Following the appointment of Msgr. John Berinyuy Tata by Pope Leo XIV as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Bamenda, Cameroon, the Diocese of Motherwell, Scotland, where he worked during summer supply has felicitated with the priest who recently survived in the hands of kidnappers.
“Congratulations to Fr. John Tata who has been appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Bamenda by Pope Leo XIV” the diocese stated in a statement.
The congratulatory message came at the heels of the announcement by the Vatican that the priest who “until now [was the] rector of the Catholic University of Cameroon in Bamenda, [has been appointed] as auxiliary bishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Bamenda, Cameroon, assigning him the titular see of Casae Nigrae.”
Motherwell Diocese indicated that “Fr. John Tata is very well known here – from his time of summer supply.”
The Diocese used the development to thank “the faithful of the diocese for their prayers last year following his kidnapping and release.”
Msgr. Tata was among the six Catholic Priests who were abducted in the district of Ndop, in the North-West region, Cameroon’s Bamenda Archdiocese on 15 November 2025.
However, the Bishop-elect, 50, was released a few days later after Archbishop Andrew Nkea threatened to close all Catholic institutions.
Msgr. John Berinyuy Tata was born on 18 December 1975 in Mbuluf-Shisong, in the diocese of Kumbo. He studied philosophy and theology at Saint Thomas Aquinas Interdiocesan Major Seminary in Bambui, Bamenda.
Ordained on 30 March 2005, he was the parish vicar of Saint Joseph in Bafut (2005-2006) and parish priest of Saint Patrick in Babanki-Tungo (2006-2010).
He holds a doctorate in theology at the Pontifical Theological Faculty Teresianum in Rome, specialising in Christian anthropology. Additionally, Tata, had studied spirituality at the Dominican monastery of Bambui.
The onetime spiritual director and lecturer at the Saint Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary, Bambui, also served as Chaplain for the Diocesan Charismatic Movement.
Editor’s Note: The featured photo is courtesy of the Catholic Diocese of Motherwell, Scotland, UK.
