Archbishop leads mass

THE new Apostolic Nuncio to Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands (PNGSI), Archbishop Kurian Mathew Vayalunkal, presided at a special Eucharistic celebration at Mary Help of Christians’ Shrine, East Boroko in Port Moresby last Sunday.
This was his first official and public appearance since his appointment as Apostolic Nuncio or representative of the Holy See to PNGSI.
The occasion was the celebration of the golden jubilee, 50 years since the establishment of the Catholic dioceses in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands as well as the thanksgiving for the recent canonisation of Saint Teresa of Calcutta.
The solemnity of the Sunday mass was also graced by the presence and concelebration of the archbishops and bishops from the majority of Catholic dioceses in PNG.
Unfortunately due to a variety of issues and circumstances, bishops from the Solomon Islands could not attend.
At the beginning of the Eucharistic celebration, Vayalunkal presented his credentials. The significance of the celebration was highlighted with the symbolic cultural entrance procession onto the altar presided by the Word of God (procession with Book of Gospels) and followed by each bishop accompanied by two students in traditional costumes typical of each region and province.
The cultural ritual of accompanying each bishop by students from various cultural backgrounds symbolically represented the variety and diversity of cultural values that received the Good News and represented its richness through the process of inculturation and evangelisation.
This is the ongoing dynamic and creative dialogue between the Gospel message of Jesus Christ and the Melanesian cultures and peoples.
Another powerful cultural expression took place again at the moment of the offertory when the students went in procession to the altar and presented their traditional items as a symbolic gesture of offering their ethnic groups and its cultural values and riches to God.