Pope Francis to find a lively and simple faith in Papua New Guinea

Andrés Henríquez   By Andrés Henríquez for CNA

August 23, 2024 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 2 Print

 

Catholics from Papua New Guinea during the General Assembly that was held in Mingende, in Kundiawa Diocese in 2022. / Courtesy of Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands

Caracas, Venezuela, Aug 23, 2024 / 06:30 am (CNA).

The first Catholic missionaries arrived in Papua New Guinea just 70 years ago. In a place where the faith is so recent, Father Martin Prado, amissionary of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE) who does pastoral work in the country, highlighted the conversions that occur “through very simple things that reflect that it is God who is behind it.”

Pope Francis will visit Papua New Guinea as part of an apostolic journey that will take place Sept. 2-13 in Oceania and that will also take him to Indonesia, East Timor, and Singapore.

In an interview with the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Prado, who has been in the country for 10 years, explained that the faith of the locals is “a youthful faith” from which I learn a lot.” “The faith of Christians here is very much alive and very simple,” he said.

However, Prado noted that “the indigenous spirituality is still very influential, which makes it difficult for them to achieve a full understanding of Christianity” adding that “there is a strong commitment here to ancestral and cultural traditions that are not compatible with the Gospel.”

“The spiritual beliefs and superstitions are persistent and sometimes get mixed up with the Catholic Faith. Our work, as missionaries, is to help Christians to understand that these things do not go together, and try to effect change,” he explained.

His work, he continued, bears fruit, and many of the locals manage to discern on their own between what is false and what is true “despite not being able to read or having had any sort of sophisticated formation.”

“Nonetheless, when you don’t take care of your spiritual life, or live for others, it becomes very easy to be influenced by superstition and superficial elements,” he added

The importance of the papal visit

According to Prado, the pope’s trip “was greeted with great surprise and joy by everyone” but he noted that due to the limited access to the news and social media on the island, few were aware the pope was coming.

“We are all very excited and working hard to be able to welcome the pope as best as we can, despite the simplicity and poverty in which we live,” he said.

Regarding the pastoral fruits of the visit, the missionary hopes that the faith and spiritual life of believers will be strengthened, highlighting that people are preparing with great enthusiasm for the arrival of Pope Francis by praying the Rosary every night.

In addition, the local church has organized talks, hymns, some dances, and times for confession in which thousands of people have participated. “It was very moving,” the priest commented.

“People are looking forward to the Holy Father’s arrival with enthusiasm and excitement, and awaiting the encounter with the Lord which they so desire,” he shared.

The challenge of youth

“Young people do not have models to follow or serve as inspiration, and only a few have the support and accompaniment of their parents to commit to their spouses for life. Forming good families is a challenge, but we see that, little by little, things begin to change,” the priest emphasized.

Prado encouraged Catholics around the world to pray for the country, for the local population, and for the pope’s trip. He also asked the faithful to pray a lot for Papuan missionaries and vocations to the priesthood, “which is what really can lead to change.”

“In 2019, we started a group to pray for vocations, and since then the number of priests has doubled. We have started to see local vocations, which we had never had before. We already have three seminarians and two novices,” he concluded.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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From the Philippines, a missionary in Tokyo

November 27, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Tokyo, Japan, Nov 27, 2019 / 05:00 am (CNA).- On Sundays, Fr. Raniel Berdos can be found strolling the aisles of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Tokyo.

He wears a traditional black cassock and keeps his thick, black head of hair impeccable. He switches smoothly between Japanese and English, but maintains the same quiet enthusiasm through each conversation.

By the time the church is beginning to clear out, he’s been approached by no less than a dozen parishioners — many of them older “Church ladies,” eager to talk about this or that happening behind the scenes at the parish.

On his way back to his office, Berdos, 35, is handed a bag of bread by a parishioner, who reminds him to share with the other clergymen.

Berdos is a missionary to Japan, from the Philippines. The priest grew up in the Diocese of Tagum. He has been a priest for three years, and Japan is his first assignment since being ordained.

He was sent to Japan once before, for a break after his third year of theology studies. It wasn’t clear at the time whether he’d be sent back after his schooling was complete.

“It was ambiguous. They don’t want to preempt the decision of the general superior.”

Berdos is a member of the Missionaries of Saint Charles Borromeo, sometimes called the Scalabrinian Missionaries. The order was founded with the intention of providing aid and support to migrant Italians going out of Italy.

But since its foundation, the order has changed and morphed. It’s also tweaked its target missions to better fit the needs of the modern world — Italians leaving Italy no longer seem to require an entire order of clergy to oversee.

“What is relevant now is people going out for greener pastures and going abroad,” said Berdos. “We’re serving migrants, immigrants.

The Scalabrinians offer charitable assistance to migrants around the world. That can come in the form of medical help, as well as financial support.

“Even legal issues — we offer [help],” said Berdos.

At first, Berdos was disappointed with his assignment to Japan, or at least scared.

He had been expecting that as a new priest his first assignment would be somewhere where the order already had a sizable presence.

“My first desire was to go to Taiwan. Our congregation has two parishes in Taiwan, our mission is already stable in Taiwan,” Berdos said.

“But we are still young here,” he said.

“Here in Japan, we have to start from scratch.”

Berdos estimates that in his experience, there are two Japanese priests to every foreign priest serving the Archdiocese of Tokyo. But that number varies considerably across the country.

“Every diocese has its own situation.”

Despite the language gap and a steep learning curve, Berdos has managed to bond well with the other priests of St. Mary’s.

“My Japanese is still struggling, but I can get along in day to day conversation.”

Every month there is a meeting for the clergy of the parish. It is here that Berdos has opportunities to bond with priests he doesn’t usually work with directly.

“We bond through what makes us common. Maybe in small things, maybe in big things too.”

“I’m starting to feel at home here,” he said.

While begins to mesh into Japan, Berdos knows he might at any moment be plucked out of the country and sent elsewhere.

“We are moved according to the needs of the Church. This [parish] cannot be my kingdom,” he said, comparing a refusal to move elsewhere to staking a claim in a territory.

“Not forever, for sure,” he laughed.

For other priests or laity considering doing work in Japan, Berdos offered a simple piece of advice:

“The Japanese church is young in Tokyo. Perhaps here you’ll be able to integrate if you observe and be silent.

“In silence, you will be able to understand the words [between] the lines.”

[…]

2 Comments

  1. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. May the Lord of the harvest inspire zealous laborers to come and toil in His vineyard.

    Reply

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