THE BEGINNING OF CATHOLICISM IN BAMBILI
Although it is recorded that Our Lady of Fatima Parish Bambili was created in 1997, this is not in any way to say that Christianity in Bambili began barely 25yrs ago. The history of Catholicism in Bambili goes far beyond this period. In fact, it can be traced well back to the twentieth century. The Sacred Heart missionaries led by Rev. Fr. Joseph Lenartz had opened the first mission at Shisong Kumbo on new year's day 1913. This was actually the very first Catholic mission established in the then administrative Bamenda Division, now the North West Region of Cameroon. On trade expeditions through Kumbo, a group of Bambili indigenous traders came into contact with Father Lennartz and his few Christians in the Shisong mission. They took interest in worshipping with them and around the nineteen twenties, they were making efforts to implant the faith back in their native Bambili village. They worshipped from house to house and their sessions consisted principally of the recitation of prayers learned in Shisong.
Worship by these early Christians in Bambili as elsewhere in the grass field was not a smooth ride. They met with fierce hostility from traditional authorities and other pagan individuals at the time. When they tried to set up a worship structure at "Atomietoo"(the present site of the Presbyterian Church) near the Bambili palace, for example, they were chased away by "kwi ifuo" and even threatened with banishment from the village if they continued practicing this their new religion publicly. Committed to the faith and steadfast, they stood their ground and finally set up a small worship house at Mishi at Achi(the present St Francis of Assisi Quasi parish cemetery). Constructed with local materials, worship continued in the structure and Christianity kept growing in Bambili through the efforts of these early Christians who included: Andreas Tangie, Joseph Ma abo, Michael Foleng, Nazarius Amungwa, Paul Abety, Peter Ndikum, Simon Nsha’ah, Augustine Awemo, Akwo Ngwashi, Bartholomew Fombung, Benedict Ndikum, Francisco Ashungwe, John Ntewah, and John Moungang. This group, together with their wives were baptized in Shisong around 1924 and they got married at the same time. They were later joined by the second generation of younger men like Donatus Ndofor, Nicholas Asanga, Marcus Mushongong, Mathias Njele, Thomas Amungwa, Cletus Chungong, and their wives.
The Coming of Bambui Mission Station
As the early Christians mentioned above alongside others continued to keep the flame of Christianity burning, a bolster came around 1935 when a parish was created in Mankon and Bambui became one of its mission stations. Later in 1950, Bambui was upgraded to a full parish with Bambili as one is its mission stations. With this development, there was a need for a more befitting worship house. Consequently, a permanent church was constructed at Ntsewhi in 1954 (the present St. Francis Quasi parish Multi-purpose hall) and the Christians moved from the small Mishi church house to the new church. It is worthy of note that by the time of moving to this new church, hostility against Christians was gradually abating and the Christian population (mostly indigenous)was increasing.
The Coming of Educational Institutions and Christian Growth In The Parish.
The early and mid-nineteen sixties saw the creation of several educational and professional institutions such as CCAST, E.N.S, R.C.A, CENEEMA, IRZ/IRA, etc in Bambili and environs. There was consequently an upsurge in the population of the village with most of the incoming people settling in the Nibie area and other neighboring quarters where most of the institutions are located.
There was therefore the need to find a place of worship close to the incoming student and worker population to save them from the difficulty of having to cover long distances to the Ntsewhi church. Temporary worship places were sought in the buildings of CCAST and E.N.S where Masses took place on Sundays and feast days. As the population continued to grow, the Catholic Church authorities requested and obtained land from the Fon of Bambili and used part to start a second primary school. This was done in 1964 to add to that which had earlier been constructed in Ntsewih in 1952. This newly built primary school was however taken by the state in 1971.
The advent of the Social Center Worship House.
With the ever-growing population, there was the need to find a more permanent and spacious place of worship. With the availability of part of the land that had been acquired from the Fon, Rev. Fr. Bouma, the then parish priest of the mother Bambui parish decided to build a multipurpose structure to serve both the purposes of celebration of the Eucharist and the holding of other social events. This was done in 1974 and the said building served the intended purpose with its activities taken care of by the Ntsewhi catechist supervised by the Bambui mother parish. With the passing years, more and more Christians came to worship in the spacious social center hall on Sundays. This necessitated the appointment of Mr. Raymond Niba as pioneer catechist in 1977 to take charge of the catechetical responsibilities of the worship center. He worked here with commitment until his retirement and passed on to eternity this silver jubilee year 2022. Christians who worshipped here requested in due course and got the social center upgraded to a Eucharistic center by the Archbishop of Bamenda. This was on November 24th, 1986 and the act actually meant the creation of a new mission station in Bambili placed under the patronage of St Ignatius of Loyola. These were already unmistakable indicators of a parish in gestation.
OUR LADY OF FATIMA PARISH TAKES OFF.
We mentioned from the very beginning that Sunday 3rd August 1977 was a memorable day in the history of Our Lady of Fatima parish Bambili because it is on that day that His Grace Archbishop Paul Verdzekov(RIP) created the parish. The infant parish took off with two missions being at Momnibie and Ntsewih. Although the Momnibie mission was a much younger mission than the several years old Ntsewih mission it was accorded the status of the main parish church perhaps for reasons other than age. It got named after Our Lady of Fatima.
