully as he often did, on order and discipline tempered by compassion – his Petrine side -- God’s flock could easily have dispersed and the local church could have degenerated into chaos. Like Saint Peter, he put his soul and heart into building the church in the Archdiocese of Douala, never letting the forces of evil from without and, more insidiously, from within the church itself – numerous and vicious though such internal forces were -- to prevail over Christ’s Church. Like Saint Paul, he preached the Gospel with boldness, with vigour and with creative energy, caring less what anyone – in political circles or within the church itself – thought of him. Like his Master Jesus Christ, he spread the word of God, in season and out of season, whether anyone cared to listen to him or not – and many did listen, and were converted.
Christian Wiyghan-nsai Cardinal Tumi has answered present to the Lord’s call and gone forward to receive his eternal reward. “Good and faithful servant,” I can imagine the Good Lord telling him, “you have been faithful in little things, come into the eternity of your Master’s glory.” Amen.
Martin Jumbam.
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