By Rev. Fr Njodzela Louis, Sch.P. wo wan Tume Boniface, a dreamer of a more just and humane world.
Born on October 15, 1930 and you are called home on April 2, 2021.
The world is in shock, everyone has something to say. Your fans see in you a saintly model of Christian and human life in general but your detractors are not indifferent because you lived not an anonymous life but a long impactful life.
You received a great education that was not only theoretical and “livresque” but practical and realistic.
You were an educator from the beginning till the end, a pedagogue leading all to the truth and that with love. You did all to conform your life even before becoming the bishop of Yagoua with your episcopal ordination motto: “Lord, I have come to do your will.”
Yes, a rebel from birth, a rebel against injustice, against falsehood as you yourself declared talking about one of your most important preoccupation in your last days, the “Anglophone crisis.”
You were rebellious against the abuse of anyone’s dignity and that without discrimination. To you all humans are equal and must be treated as such. Anyone who went against this sacrosanct principle sure to find you on his/her way.
That is why, while working as the very first Rector of the Saint Thomas Aquinas Major seminary, you formed with some friends the “Christian study group” to enlighten all especially the simple people on their rights and duties so that no one will use their ignorance to abuse their rights.
This initiative earned you your first public enemies and after having the study grouped dismantled by appointing some of her members, you even suspected that those who had done so had also by some means influenced or tactfully worked out your appointment as bishop of Yagoua as a means of killing and burying the Christian study group. But when reassured that your suspicion was not so exact, you answered like your master his call to be the shepherd of his flock saying: “I have come to do your will”.
I must confess that without specially knowing you physically and closely (a thing I ardently longed for and tried to do in vain during my last visit in Douala), you were and are a mentor to me especially as a young catholic priest. Through your critical verification as to whether those who vowed to destroy the Christian study group were involved in your appointment reveals one of the facets of your multifaceted person. You revealed yourself at that moment as a lover of truth but above all a lover of Sophia (Wisdom). Like the great philosopher Socrates, you “maeutically”[1] asked questions to the one whose representative has been seen by some as the “pope of Cameroon”.
Your questions revealed the truth but also above all liberated some of us from the bondage of ignorance about the principles guiding the election of bishops and the role of the state of Cameroon in this delicate process. Thank you very much Taata Cardinal Tumi for this and many other achievements of yours!
You are a multifaceted human being: A priest, a pastor, a philosopher, a theologian, a father, an unparalleled administrator and above all a sage like Solomon of old.
These many facets were revealed in a harmonious way all through your life. From your first major responsibility in the limelight according to my possibly inexact judgment as the first Rector of Bambui to Yagoua as bishop, you remained the same courageous warrior, worthy son of the world, descendant of Yaa Ngonnsso’ certainly by no merit of hers but by the grace of the great architect of all that is seen and unseen.
Your first Pastoral Letter read in all Christian communities defended the right of Cameroon to be a true secular state where the right to freedom of Religion is respected as enshrined in the preamble of the fundamental text of the land, the Constitution of Cameroon. This attracts on you the thunderbolt of those though supposed to be the promoters and defenders of legality in all matters especially in matters related to the freedom of Religion had chosen instead to be promoters and defenders of illegality. You were viewed by them then as a threat to the established order even of injustice. They became your Pharisees, your scribes and your Doctors of the law as these famous biblical groups of old were to your Master Jesus Christ. You never forgot to do everything out of love as Saint Paul advised. You always said what you thought but never disrespecting or wanting to humiliate your vis-a-vis, another you in flesh and blood. Like Christ your Master, you sought to liberate the oppressor and the oppressed. I remember very vividly that in all your confrontations with different individuals, you respected their opinion and expressed yours always in a gentlemanly way that you had certainly learn from your human masters and mentors but above all from the master of them all, Jesus Christ. This was you and this is still you.
Following the advice of Saint Peter in 1Peter 3,15, you sought at all times to manifest the reasons of your hope with firmness and rigour and above all with passionate love and mercy despite your human frailties that you were never ashamed of assuming though you kept working on making them better. While in Yagoua, you did not remain contented with the French you painstakingly studied but went ahead to learn the languages the flock entrusted to your care especially the most neglected portion of it so as to be accessible to them and so as to accommodate them.
From Yagoua, the one to whom you had declared unambiguously your willingness to do his will called you through the mother Church under the leadership of the successor of Peter to pasture his sheep in Garoua. While in Garoua, you became the president of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon by the free will of your brother bishops but your second mandate was faced by fierce opposition from those who could be rightly described as outsiders in the choice or not of you as the president of National the Bishops’ Conference of Cameroon. It does not mean that the said campaign did not have any effect but it paradoxically produced the contrary of what was aimed at.
