Earlier this year, I took part in a remarkable demonstration of faith in a remote village in the Diocese of Aitape in Papua New Guinea, of which I am bishop.
I celebrated Mass there and afterward the villagers thanked me for the Mass, which was their first in 20 years. Although they had no sacraments for all this time, they had kept the faith. Representatives of many religious denominations had invited the people to join them, but their response was, “We are born Catholics and we die Catholics.”
I felt that they were like sheep without a shepherd and felt the truth of the words of Jesus: “The harvest is rich, but the laborers are few.”
The diocese is in the far northwest of Papua New Guinea, bordering the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya. It is a remote and underdeveloped region, with about 160,000 Catholics distributed in 33 parishes. Spiritual leadership is carried out by 19 priests, religious, many lay parish leaders and the diocesan team of pastoral animation.
Growth of the Church there has been accompanied by challenges, including logistic and economic problems, lack of personnel, long distances and difficult communication routes, depriving the faithful of a regular sacramental life. Despite these challenges, our people are in general industrious, loving, caring and generous. They accompany the clergy on mission journeys to distant villages that may take hours or even days.
The diocese has few resources and little infrastructure. Our parishes are poor, many are in the mountains and they have dilapidated facilities. Most of the facilities in the diocese urgently need renovation. In the short term, there is an immediate need for more missionaries. At the same time, investing in the formation of local seminarians and laity is a priority. Therein lies our future. The diocese runs schools, health facilities, vocational centers and a pastoral center.
At the recent National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization who presided at the closing Mass, said in his homily, “We should not keep Jesus to ourselves. That is not discipleship. That is selfishness. The gift we have received we should give as a gift. A Eucharistic people is a missionary and evangelizing people.”
Today, we are invited to give Jesus to others. As people of the Eucharist, we can continue the proclamation of the Gospel among our brothers and sisters of Papua New Guinea by assisting them spiritually and financially. Remember, “Acts of love and kindness never die, but in the lives of others they multiply.”
