Provide for Seminarians in Cameroon
Friday, November 20, 2009

Project Code: 113-02-79

When Pope Benedict XVI visited Cameroon in April this year, he recalled the life of one great priest from this country – Father Simon Mpeke, known lovingly to the people of his country as "Baba Simon." The Holy Father said, "All of you know how this “barefooted missionary” spent all his energies with selfless humility in the loving service of souls, heedless of the cares and sufferings involved in the material service of others.”

Yet when Baba Simon was a young man, it was by no means self-evident that an African could become a priest. Born in 1906, he was baptized at the age of 12. In the early 1920s, along with two friends, he read for the first time in a newspaper about an African priest. At once it was clear to all three young men that they, too, wanted to become priests. It was through this providential incident that the Church in Africa was given the gift of a great priest in Simon Mpeke. Especially in this year, proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI as a Year for Priests, he stands as an example to priests everywhere, including those outside Africa.

During the decades of his service as a priest, Baba Simon never even kept a pair of shoes for himself. Whatever he had, he gave to others. His spirit of sacrifice, his profound love of neighbor, his zeal for the Gospel so consumed him that in the year 1975 on the eve of the Feast of the Assumption, he returned to his Heavenly Father, already regarded as a saint.

His beatification process is ongoing. One of his brother priests said of him, "Baba Simon is the living embodiment of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!" Yet, incredibly, he might almost never have become a priest, simply because he did not know that God was also calling Africans to the priesthood.

Times have changed now, thank God, and today one seminarian in every five comes from the continent of Africa. By now African missionaries travel all over the world, proclaiming the Good News. But the Church in Africa, though so rich in vocations, still shares the material poverty of her faithful. As a result, numerous seminaries all over Africa need our support.

In the Archdiocese of Bertoua in eastern Cameroon there are currently 92 young men preparing for the priesthood. Archbishop Roger Pirenne has confided to us that he is scarcely able to pay for the upkeep of his seminary. He is urgently seeking our help, writing to us, "I am convinced that you do not want us to turn away candidates simply for lack of financial means – although we are having to carefully consider this option. We have many obligations regarding the training of these young men whom the Lord has entrusted to us, so that they can become His priests and fellow workers in His immense mission in the Archdiocese of Bertoua."

These young African men who have responded to the call to the priesthood can inspire us also with the strength and enthusiasm of their faith. The words of Pope Benedict, "The Church is young!" apply especially to Africa. We must not allow these young men, who have chosen to give their lives to God, to be turned away because there are not enough resources to train them. We have already promised $9,900. Will you also help, so that this archbishop in Cameroon will not have to turn away anyone who knocks on his door, wanting to be a priest?

Progress: 6% Raised: $ 600     Goal: $ 9900