allAfrica.com: Cameroon: Bamenda - A Day at the Jangma Shrine (Page 1 of 1)

The Mother of the Redeemer Shrine of Jangma, located in the neighbourhood of Mbatu, Mezam division, is a great attraction to tourists and faithfuls of the Roman Catholic Church.

It was a crowd puller on March 12, 2008 with prayers, confessions, homilies and souvenirs for the over 5000 that trekked to the shrine. The occasion was the Bamenda Archdiocesan Pilgrimage to honour the 2008 Lent season that prescribes a spiritual journey to a significant place to derive spiritual good. The history of the church reveals that the Pilgrimage started in the Middle ages when people went to the tombs of their Martyrs or those killed because of their faith. It later became popular to travel to Holy places during certain moments of the year to seek repentance for sins.

The Mater Redemptoris or better still, the Mother of the Redeemer Shrine in Jangma, a gift to the Bamenda Archdiocese now offer rare opportunities for faithfuls of the Diocese to pilgrimage with its 14 Stations of the Cross to show. From the view of things, the Shrine represents the "Via Doloroso" or the road on which Jesus Christ moved to Calvary in Jerusalem. Rev. Fr. Humphrey Tatah Mbuy, Director, Social Communication Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Bamenda says "the 14 Stations of the Cross at Jangma are life size and the terrain puts one actually climbing to Calvary in Bamenda." Pilgrims acknowledge that it recaptures the path Jesus Christ traveled in Jerusalem. It became a public place of worship in 2002 with the blessing of Archbishop Emeritus, Paul Verdzekov. The Shrine requires a kilometre of movement to cover all the 14 Stations of the Cross from the time Jesus was condemned to death till crucifixion.

This time around, the Pilgrimage was special and involved all 29 parishes assembled in the six Deaneries of the Archdiocese led by St Peters Parish Bambui, St Anthony's Parish Njinikom, St. Martin De Pores Parish Wum, St Peter and Paul Parish Ndop, the Widikum Parish and St. Joseph's Cathedral Parish, Mankon. All the parish faithfuls converged in metropolitan Bamenda where the 20km trek towards Jangma started as a reminder that the church on earth is a big pilgrimage moving from earth to heaven. The journey was long. It all started as early as 5:30a.m with men, women, old and young, some carrying walking sticks, food, drinking water, while the weak went by car. They sang and prayed in search of blessings and salvation from God.

Forgiveness of Sins

On-the-spot at the Shrine solemnity was evident with the Minister of the church, Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua, leading prayers in his first outing to the Shrine as the chief shepherd of the Archdiocese. The Rosary was prominent for prayers as faithfuls went from one station of the cross to the other. It was a moment of pain and suffering, the way Christ suffered and died for the sins of the world. The trying movement simply sent some people shading tears for Christ.

The difference at the Jangma Pilgrimage was the plenary indulgence which gave an opportunity for the forgiveness of sins. We were told by church hierarchy that a Pilgrimage is also a rare moment when the Bishop gives Rev Fathers the privilege to exceptionally absorb Christians of resolved sins like criminal abortion. According to Rev. Fr Tatah Mbuy "it was a full day of confession summed up by a Holy Mass and the Bishop imposed an indulgence with confessions receiving full forgiveness for all forms of sins". His Grace, Cornelius Fontem Esua had blessings for souvenirs and articles like T-Shirts, Caps, booklets and other Christian literature. A holy Mass crowned the Pilgrimage with a beautiful sermon on reconciliation at a time when the nation was recovering from social unrest and the fuel hike strike. His Grace Cornelius, appealed for a peaceful Cameroon and urged Christians to use the strike action as a challenge and not a problem. The Minister of the church urged Christendom to reconcile with one another, pray for peace in the family, among friends and in the nation because a Pilgrimage reminds all that people are sojourners on earth. It was also a moment for faithfuls to appreciate God for letting His Son, Jesus Christ suffer and die for mankind. The pilgrimage, we were told, unites Christians with Christ.

web allafrica.com	Enter your search terms	Submit search form
OR subscribers use AllAfrica's premium search engine


Use our pull-down menus to find more stories

Today's Most Active Stories