A church full of African Catholics, many from Cameroon, gathered Sept. 5 at St. Camillus Church in Silver Spring, Maryland to festively celebrate a visit by one of their own, Bishop Jerome Feudjio of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, who became the first African-born bishop serving in the United States in April.

The joyous liturgy featured components more typical in African Catholic churches than in the United States, such as a procession to present the lectionary, as well as jubilant singing and even some dancing in a sanctuary that was as full as COVID-19 precautions would allow.

Sister Joanna Okereke, assistant director for Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees and Travelers at the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the Catholic Standard that Bishop Feudjio’s appointment as a bishop and his willingness to meet with Catholics from Africa around the United States is important for cultural reasons as well as to help foster connections to the Church in this country’s immigrant community. She said he is the first African-born bishop to serve as a bishop in the United States.

Sister Joanna, a native of Nigeria who is a Sister of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus, said that when she started working at the USCCB, her boss told her that among her biggest challenges would be “to walk with African Catholics” and to see one of them become a bishop. “Fifteen years ago I started praying for that to happen,” she said. “When I heard he was named, I was so happy. I thought, the Lord has heard my prayers.”

Bishop Feudjio, who was born in Cameroon, came to the United States as a young adult, interrupting his seminary studies after a brother died to help his family by joining another brother who lived in the U.S., he said in his homily.

Opening and closing with the call-and-response of “God is good. All the time. All the time. God is Good,” Bishop Feudjio gave a wide-ranging sermon that touched on the role of African Catholics in the Church, his time in the Washington area as a young man and his path to becoming a bishop, and of the Gospel message of joy and “do not be afraid.”

He spoke to the congregation as “my dear African brothers and sisters in the diaspora,” and noted the participation of nearly two dozen concelebrating African-born priests.

“I come to you as a pilgrim,” Bishop Feudjio  said. “It has really been a pilgrimage for me from when I left Cameroon to when I am standing here as the bishop of the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

When he first came to Washington in 1980, “I wanted to see what I could do to keep my family together.” He arrived with plans to get a job and go to school. “We lived six in one room,” he said. “But we managed.” He attended Oblate College, then part of the Washington Theological Consortium, to finish his philosophy and theology studies, and joined the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1987, making temporary religious profession. He will celebrate his 66^th birthday Sept. 30.

Not long after arriving he began working with the Spanish Catholic Center, where he helped the center’s director then, Capuchin Father Sean O’Malley, to establish a ministry to Haitian Catholics. The future Cardinal Sean O’Malley went on to become bishop of St. Thomas; of Fall River, Massachusetts; and of Palm Beach, Florida; and now he serves as the cardinal archbishop of Boston.

At then-Bishop O’Malley’s request, he followed him to the Virgin Islands to be a high school campus minister, “without knowing where the Virgin Islands was,” he joked, adding “I was not going to have to dig snow anymore.”

In 1990, then-Bishop O’Malley ordained him as a priest for the Diocese of St. Thomas, and he took on increasing responsibilities. At the time Msgr. Feudjio was made bishop, he was vicar general and chancellor of the diocese, as well as rector of Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral. He told the congregation at St. Camillus that his responsibilities included traveling with his bishops to the United States regularly, speaking at parishes about the Catholic Church in the Virgin Islands and asking for financial support.

“When I visited parishes with the bishops I saw few Black faces in the churches,” he said, adding that the pastors spoke in glowing terms about how the Blacks in their parishes contributed to the community. He urged his fellow African immigrants to continue to be active in their parishes, even if they feel outnumbered. “Make a difference wherever the Lord puts you. Let your pastor see that you are special,” he said.

The Virgin Islands bishop reminded them that “in the Catholic Church there are no foreigners,” and that the “Catholic Church is for everyone.”

The evening before the Mass, he met with representatives of various African Catholic communities, where he listened to people describe the challenges of being in a new country, with family too far away and where churches often feel unfamiliar and sometimes unwelcoming.

Sister Joanna said that in the gathering of about 40 people the prevailing theme was “how can we be united?” Originally a large cultural celebration was being planned to follow the Mass, but it was canceled because of rising rates of coronavirus infections.

In a brief interview with the Catholic Standard, Bishop Feudjio elaborated on comments he made during his homily about how he intended to serve as a liaison between the African Catholic diaspora and the larger Church. He said that “as a member of the (USCCB) it will enable me to represent the needs of people, just as a bishop might bring forward the needs of Spanish speakers or French speakers” to the body of bishops. “I will not hesitate to do that.”

Bishop Feudjio was invited to Maryland by the African Catholic Association of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, which worked with representatives from multiple African countries to plan a liturgy that reflected traditions of Cameroon and other nations. Sister Joanna explained that the lectionary procession is common in many African countries, bringing the Word of God into the congregation. In this case, the person carrying the lectionary and other members of the procession wore traditional clothing, sang, beat a rhythm on a cone-shaped instrument and carried other objects familiar in Cameroonian liturgies.

The often elaborate wardrobes worn by many in the congregation – kente cloth, batik, detailed embroidery, prints of Marian organizations – reflected people’s countries of origin, including Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya.