Mt. Keresa

MASS IN THE BUSH.

The most important part of our pastoral work is celebration of the mass. We have built a number of churches but there are many places in the diocese that do not have a church. Sometimes there is only a canopy to say mass under, which means that we do not need air conditioning! Building a church can be too expensive and very often there is not enough money in the parish.


The church is very often a central point for the Catholic community and it is not just used for the weekly mass. People gather there for meetings, retreats and courses. The main purpose is to gather for the Sunday mass which is a huge event for the community as a shortage of priests results in the parishioners not being able to participate in mass every Sunday. Each priest in the diocese is responsible for a number of parishes, sometimes as many as 12, depending on the distance between them.

The interiors of the churches are very simple and are often only decorated with leaves and flowers. As you can see in the photo, the leaves also form a carpet! It looks pretty but the leaves and mats are home to fleas and cockroaches which of course do not prevent the faithful from attending, even if they have to share the church with local insects!



Once a year we celebrate the feast of Christ the King at the top of Mt Keresa. The parishioners have to walk for over 2 hours to reach the summit of the mountain where the mass is celebrated. The mass is celebrated outdoors between the trees with the birds singing. All the paintings and sculptures are provided by nature so they are perfect! Even with all our techniques and experience in Western countries, it is impossible to recreate this spiritual atmosphere.



For the main feasts the local people wear their traditional costumes as you can see in the photos. The men are dressed as warriors and carry weapons such as an axe or a bow and arrows.



The mother church in the diocese is the cathedral in Mendi, built by local carpenters under the supervision of a German SVD Brother. Mass is said in the cathedral every day at 7:00 to allow the parishioners to attend before work.



As you can see, the faith of the people in Papua New Guinea is stronger and deeper than the facilities available to them to worship in. The parishioners have a strong faith that we could learn from, in spite of their material poverty.

Reference:

The information contain in this page is taken from http://home.catholicweb.com/mendi/index.cfm/NewsItem?ID=233683&From=Home . We acknowledge Bishop Stephen on this piece of information extracted from his website.