MISSION APPEAL

                Each year the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops requests that each Diocesan Bishop invite representatives of Catholic Mission Societies to conduct an Annual Mission Appeal. Each Mission Society is assigned to three parishes in the diocese.

                This year we are welcoming to our parish a priest of the Diocese of Kumbo, Cameroon. A priest from the Diocese of Kumbo will be with us next weekend asking for our help with the support of their quickly growing diocese.

                The Diocese of Kumbo was established on March 18, 1982. It is situated in the grass field area of the North West Region of Cameroon with a population of approximately 771,664 people of whom over 151,900 are Catholics.

                The entire territory which is now the Diocese of Kumbo was first evangelized by the German Sacred Heart Missionaries. The first mission was established in January of 1913 in the area of Kumbo Town. 

                In 1922, the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (Propaganda Fide) entrusted the evangelization of the whole of the South of Cameroon to the St. Joseph’s Society for Foreign Missions or the Mill Hill Missionaries. Since the arrival of Mill Hill Missionaries, the Catholic Church in Kumbo has grown. In July of 1949, the first southern Cameroon priest was ordained.

                In 1961, British Cameroons became independent and joined French Cameroon and the two became the Federal Republic of Cameroon. There are three main religious groups in the Diocese of Kumbo, namely, the Christians, the Moslems and adherents of the African Traditional Religion. The African Traditional Religion is still the majority followed by the Christians. The Catholic population has continued to grow steadily, with an average of about 4,300 baptisms a year. The diocese today is made up of 25 parishes which are mostly rural and serving a total of some 290 villages.

                Of note is that a local community of religious sisters works in the diocese. The Sisters of St. Mary Namur serve the people of Kumbo diocese.

                Next weekend, June 17th and 18th our second collection will be for the ministries of the Diocese of Kumbo in Cameroon. We thank you for your kind generosity to the missions who serve throughout the world.