WHAT SHEER GLUTTONY CAN COST A MAN

(Or how I disgraced myself while a guest for lunch at a Catholic seminary)


By Tikum Mbah Azonga


When I was a student in CCAST Bambili, Cardinal Christian Wiyghan Tumi (still a priest at the time) was rector of the St. Thomas Aquinas` Major Seminary (STAMS) in Bambui. One Sunday, Philip Kindong, my classmate in CCAST and nephew to the rector invited me for a visit to the seminary.


OBLIVIOUS GUESTS OF THE FUTURE CARDINAL


Our host accorded us a warm reception in his office and chatted with us for about an hour. When it was over, he gave each of us and envelope with a bank note in it. I noted that his nephew and I got exactly the same amount, with there being no discrimination or nepotism. That to me proved that the man was fair and just. After that, the rector called two senior students, handed us to them and bid us goodbye.


A PRIEST IN HIS CASSOCK


One of the two was Patrick Adeso whom I remembered very well because when we were in Form Five at Sacred Heart College, Mankon, our principal, the Rev. John Philips, invited him and another trainee priest to give us a talk about joining the priesthood. On the day they came for the talk and addressed us in the college auditorium, many of us wondered whether people who chose the priestly as opposed to  a “normal” family with a wife and children running around, were really to say the truth, “normal”. Even so, a normal-looking Adeso assured us: “Life in the seminary is nothing. Everything is normal, just normal.” I remember that from that day on, the phrase, “everything is just normal” became a sing song on practically every lip at Sacred Heart College. Nonetheless, at the back of my mind, I knew that the priest-to-be must know what he was talking about. After all, before proceeding to the seminary, he had scored a brilliant performance in his `A` Level examinations. In fact, his results were one of the best in that year.


WALK ABOUT AND LUNCH


The two student priests showed us round the campus after which they took us to the refectory for the famous Item Eleven. We guests were asked to serve ourselves first. By some ill luck (or, perhaps luck), I was at . . .

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