BUEA, Cameroon – Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda in Cameroon says the synodal approach will not only grow the Church in Africa, It will also help African governments in their development efforts.
The Cameroon archbishop was speaking on the sidelines of the 48th Annual Seminar of members of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon organized under the theme “Living Synodality in our Local Church.”
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Nkea told Crux listening and dialogue are the big aspects of synodality, and so “if we help each other at the local level to listen to each other, it will force itself into the higher level. Authorities will listen to their subjects.”
He argued when that happens, development will become people-centered, and used the experience he has had in his own diocese to buttress the argument. He said the idea of dialogue and listening is even greater this year, when Cameroonians go to the polls to vote for a leader.
Following are excerpts of the conversation…
Crux: 2025 is a jubilee year in the Catholic Church, but it’s also the year of a presidential election in Cameroon. Could it be a happy coincidence?
I don’t know whether it’s a happy coincidence or a sad one, but the Holy Spirit has led us to this combination of elections. I don’t know why people are talking too much about the presidential election. My own presidency as head of the conference is also expiring in April. Nobody’s talking about my elections. They’re only focusing on other elections. So it’s also my election year.
Are you running for re-election?
I don’t need to run. If the bishops want me to continue, I’ll do their work. Because our policy is two terms: One term renewable once. So after this mandate, I can still have the chance to serve the conference one more term, and then that’s it.
Archbishop, what should the church in Cameroon be doing, to better implement the concept of synodality in the various parishes?
I think one of the things we are discussing in this meeting is the reception of the document. At the national level, the bishops have sat down to look at the document. We have exposed the document, how it was presented. The second point is that now we are hoping at the national level to be able to receive this document as a Cameroonian church.
Secondly, we are also hoping that from that national level, we go down to the diocesan levels. Every diocese has to organize its own sort of mini-synod to be able to expose this document.
We have decided to submit this document to the various commissions of our conference, so that they will go through the various aspects. Justice and peace will sort out the aspects of justice and peace in that document. The communication and dialogue commission will sort out the communication aspects, and the pastoral biblical, they’ll sort it out. So every commission will sort out its own, and we’re going to develop a national program for the implementation of this document on synodality.
So apparently, when it’s finally implemented, it could help resolve some of Cameroon’s problems?
It will resolve a lot of our problems because one of the big things about synodality is dialogue. Besides dialogue, the second thing is listening and discernment. So if we help each other at the local level to listen to each other, it will force itself into the higher level.
Authorities will listen to their subjects. And so we want to implement this thing of listening. And we’re trying to say that our dioceses should be models of synodality, a listening church, a discerning church. Let it not just be what the bishop wants.
When I was appointed archbishop of Bamenda, in my first year, I did nothing. I just sat down, listened to people. I listened to the priests, listened to religious, listened to the lay people, and pastoral councils. What do you want? And practically, after all the suggestions, we came up with a five-year strategic plan. And that’s what we have been implementing for the past five years, which is finishing this year, 2025.
They said they wanted to renovate the cathedral. I asked them: Will you give me the money? They said, yes. Today, we are getting close to completing the cathedral. I’ve not gotten one dime from outside. The people are doing it because they want to.
So you listen to them. You see what direction they want to go with the church. And once you listen and you discern together with them, it becomes a community exercise. Everybody’s involved. And if you see all these buildings, the bishop [of Buea] is putting up-the cathedral, pastoral center, it’s because of this attitude of, what do the people want? Which direction do they want their church to go? Listen to them. And when you listen to them, you all agree on how to achieve what you want.
Is that a pointer that many projects that Cameroon wants to implement as a country fail because people aren’t involved?
Is it what the people want? Is it what they need? If you look at our own country, people need roads. They need hospitals; they need electricity and water, that’s it. You can open giant factories or do whatever, but if you provide roads, hospitals, electricity and water, Cameroonians will be celebrating. They’ll be jubilating.
And therefore, always listen to the people. What is it that they want? The people have been crying for a long time about the system of education. I don’t know whether anybody’s listening, but in my own case, the people told me, Bishop, we don’t want any more grammar schools here. We want technical schools. So I have St. Andrew’s Technical College. We have opened St. Peter and Paul Technical College in Ndop.
We are opening another technical college in Bambui. And we are adding a technical section to St. Joseph school, Mankon. From the 24th to the 1st of February, we’re having another big meeting to evaluate the last five years and to plan the next five years. Let them tell me what they want.
And so we are giving them what they want, and those colleges are full.. And for me, this is something very important, also for our nation. Listen to the people. How many parliamentarians have called their constituents to sit down with them and ask them, what do you want before they go to parliament? They just go there and vote on bills that are put to them. Do they really carry the cry of the people to the assembly? And this is very important for all of us. And I think that this is what synodality has brought to impact not only the church, but the society. Don’t just govern people, listen to them. What future do they want for themselves? Which direction do they want to go? How can you help them to go in the direction that they want to go? This is what synodality is doing for us.
And I think that it’s a big blessing if our governments, our institutions, can also follow this method of synodality. For us, it is working like magic in our local churches that we have started implementing. And I think that in other places, if they also follow this method, that Cameroon that we have been dreaming of, you and I will see it.
Part one of the interview with Kaigama is here.
