By Walter Wilson Nana
Buea, Cameroon
The ruby jubilee celebrations of the priestly ordination of Right Reverend Monsignor Immanuel Banlanjo Bushu and the 20th anniversary of his Episcopal Ordination will be celebrated on Thursday, May 9 2013 at the Buea Co-Cathedral site, beginning with a con-celebrated mass at 9AM. This is the kernel of a statement from the Chancellery of the Diocese of Buea.
Mgr. Bushu, Bishop of Buea, was ordained priest of the Roman Catholic Church on January 7 1973 in Nkar, Kumbo, Northwest Region and ordained Bishop on March 25 1993. He is forty years a priest and twenty years a Bishop.
Mgr Immanuel Bushu of Buea Diocese
Immanuel Banlanjo Bushu was born at Ngomrin, St. Theresia’s Parish, Sop, Bui Division, Northwest Region on July 31 1944 to Bartholomew Bushu and Johanna Wirsungrim, all deceased.
1953 – 1960, Bushu did his primary education at Sop, Kumbo and Nkar. January 1961, he will gain admission into St. Joseph College, Sasse, Buea. Done with his secondary education, he proceeded to Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu, Eastern Nigeria in September 1965.
Caught in the Nigerian civil strife from 1967 – 1970, which perturbed his studies at Enugu, the then Bishop Jules Peeters of Buea Diocese redeployed Bushu to Sts. Peter & Paul Seminary in Ibadan, Western Nigeria in January 1968.
December 1972, Bushu, now a Deacon, completed his formation at Ibadan, where he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology. January 7 1973, he was ordained into the Sacred Priesthood at Nkar.
He will begin his priestly ministry as a Curate in St. Mathias’ Parish, Widikum and subsequently moved to Bishop Rogan College, Soppo, Buea.
Interested to build the capacity of his priests, Bishop Jules Peeters in September 1977 to February 1980 and from September 1982 to June 1984 sent Fr. Bushu to read Philosophy at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, where he specialised and obtained a PhD in metaphysics.
Back from Rome, Fr. Bushu worked in various parishes in the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province and serving as the Rector of the St. Thomas Aquinas’ Major Seminary, Bambui.
December 31 1992, a Papal Decision from Pope John Paul II, appointed Fr. Bushu the new Bishop of the Diocese of Yagoua, becoming the fourth Bishop of that Diocese, where he served for 15 years, a month and five days.
November 30 2006, the Vatican Newsletter, L’Observatore Romano announced the appointment by Pope Benedict XVI of Bishop Bushu as the Bishop of the Diocese of Buea, where he has been the shepherd for the past five years.
According to Rev.Fr George Jingwa Nkeze, one of Bishop Bushu’s students in the Major Seminary in Bambui, the Prelate has been consistent in his lifestyle. “He has a lot of experience and he’s not the type of ‘simpleton’ that some people portray of him. He has practical experience having worked in the French and English culture in Cameroon. When he is convinced about something, especially the truth, he stands by it and does not waver,” he said.
Mgr. Bushu took over from Bishop Pius Suh Awa, now Bishop Emeritus on January 30 2007. The former’s favourite colour is blue – blue for the Blessed Mother.
At the ceremony of Mgr Bushu’s Episcopal Ordination in Small Soppo, Buea, he dedicated the Diocese of Buea to the Divine Mercy and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Inspired by the fact that Buea Diocese is the mother of the Dioceses in English speaking Cameroon, Mgr. Bushu has taken the commitment to do more, having been blessed with great people and with a great heritage. This, explain the huge spiritual, educational, health and infrastructural developments ongoing in Buea Diocese.
Since there is no leader without challenges, Rev.Fr Nkeze in a recent publication dubbed “Facts That Speak”, notes that Mgr. Bushu is grappling with issues about mindset, selfishness and clericalism. “The church is the people of God. Both Clergy and Laity must work hand-in-glove to build the Church of God. We’re all equal in dignity in the Church but different in functions. Hence, the laity must respect their priests as heads of their communities,” he said.
