Back from Bamenda!
Visit to Bamenda: January 2010
Bamenda and Portsmouth
"Twinned Dioceses"
Bamenda and Portsmouth
"Twinned Dioceses"
June 2009
Report of visit of most Rev. Cornelius Esua, Archbishop of Bamenda
and Father Ignatius Waindim
Read more
January 2009
John McCormick: ‘Home is a Holy Place’ in Bamenda
Read more
Requiem Mass in Portsmouth Cathedral. At 12.15 pm on Saturday March 27th in Portsmouth Cathedral, Bishop Crispian will offer a Requiem Mass for the eternal rest of Archbishop Paul. Mgr. Ron Hishon will preach. All friends of Bamenda and the late Archbishop are invited to attend.
From Mgr. Ron Hishon, Chair Portsmouth Bamenda Committee
It was a shock to receive confirmation from two sources that Archbishop Paul Verdzekov, the retired Archbishop of Bamenda, died yesterday 26th January 2010, aged 79. His mortal remains have been taken to the mortuary at Shisong Hospital. Archbishop Paul was born at Shisong (in what is now the Kumbo Diocese of the NW Region of Cameroon) on 22nd January 1931.
It was he who with the late Archbishop Derek Worlock, in 1974 first set up the twinning between Bamenda and Portsmouth.
Only a week before he died, during a visit to Bamenda of a delegation of our Diocesan Committee, I visited him at his modest retirement home in Ntasen, on the outskirts of Bamenda town. He had asked to be remembered to all the priests and laypeople of Portsmouth Diocese.
When I received his farewell blessing, little did I know that it was a final farewell.
MAY HE REST IN PEACE.
There follows an appreciation of Archbishop Paul by one of his priests (first published by ‘L’Effort Cameronais’ – the official newspaper of the Cameroonian Conference of Bishops.)
By Emmanuel F. Sanosi
Christians of Bamenda Archdiocese are in shock after they learnt of the death of Archbishop Emeritus of Bamenda Mgr. Paul Verdzekov on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at Ntasen, Bamenda. Fr. Paul died in his study while working at the Catholic Health Centre in Ntasen where he took up residence since he retired in 2005.
Shortly before his retirement, he took seriously ill and later recovered through what many Christians considered a miracle. Since then his health was gradually degrading although he was present in most church events, the last being the opening Mass of the Bishops’ Annual Seminar in Bamenda on January 3, 2010.
Christians of Ntasen say he celebrated morning Mass showing no signs of ill health. The Sisters of St. Francis Health Centre, Ntasen report that Fr. Paul had already packed his bags for a trip the following morning, an indication that he felt quite well.
His body has been taken to the Shisong Catholic Hospital Mortuary, Kumbo, while the funeral programme is being awaited. Prayers for the peaceful repose of his soul are going on in different parishes in Bamenda Archdiocese and beyond.
Appointments
September 1965 – Curate to St. Joseph’s Parish Tiko
March 1966 – Curate Sacred Heart Parish Victoria
August 1966 – Acting Parish Priest Victoria pending return from annual leave of Fr. Piet Jacobs
September 1967 – returns to Rome for a doctoral program at the Gregorian University and returns to Cameroon in May 1969.
August 1969 – Priest in charge of Catholic Information Service, Buea
Episcopal Ordination
With the erection of the Diocese of Bamenda on August 13, 1970, he was named Bishop of Bamenda Diocese and ordained on Sunday, November 8 that same year as first Bishop of Bamenda.
October 1971 – Represented Cameroon at the Second Ordinary General Assembly of the Bishops
1974 – WITH BISHOP WORLOCK HE INITIATED THE TWINNING OF THE DIOCESE OF BAMENDA WITH THE DIOCESE OF PORTSMOUTH ENGLAND.
October 1977 – Represented Cameroon at the Fourth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops
Archbishop of Bamenda
April 24, 1982 – Appointed Archbishop of Bamenda following the creation of Kumbo with territory detached from the then Diocese of Bamenda. He served as Apostolic Administrator of Kumbo until the Bishop of Kumbo was named.
February 22, 1983 – Receives the Pallium in St. Joseph’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Mankon
October 1987 – served as Papal Nominee at the Sixth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops
June 30, 1988 – Attended the Public Consistory in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, at which His Grace Archbishop Christian Tumi was created a Cardinal.
1989 – Pope John II appointed him as a member of the Preparatory Committee of the Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, during which he served as chairman of the sub-committee for Proclamation.
October 1993 to March 1994 – At the request of the Holy See he served as Apostolic Visitor to the Major Seminaries of Kabwe, Malole, Lodja, Mbuji-Mayi and Tshilomba in the Kananga Ecclesiastical Province in the East and West Kasai Regions, and the Major Seminaries of Kacheber, Zomba and Mangochi in Malawi.
April to May 1994 – Served as Member of the Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops as chairman of the Commission for the Synodal Assembly’s Final Message (Nuntius)
Retirement
January 22, 2002 – Applied to the Holy See requesting the appointment of a Co-adjutor Archbishop for Bamenda, cum iure successionis.
January 23, 2006 – Hands over the pastoral governance of Bamenda Archdiocese to Most Reverend Cornelius Fontem Esua and retires to Ntasen as Archbishop Emeritus of Bamenda. He died on Tuesday, January 26, 2010.
Mgr Ron Hishon,
Chair of the Diocesan Bamenda Committee