By Fr. Peter A. Foleng, SD
Friday, September 14, 2007 will remain ever glorious in the minds of the members of the St. Paul’s Multilingual Choir of Kumbo Cathedral. Over 40 members of the choir, clad in their blue jackets with yellow and white straps representing the Vatican flag, defied the late afternoon downpour as they sang in jubilation up the winding slop leading to the Immaculate Conception Hill on which the Bishop’s House Complex is situated.
This was their maiden visit to the hill after more than 14 years of existence as the third choir of the Kumbo Cathedral Parish. The Bishop and some members of his secretariat were on hand to receive the choristers who spent over 15 minutes dancing around in front of the secretariat. They were ushered into the conference room where they sang a few songs and presented an address to the Bishop. They presented a brief history of the choir and some of its activities in Small Christian Communities within other parishes and in the Mission Station. They presented gifts of goats, potatoes and some drinks to the Bishop.
Mgr. George Nkuo thanked the choir for coming to greet him and encouraged them to play a vital role in evangelisation through singing. He challenged the choir not to bury itself and their songs in Kumbo. He told them that with their members all over the country and even abroad, they should let the choir be an avenue of evangelisation, by bringing the Good News to all and helping people to pray better. This, he said, could be done by producing a musical clip on audio and video tapes for others to watch and hear the beautiful messages expressed in their multilingual songs.
He enjoined the choristers to be a choir to reckon with by witnessing in word and action in their Small Christian Communities and families. He warned them not to be a choir that encourages unwarranted rivalry and competition amongst its members, but to praise God and be of exemplary behaviour.
The St. Paul’s Multilingual Choir emerged as an offspring of the Renew Process that was adopted as a method of evangelisation in the late 80s and early 90s in the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda. As a choir from the Mbivtinmbang quarter and Ndzendzev wo Ku’un, the St. Paul’s Choir plays a precursory role, as Mbivtinmbang was the host quarter of the first Church in Kumbo whose catechist was Paul Tangwa. The choir has grown to include over 70 registered members from other quarters in Kumbo. Some of its members are found all over Cameroon and even abroad. The members pledged to support the Bishop in prayers and through active cooperation.
After close to 40 minutes of fruitful exchanges, Bishop George Nkuo blessed the choir members and equally entertained them.