A special ‘African’ Mass was held at the Cathedral in Portsmouth in thanksgiving to God for the ministry of Fr. George Ngwa and Fr. Bernadine Nsom, who are both returning to their home diocese of Bamenda, Cameroon. All our Bamenda priests were present, plus Fr. Peter Codd who served in Bamenda for six years, the CMA and the CWA and many others.

Fr. George has served all over the Diocese: at Christ the King, Reading, at Romsey and these last six years at Our Lady of Lourdes, New Milton. Fr. Bernadine, served in Bournemouth, Southbourne, Westbourne and for the last eight years at Charminster.

Both have also had responsibilities in the Diocese as Coordinating Pastors, as members of the Council of Priests and other roles too. The words of Jesus to the demoniac in today’s Gospel fit well this occasion: Go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you.

We don’t at the moment have any Portsmouth priests in Bamenda, but since we are now mission territory, we do have six fine Bamenda priests working in Portsmouth: Fr. Emmanuel, Fr. Elijah, Fr. Anthony and Fr. Gaston. As we bid farewell to Fr. George and Fr. Bernadine, we look forward to welcoming Fr. Benedict and Fr. Joseph.