Papua New Guinea: Vibrant faith enriched by work of Sacred Heart Missionaries

By Claudia Torres – Port Moresby

The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) have maintained a continual presence in Papua New Guinea since their arrival on 29 September 1882, making them an intrinsic part of the history and mission of the Catholic Church in the country and a point of reference to this day, including in the education and healthcare sectors.

That is what Archbishop Rochus Joseph Tatamai, MSC, the Archbishop of Rabaul, affirmed in an interview ahead of Pope Francis’ visit to Papua New Guinea, from 6 to 9 September.

In the 19th century, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart arrived from different parts of the world, and they divided up their pastoral work, each group taking charge of a different area of Papua New Guinea.

“The French and Swiss looked after all the places from Yule Island—that’s Bereina Diocese today—to Kerema and back to Daru-Kiunga and Mendi,” explained the Archbishop. “The Australian MSCs looked after Port Moresby and Alotau-Sidea, while the Germans looked after Rabaul and Kimbe.” American and Irish missionaries arrived later.

However, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart were not the only catalysts for evangelization in the early days. The Marists, the PIME [Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions], and later, the Divine Word Missionaries, also played key roles.

This mosaic of missionaries from different countries met an already rich tapestry of a multicultural country with over 800 different languages, where spreading a unified Gospel message to everyone was no easy feat.

The Archbishop explained that “the main challenge from the very beginning was the challenge of comprehension, because when the missionaries came, none of them spoke the local language.”

The geographical isolation of many tribes further exacerbated this problem. “Those people who lived on the boundary lines had the advantage of speaking a number of languages because of their association with the different boundaries and ethnic groups,” he explained, while those in more remote areas did not.

To overcome this challenge, the missionaries lived among the people and learned their language. By doing so, explained the Archbishop, the missionaries were able “to understand the inner world, the Melanesian worldview” of the people, thus transforming a barrier into an opportunity for evangelization.

“For me,”, he added, “it's so, so profound that the first missionaries, even though Vatican Council talked about inculturation in the late 1960s, the first Missionaries of the Sacred Heart who came to our shores, even though they have to overcome the barrier of trying to understand the language, they immediately utilize the languages and the customs, the cultural values, to be able to try to see an integration and especially trying to proclaim the Good News of the people.”

The interview then turned to the figure of Blessed Peter To Rot, who was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 17 January 1995.

During World War II, the lay catechist, whose parents were among the first in Papua New Guinea to be baptized by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, taught the Catholic faith to local communities, defying orders from the occupying Japanese forces. He was therefore arrested and eventually martyred by the Japanese police. 

“Blessed Peter To Rot," said Archbishop Tatamai, whose grandfather was Peter To Rot’s brother, "to me represents the strong collaboration between the missionaries and the catechists. And the catechist is the middle person who understands the local culture and the people. And the missionary always dialogues with the catechist. And the catechist is the one who communicates and simplifies these things to the local people and the local culture.”

Pope Francis has given the go-ahead for the Blessed’s canonization, though a date is yet to be set. “The people are very, very happy and are very confident that what Peter To Rot represents for us is, in fact, the Church in Papua New Guinea and in Melanesia, and especially the Conference of Papua New Guinea Solomon Islands,” said the Archbishop. “It highlights the laity and their contribution to the work of humanization. And anything that the Church in Papua New Guinea can offer at this time is really the emphasis on the lay people’s spirituality and active participation in the book of evangelization”.

He also noted that Pope Francis himself has said to the missionaries that “Peter To Rot represents the kind of saint we need today for especially the challenges that are robbing the beauty of the sacrament of marriage and the basis of all societies, the family life.”

The Archbishop concluded by expressing his optimism about Pope Francis’ visit, which he said will see “a greater revival and reawakening of the faith amongst the elderly, the seniors, the oldest, but also amongst our younger generation.”

He affirmed that “even though we may be far and at the periphery, we have a vibrant Church, we have a vibrant faith, and our young people still crowd our churches.”