Church to celebrate golden jubilee

The Saint Andrew Catholic parish in the Olsobip LLG in the North Fly district of Western is celebrating its golden jubilee next month.
The celebration of 50 years of the “church in the mountains” will be held at Bolivip, the parish headquarters from Dec 16-18.
Catholic missionaries arrived at Gatick (Bolivip) in 1967 and planted the seeds of the Catholic faith there.
According to event organising committee chairman Dimus Daksep, the missionaries not only brought the Word of God but also brought health and education services to the people.
He said this laid the foundation for both physical and spiritual growth, including growth in the level of education in Olsobip LLG which was now seeing increasing numbers of elites in different professions.
“This jubilee is the celebration of our lives where we are inviting the missionaries, parishioners of different parishes, government leaders and people to say big thank you first to God, who is the source of our strength and existence, second to Catholic missionaries and government who contribute in one way or another in growing our faith in God and sustaining our physical lives,” Daksep said.
Meanwhile, parish priest Fr Martinus Widyatmoko said the jubilee was an integral part of the parish planning and programme for this year. Wall parishioners of Saint Andrew in the mountains would invite missionaries, government leaders and the Catholic communities as well as non-Catholic communities to get together for the celebration.