The evangelization of the entire North West and South West Regions of Cameroon was entrusted into the hands of the Mill Hill Missionaries by the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, in April 1921, and they have worked fruitfully and tirelessly in these regions since that time. Although at the moment we have none of them working in the Diocese of Buea, I think itwill be important for us to know who the Mill Hills are, and the extent to which they have been the engine behind the evangelization of this part of the country. The Mill Hill Missionaries, MHM, officially known as the St. Joseph’s Missionary Society of Mill Hill, is a Catholic Society of Apostolic life, founded in 1866 by Herbert Alfred Vaughan, who later became the Cardinal Archbishop
of Westminster in England. Mill Hill is actually not the name of this Society, rather it is the name of the location in North London where a school, the St. Joseph’s College was established to train missionaries as evangelists into mission territories. The initial purpose of this training was to send them to work among African Americans in North America. From 1871 therefore, young Mill
Hill Fathers were being sent to America, which led in 1893 to the founding of an independent Missionary Society in America called the Josephites with their capital in Baltimore. Right to this day, the Josephites are still engaged in missionary work throughout America and in some parts of Africa, e.g. Nigeria. However, the major missionary effort of the Mill Hill Missionaries has been concentrated in Africa. When they first came to Africa, they were based in East Africa, precisely Uganda and the Western parts of Kenya. As far back as 1894, Vicariates (later on Dioceses), were already opened in that part of the continent, under the leadership of the Mill Hill Fathers. The Sacred Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples started looking for an English Community to take over the missions here in English- Speaking Cameroon, after the German Pallotine Fathers were forced to leave Cameroon in 1916. For about seven years, the faith in these regions was kept alive by Catechists. Eventually in April 1921, Rome approached Fr. Francis Henry, the Superior General of the Mill Hill Missionaries, asking him if he would be willing to send missionaries to the then British Cameroons. It was indeed by an act of faith, that the Mill Hill Missionaries accepted to look after the Cameroons Mission.
As a result of the First World War, the number of seminarians at Mill Hill had sunk to an all-time low, and the small number of yearly ordinations was scarcely sufficient to supply the needs of Uganda alone, not including those of Kenya as well. Moreover, the year before, in 1920, no fewer than seven young promising Mill Hill Fathers had died in East Africa, our of whom had been less than one year on the Mission. But the Superior General refused to be scared by these shortages and so he replied that the wishes of Rome were to be considered as commands for Mill Hill and so he decided to send some of his men to the Cameroons. The first group that came was made up of four priests, Fr. Campling, Fr. Robinson, Fr. Michael Moran, and Fr. William Kelly. On Sunday Morning, 26 th March 1922, their ship entered the harbor in Victoria where they were met by a welcoming party that had been waiting for them. As time went on, others were coming and going and work of evangelization continued to grow. Mgr Campling was appointed Bishop and sent back to Uganda while he was replaced by Fr. Peter Rogan. In 1925, Buea was raised to a Vicariate and Fr. Peter Rogan was appointed Prefect Apostolic of the British Cameroon. In 1950, this Vicariate was raised to a full-fledged Diocese, the very first in Cameroon. Yes, the Diocese of Buea is the oldest Diocese in this Country and I am giving you all this history, because I want to pay tribute to what the Mill Hill Missionaries have done not only to the entire Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda in general, but to our Local Church here in Buea, in particular.
Today 2023, the missionaries have stopped coming from Europe, and this great Society of Apostolic life is kept alive by young missionaries from home who will continue the legacy, a much-cherished legacy of their predecessors. Today, in this Divine Mercy Co-Cathedral, we are ordaining three young men to join the St. Joseph’s Missionary Society of Mill Hill. And I believe that the
choice of the readings for this Mass, especially the Gospel text is meant to help
you take up this missionary task in such a way that your own mission will truly
be continuation of the history of your Society not just here in Cameroon, but in
the other parts of the world where your brothers have served.
The Gospel text for today’s Eucharistic celebration is taken from John 17
which is a conclusion of Christ’s Farewell Discourse. Jesus concludes this
Farewell Discourse with a prayer called the Priestly Prayer of Christ. This is by
far the longest prayer of Jesus in any of the Gospels; and while the earlier parts
of the discourse are addressed to the Disciples, this prayer is addressed to the
Father. The prayer takes place at a most unique time in Jesus’ ministry, i.e., at
the end of His final instructions to his disciples and at the start of His passion.
In this prayer, Jesus gives an account of His earthly ministry to the Father, and
by praying to Him, reiterates his total dependence on the Father.
On this occasion, I will like to make allusion to some of the themes
brought out in this Priestly Prayer of Jesus, but I shall pay particular attention to
those that should have consequences in your life style as priests.
