Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) – “As Bishop, I will be a father to all people, especially to the priests, looking after their spiritual and material needs, as well as those of my lay faithful that the Church has entrusted to me,” says Bishop Barthélemy Yaouda Hourgo, Bishop-elect of the Diocese of Yagoua (Cameroon). Bishop Hourgo has been in Rome, participating in a study seminar held by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, for the 104 recently appointed Bishops of ecclesiastical circumscriptions that depend on the Missionary Dicastery (see Fides 10/9/2008).
“The mission that awaits me will be difficult,” the Bishop said, “but I have faith in God’s assistance. It is a fairly large Diocese and it is not easy to maintain relations among the various realities within the local Church. The diocese has 1,400,000 inhabitants, only 10% of which are Catholic. The rest either belong to the traditional religion or are Muslims. The latter are not the majority, yet their influence is heavily noted.”
“However, we do have excellent relations with the local Muslim community,” Bishop Hourgo says. “We live with one another in harmony. The Muslims participate in our religious celebrations and we do in theirs. Among them, however, there are also infiltrations of fundamentalist Islam. The local Islamic leaders are also worried about the influence of the foreign preachers that spread this radical view of the religion.”
“Another challenge for the Church,” Bishop Hourgo mentioned, “comes from the spread of sects from the United States. The sects have important resources, and have their eye mainly set on the youth, entering the schools and handing out money. The Church, however, is very appreciated by all the people – even by non-Catholics – for our social activities. There are 24 Catholic grade schools, as well as clinics and other health care facilities.”
“My hope comes from the faith of the Catholics in my Diocese. I especially have faith in the sense of self-denial that I see in my priests. I am grateful for the missionaries working in the Diocese and that form an important presence there. I wish there were more of them! The congregations we now have present are the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (who first evangelized the country), the Javerian missionaries, the PIME missionary priests, and a Holy Ghost Father,” Bishop Hourgo concluded. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 16/9/2008)