The Setting Up of Parish Structures
With the creation of Our Lady Of Fatima Parish, there was an immediate need to start work on erecting the parish structure. This meant that land had to be acquired for this purpose. For this reason, a delegation met the Fon of Bambili who readily offered a piece of land between the E.N.S buildings, the R.C.A, and the Agric road. Work was immediately planned and launched on this piece of land and on it today stands the parish church, the presbytery, and a multipurpose hall under construction: efforts of providing adequate infrastructure for Our Lady of Fatima Parish since its creation 25years ago have succeeded and continue to succeed thanks to the successive parish leadership by the Marist community and the generosity of parishioners, the MarisFathers, and the other benefactors.
Ordination of First Priest In Our Lady Of Fatima Parish Bambili
One of the most historic events that took place in the parish a few years after the erection of the parish church was the priestly ordination of Father Constant Amoussouga, sm alongside three deacons in 2003. It is worth recalling that the first priest of Bambili origin, Rev Fr. Foleng Peter had been ordained in the far-off Kumbo diocese in 1993 and many Christians didn't have the opportunity to witness an ordination due to travel difficulties. One had come to their doorstep.
On that memorable day of 5th July 2003, the newly constructed parish church received His Grace Archbishop Paul Verdzekov who presided over the solemn ordination. It was such a beautiful and heavily attended ceremony that brought together not only clergymen and religious from far and near, but also civil authorities, traditional dignitaries, and family members of Father Constant from Benin. The parish is yet to witness another ordination after that of Reverend Father Constant who by divine working was called upon shortly after his ordination to serve as Parish Priest of the same Our Lady of Fatima Parish. His appointment came in replacement of Father Anaua Finau who took ill and left the Parish. The three-year term of office as Parish Priest gave the young energetic priest in a young parish with a predominantly youthful student population the opportunity to fast-track the spiritual and material growth of the parish.
The Creation of Ntembang And Ntahmoukong Missions.
Apart from the two missions of Momnibie and Ntsewih that were already in existence upon the creation of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in 1997, the newly created Parish soon saw the birth of two additional mission stations in Ntembang and Ntahmoukong. These two missions before now had barely existed as prayer centers occasionally visited by the clergy. Ntembang and Ntahmoukong mission stations continued to witness a growth in population and pastoral activities as permanent churches were eventually constructed there before the birth of St Francis of Assisi Quasi Parish in Ntsewih in 2018 to which they now belong.
OUR LADY oF FATIMA PARISH BEARS FRUIT.
It is written in Genesis 1:26 that: "...be fruitful and multiply". Our Lady Of Fatima fulfilled this biblical mission in 2018 when it gave birth to St Francis of Assisi Quasi Parish Ntsewih. That a quasi Parish was carved out of Our Lady Of Fatima Parish before it even got to 25yrs is clear proof that maturity and achievements don't depend only on age but also on the ability to create an impact on society.
The rapid growth of Our Lady Of Fatima Parish and the subsequent carving out of the Ntsewih Parish from it can be attributed to the remarkable growth in population since the creation of the University of Bamenda. The church hierarchy of the Bamenda Archdiocese must have seen the need to split the Parish in order to make for easier administration and evangelization of the huge student population living around the university campus and environs. Who knows if more parishes will not be carved out of Our lady of Fatima parish in due course as the Christian population seems to be growing very rapidly.
EVANGELIZATION AND GROWTH OF SPIRITUALITY IN OUR LADY OF FATIMA PARISH.
The strength of a parish is measured not only by its material and infrastructural assets. Its spiritual viability is all-important and even primordial. The growth of Our Lady of Fatima Parish twenty-five years after the creation has therefore not only been significant physically and materially but also spiritually. The spiritual health of the parish since creation can be explained by her strict implementation of the pastoral plan of the Bamenda ecclesiastical province incidentally adopted just around when the parish came into being. Aspects of the pastoral plan such as the promotion of personal evangelization, family prayers, and SCC activities such as gospel sharing are fully practiced in the parish. All these have gone a long way to gradually establish the new church which is actually the family of God and an awakening church. Even the recently introduced concept of synodality is gaining ground in the parish and Christians are becoming more and more aware of the spiritual fruits of working together for the church doctrine, reconciliation, forgiveness, faith, love, justice, and peace to become reality in the parish.
PRAYER AND ACTION GROUPS AS CATALYSTS OF SPIRITUALITY IN THE PARISH.
In addition to other organs to promote the spiritual growth of Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Bambili, there is the existence of prayer and action groups. Some of those groups include The Catholic Men Association (C.M.A), the Catholic women association (C.W.A), cadets of Mary, St Jude society, Blue army, Catholic charismatic renewal, Sacred heart of Jesus and his immaculate heart of Mary(ASHJIM), Bona more society, association of parish choir, Parish Youth Council precious blood, divine mercy, etc. These movements are engaged in different prayer, spiritual, social, and even economic income-generating activities which all go to enhance the concept of living together in a synodal atmosphere. Their activities include weekly meetings, prayer sessions, corporal works of mercy such as visits to the sick, and setting up small income-generating projects such as poultry farming, beekeeping, etc. Owing to their activities, these groups are considered to be a vital aspect of Our Lady of Fatima Parish and the parish hierarchy has never spared any effort in encouraging their activities.