YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon – A Catholic chapel in Cameroon has been desecrated by thieves and is set to be reconsecrated.
The St. Augustine Famkeu Chapel of the Diocese Bafang in Cameroon’s West region can no longer host Christian worship until reparation has been made following a robbery that took place on March 21.
The robbers desecrated the chapel by taking away a ciborium containing consecrated hosts and other items. A ciborium is a sacred vessel used in the Catholic Church to hold consecrated hosts for distribution during Holy Communion or for storage in the tabernacle.
“The thief or thieves took a wooden ciborium containing consecrated hosts, all the chasubles, the altar cross, and the Roman Missal,” said Bishop Abraham Kome of Bafang.
“This place can no longer host Christian worship until reparation has been made for this offense against God. Therefore, the chapel will remain closed until further notice for the necessary time of reparation,” he said.
Father Humphrey Tatah Mbuy explained to Crux that in the Catholic Church, “reparation refers to acts of prayer, penance, and other spiritual efforts made to restore the sanctity of a desecrated church.”
He said the robbery in the Church in Bafang means that the “sacred space has been violated or treated in a way that dishonors its holy purpose.”
“Reparation is seen as a way to make amends for the offense against God and the Church community, and this could involve Christians in that area fasting and begging for forgiveness,” since the thief isn’t even known, or since the thief might not be brought to express his sorrow at the offense.
Kome invited the people of God to enter into a process of penance and reparation “for this heinous act.”
The bishop said the robbery wasn’t only “a desecration of a sacred place but also a sacrilege against the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, resulting in the excommunication of those responsible.”
“Indeed, the Blessed Sacrament is the real presence of Christ among us. There is no doubt that this unfortunate event is of utmost gravity,” he said.
The bishop instructed that communal prayers of reparation be conducted while the chapel remains closed. He also announced that, upon completing the penitential process, a Eucharistic celebration of reparation would take place in the desecrated chapel.
“In the meantime, all forms of worship in this chapel are prohibited,” Kome said.
“I ask you to pray that God’s Mercy may touch the heart of the perpetrator(s) of this ignominious act, so that they may repent, come forward, and seek absolution so that the curse upon them may be lifted,” he said.
He urged vigilance in the face of such acts and called on God’s people to “work together to protect our ecclesial heritage.”
The desecration of Catholic churches and places of worship in Cameroon and elsewhere in Africa is a growing concern. On April 2 last year, unknown vandals attacked the Mary Queen of Peace Shrine in the district Nsimalen of Yaoundé and destroyed four icons of Christ and the Virgin Mary, as well as the 14 stations of the Stations of the Cross.
Archbishop Jean Mbarga of Yaoundé noted that the attack “reminds us that Christ has not finished suffering in his love for humanity. The violence perpetrated is an unacceptable sacrilege that God will overcome.”
A year earlier, the St. John Calabria Parish in the Archdiocese of Luanda in Angola was desecrated when criminals broke into the tabernacle, scattered consecrated hosts on the floor, and stole two ciboria.
In Nigeria, the Holy Ghost Cathedral in Enugu came under attack from followers of a local priest, Father Camillus Ejike Mbaka. They stormed the cathedral in May 2021, desecrating the altar and vandalizing the bishop’s residence and other diocesan properties. It led the Bishop of Enugu, Callistus Onaga, to declare a week of prayer and reparation to atone for the desecration.
On August 12, 2020, St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Makurdi in Nigeria’s Benue State was desecrated, with the thieves making away with sacred vessels.
Mbuy told Crux that he had come in contact with a thief who stole the Consecrated Host in a church in the archdiocese of Bamenda in Cameroon’s North West region.
“He happened to believe in traditional medicine, and he believed that the Consecrated Host is so powerful that it gave him some super-natural powers in his practice of traditional medicine,” the priest said.
Traditional medicine in parts of Africa is associated with occultism.
“Many people steal the Church’s sacred items believing they could be helpful in their occult practices,” Mbuy said.