Promoting Living Together:

New Catholic Church for Limbe Francophone Community

By Ticha Melanis in Limbe

Bishop Immanuel Bushu of the Buea Diocese on Saturday June 30th 2018 laid the foundation stone for the construction of a church for the Francophone Catholic Christian community, CCCF in Limbe at Bota new layout.

            The church worth over 100 million FCFA will be built on about 2000sqm out of the 3654sqm ceded to the Church by the City Council. The church will be called "Martha Christi" Parish.

            Presiding at a holy mass at the building site, the Bishop implored the grace of Christ for the success of the project which he said was of utmost importance to the French-speaking community.

            He called on Christians to have faith in Christ because when they are in Christ, it is a miracle on its own and success will come. He exhorted Christians to depend on the grace of Christ at all times so that they can overcome the problems of life.

            "If you are in Christ you will be able to share like him and follow his examples. We are here for something very important which is to lay the foundation stone for the construction of a church, a house where people of God come to worship and glorify his holy name. So we should all as Christians help to see this project succeed," the Bishop said.

            He said it is autonomous to build a church for CCCF because they have increase in numbers and therefore need a church of their own to fellowship. He said as their number keep increasing, the church will eventually be erected as a parish under the diocese of Buea in the nearest future.

            On his part, the chairman of CCCF, Gaëtan Kassa Tanga thanked all the clergymen of the diocese of Buea especially Bishop Bushu for making the project a reality. He said the idea to build a church for CCCF in Limbe started in 1980 but the paper work for the construction of the church started in 2016 and now they have the church project in progress.

            The chairman equally thanked the Governor for his effort to see that CCCF Limbe has a church of their own. He hailed the governor for personally coming to Limbe to choose the site where the church should be built on. He said the church is most needed because there are over 2000 Francophones in Limbe, with 15 church groups and seven choirs.

            Chairman Gaëtan Kassa called on Christians to glorify the name of the Lord for his goodness and mercy upon their lives and for them to support the project to the best or their abilities. He pointed out that support needed to build the church must not come from Francophones alone, but Anglophones too should contribute generously because they are all one in Christ Jesus.

            A highpoint of the ceremony was fundraiser for the construction of the church.

            The Governor promised 100 bags of cements and three trucks of gravel.

            The special mass was also attended by the SDO for Fako, Engamba Emmanuel Ledoux, the DOs of Limbe 1, 11 and 111 and other dignitaries in the Division.