André Wouking

André Wouking (born 30 June 1930) is a Cameroonian Catholic prelate who was served as the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yaoundé in Cameroon from 27 November 1998 until his death in office on 10 November 2002. Before that, from 15 March 1979 until 27 November 1998, he served as the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Bafoussam, in the Ecclesiastical Metropolitan Province of Douala. From 9 April 1961 until 15 March 1979, he was a priest for the Diocese of Bafoussam. Pope John Paul II appointed him bishop. He was consecrated on 9 June 1979 at Bafoussam, Cameroon by Paul Mbiybe Verdzekov, Bishop of Bamenda. He served as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Nkongsamba from 21 November 1992 to 10 June 1995. The Holy Father transferred him to the Archdiocese of Yaoundé on 27 November 1998 and elevated him to Archbishop of that Metropolitan Province. Archbishop André Wouking died while in office on 10 November 2002.

Background and education André Wouking was born on 14 June 1930 at Dschang, West Region, in Cameroon, to Sylvestre Tsamo and Anne Nguimeya. André Wouking was the eldest "in a family of four children, many others having died in infancy". He received Catholic baptism at the age of two weeks. He received his first communion in 1938. He was confirmed in the Catholic Church in 1940.

André Wouking's father worked as a bricklayer at the Catholic Mission in Dschang. He entrusted his son, the future archbishop, to Reverend Father Bader, a priest at the mission, who guided him through his priestly training. In August 1948, he entered the Bafang Minor Seminary, in Bafang, West Region of Cameroon. The next year, he transferred to Melong Minor Seminary in Melong, Southwest Region. He completed his secondary schooling there in 1954. That year he entered Otélé Major Catholic Seminary in Otélé, Centre Region, where he completed his priestly education.

When Bishop Thomas Kuissi retired from the pastoral care of the Diocese of Nkongsamba in 1992, The Holy Father appointed Bishop Andre Wouking of Bafoussam to concurrently work as Apostolic Administrator of the Nkongsamba Catholic Diocese. That admnistratorship ceased in 1995 when Bishop Dieudonné Watio was installed as the new local ordinary at Nkongsamba on 10 June 1995. On 27 November 1998, following the death in office of Archbbishop Jean Zoa of Yaoundé on 20 March 1998, The Holy Father appointed Bishop André Wouking to succeed Archbishop Zoa at Younde.

His body was flown to Cameroon and was buried on 22 November 2002 at the Our Lady of Victories Cathedral, Yaoundé. The mass was led by Félix del Blanco Prieto, the Papal Nuncio. The attendees included Paul Biya, the president of Cameroon.