First of all Jesus starts by asking His Father to glorify Him with the glory
they shared before the world was made, thereby reiterating His pre-existence
with the Father. (Jn.17:5).
The second theme of particular interest to me is the petition found in
verses 14 and 15 where He says;
I gave them your message, and the world hated them, because they do not
belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I do not ask you
to take them out of the world, but I do ask you to keep them safe from the
Evil One.
In other parts of this Farewell Discourse, particularly in Ch. 15:18ff,
Jesus makes a clear distinction between His disciples and the world that would
hate them. This is a particularly relevant theme on a day like this and I think I
have an obligation to explain this further. Jesus talks about a world that would
hate you precisely because you do not belong to it. And He says in Ch. 17:9,
that; I do not pray for the world but for those you gave me, for they belong to
you.
My dear Sons, you are being ordained to serve in this world. But know
that you do not belong to this world. You belong to God. Your duty is to
evangelize the world. Your duty is to spread the Kingdom of God in this world;
to extend it. That is precisely the reason why the world will hate you. Do not
deceive yourself that the world will love you if you try to become more worldly.
That is the mistake many priests and religious are making today, allowing their
lives to be invaded by a certain worldliness, which in itself is a betrayal of the
values of the Kingdom to which they belong.
Worldliness in the life of a priest or religious is the tendency to find more
pleasure in worldly affairs and interests than in the life proper to our vocation.
This is a major contradiction because the religious or priestly life is first and
foremost, a life of detachment. Once you start falling prey to vanity in dress and
an unwholesome desire to be like those in the world; competing with them in
4cars and the possession of the latest electronics gadgets, etc know that you are
heading down the wrong path. James 4:4 tells us whosoever wishes to be a
friend of this world will be accounted as an enemy of God. Just as a man cannot
serve two masters, so nobody can rejoice both in the world and in the Lord. I
ask you to rejoice in the Lord always. Let Him be the source of your joy and
happiness.
This is something Jesus made the subject of His prayer to the Father and
all of us, Priests and Religious must take it seriously. Jesus prays, not that we
should be withdrawn from the world, but that we be given victory. And that
victory happens when we are not captured by the culture of this world, but when
we rise above that culture and examine it with a critical eye. The Lord
understood the tension that was going to arise between His followers and the
hostile environment in which they were going to be witnesses.
Another theme of interest to me in this Priestly prayer of Christ is the fact
that towards the end He prays for those who would come to believe through the
ministry of His Apostles. In this, Jesus was praying for the Church, the future
members who would become a part of His Body.
In one of the petitions in the Prayer for Priests, we say, Keep them, for
they have no one but Thee Lord; yet they have only human hearts, with
human frailty. This very human side of the priest is often lost in the face of the
spiritual role that he plays. Fr George Manalel says that Catholic Priests are
often perceived in non-human terms. But priests are not angels, they are human
beings born like all others, with personal defects and inadequacies which they
must struggle to overcome or to grow out of. Sometimes he is enthusiastic and
he has to carry the community along with his enthusiasm. Sometimes he feels
discouraged, either with himself or with the efforts he is making in the ministry
that do not seem to be yielding any fruits. In the prayer for priests we say;
Keep them and comfort them in hours of loneliness and pain
When all their lives of sacrifice for souls seems but in vain
Sometimes he is happy, sometimes he is sad. Sometimes he is upbeat,
sometimes he is depressed. But the mystery about the Priesthood which I too
have come to appreciate is that whether sad, discouraged or depressed, the priest
continues to be a source of encouragement to the rest of the people of God who
are marching towards the Kingdom.
People have said all kinds of things about the journey to the Priesthood;
they have used all kinds of language to describe it; that it is slippery, it is long,
it is this, it is that. I will not agree or disagree with any of them. All I will say is
that the end of that journey is actually the beginning of a new one.
5
After this Ordination ceremony today, even the elders in your family will
call you ‘Father’, and that’s what you are. You are a man of God, do not seek to
be a man of anything else. You are not a man of money, you are not a man of
power, you are not a man of women, you are not the man with the latest car in
town; you are a man of God. A man who prays for other people and for himself.
Our prayer for you on this day is that God should bless you, as you have
been courageous enough to embrace this ministry. Our prayer for you is that
you should be happy in it, and be fruitful. Our prayer for you is that you
continue to represent your Congregation in the same way as those first Mill Hill
Missionaries who came to Africa. Let it not be in your generation that the zeal
to serve in other lands die in the hearts of the young. And the culture of this
world seems to be targeting just that zeal in hearts of young people today. Your
duty is not to embrace that culture, but to fight it. May the name of the Lord be
blessed both now and forever – Amen.