During this, mandate, you were created by Saint Pope John Paul II as cardinal in 1988. You became the first and till now the only Roman Catholic cardinal of our land. From, his own judgement, he saw you worthy of defending the faith and the rights of God and his creation in general but of humanity in particular “usque ad effusionem sanguinis”in martyrdom (“even to the shedding of blood.”) Was he right? Though God did not give you the grace of a bloody red martyrdom, we all know that there is eloquent evidence that he preserved you from it many times while making you to experience martyrdom of another kind. To many, you merited the red cardinalice hat you proudly wore as you wholeheartedly assumed its exigencies. You wore the crown and assumed all that came with it. The crosses and the sweat.
Having done all you could despite the odds in Garoua, your master again called you yet to another challenging and daunting task and at a period when it needed courage but above all faith to minister to the economic capital of Cameroon, Douala. Who else has been like you in Cameroon and in Africa in general, diocesan bishop of three dioceses two of which are Metropolitan Archdioceses? Could this be given to who was not ready and apt enough despite his brokenness for the sacrifice that goes with these exacting tasks in the service of the Church and humanity? God trusted you with his flock in these three particular churches and you trusted his mission to him while making yourself entirely available be used as his instrument to accomplish it and the results are there for all to see. You succeeded through service to make yourself admired even by those who did not agree with you by your honesty and integrity. While in Douala, the melting pot and boiling spot in the heat of political evolution of Cameroon, you were accused of being against the powerful and for the powerless but by your words and actions you proved that you were a simply a defender of truth and justice and the defender and protector of those your Master defended and protected even unto the ultimate sacrifice.
Your long stay in the Archdiocese of Douala brought much to this particular Church but two actions come to mind without any effort in the defense of the common good: the investigation to the 9 disappeared of Bepanda and your match for peace that provoked the reconversion of yet another no nonsense man to the faith of his childhood. I mean Tav Martin Jumbam, a scribe in his own right. These among others reveal you as one of the greatest and fiercest defender of Human rights and Democracy. You defended the rights of God, his creation and humanity through your pen which was really as nimble as that of the scribes, through rich and abundant preaching and teaching and through courageous opinions on matters that mattered to you and to the majority for your opinions never left anyone indifferent for they came from a pot of deep Faith and Reason harmonized together that unceasingly poured out wisdom.
I am more than grateful that God chose to give such a great mentor, Pastor, Theologian, Philosopher, sage, prophet, priest and beacon of hope in you. Thanks for showing us the way to follow without compromise. Thanks for being you, the great warrior of our time. Thanks for being a model priest and pastor of souls to those called to the daunting task of the Ministerial priesthood.
I longed to meet you for your blessing, wise counsel before your departure from this world but helas! God has decided otherwise but I know you watch over me, pray for me, bless me and counsel me from above but above all by the witness of your long fruitful life.
But Taa, Shuufaay, Your Eminence, can someone possibly try to fill the gap you have left? Yes, he will certainly try but only you will be you and will do what you did your way. Thanks for being you for us and all humanity. Please ask your creator, the great artist and architect of the wonder that you are to multiply your spirit by seventy and appoint as many young men and women to be you in the world in their own uniqueness. I know you now contemplate him face to face and I firmly believe he will not deny you anything you ask of him. Ask him for men and women with hearts as big as that of his only begotten Son and appoint them to work for and towards the solution to the asymmetrical war raging in the North West and South West Regions. This was your major preoccupation even right to the moment when you breathe your last.
You were retired but not tired. Like a true disciple of Christ, you put your hands on the plough and never looked back. You died arms in hand striving for truth, justice and veritable peace, fruit of truth and justice. I believe that what preoccupied you till your last will continue to do so until the right solution is found. Greet the multitudes of the saints in heaven and especially your brothers Bernard Nso’Kika Fonlon, Kenjo Jumbam, Paul Verdzekov and recently Daniel Noni La’ntum among whom you have taken your place as at least a man of faith has declared you “sancto subito” like Saint Pope John Paul II your mentor. Tell them to turn their eyes towards us left behind in turmoil and suffering. Infact, join them to plead our cause before the everlasting throne of grace for God did not only bless you with physical stature of a giant but he yet more generously blessed you with the moral, intellectual, relational and above spiritual statures of a giant. You accepted and collaborated with him while here on earth. Please continue carrying out you did so well while here on earth by being our intercessor for the triumph of truth and justice so that peace and harmony will reign as their logical fruits.
God Almighty, if the Queen’s language had another word better that Thank You, I would have used it to say how grateful I am to you for giving us such a precious jewel in the person of your servant Christian Cardinal Tumi to whom you have, judging in our own human way, told “Good and faithful servant, enter into the kingdom of your father prepared for those who do his will. We are not unaware or neglecting the fact that he was a human being like all of us with his own brokenness and frailty. We know that he certainly had been stained by his own sins. Please Lord, in your abundant mercy, purify him and grant him eternal rest in your kingdom. Please, grant us more Cardinal Christian Tumis to contribute their own in the edification of the civilization of love that he relentlessly worked for. He dreamed, believed in a better and just society and worked for it as if all depended on him and Prayed for it as if all depended on You.
Done in Bamenda on April 8, 2021
By Rev. Fr Njodzela Louis, Sch.P. wo wan Tume Boniface, a dreamer of a more just and humane world.