Oct 1, 2010 / 01:13 am
Membership in a small Franciscan order is booming in Cameroon after only ten years in the country. One of its brothers says its spiritual commitment has a “deep social impact” in the life of its members and in the life of the African country.
The Franciscans of the Emmanuel, founded in Montreal, Canada in 1985, has 75 members. About 60 of them are now based in Cameroon.
Speaking to the charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) in a visit to its headquarters in Germany, Br. Denis-Antoine said the order arrived in the African country after a diocesan priest from Nkongsamba city in the west read about the order in a newspaper and requested that they help a group of parishioners who desired to live the spirituality of St. Francis.
“At the request of the (diocesan) bishop, we came and started to form a fraternity of lay members. With time, the groups have expanded, established themselves and multiplied,” he reported.