Bishops greeted with colour, warmth

By JINA AMBA
The Federation of the Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania assembly takes place once in four years. All cardinals, archbishops and bishops of the Catholic Church of Oceania come together for this meeting which rotates in the region.
In 2018 Port Moresby was marked as the venue for the assembly which was held from April 11-17. Eighty-one participants took part in this assembly of whom 75 were bishops from Oceania.
The theme of the assembly was ‘Care for our common home of Oceania – a sea of possibilities’.
A planned activity of the meeting was the visit by bishops to parishes in the city limits of the Archdiocese of Port Moresby. It was scheduled for Sunday, April 15 where bishops had an opportunity to be with the people and celebrate the Holy Eucharist with them.
Five bishops visited St Martin de Porres Parish, Morata Reverend Jean Pierre Cottanceau, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Papeete, Tahiti; Most Reverend Bosco Purthur, Bishop of the Eparchy of St Thomas the Apostle, Melbourne; Most Reverend Michael McKenna, Bishop of the Diocese of Bathurst; Most Reverend Pascal Chang-Soi, Bishop of the Diocese of Taiohoaeou Tefenvaenata (French Polynesia) and Most Reverend Gilles Cote’, Bishop of the Diocese of Daru-Kiunga.
A convoy of 11 cars picked the bishops from Airways Hotel and brought them to Morata Parish. A special welcome was led by the Bougainville mothers. They sprinked water using palm leaves on the legs of the five bishops at the gate of the church.
Venicia Pinolasa, a parish youth said, “It is a cultural gesture of washing feet of honourable guests and welcoming them to our community.”
Mothers from Chimbu put PNG caps on the heads of the bishops.
Vencia Pinolasa continued: “It is a memorable sign of marking the five bishops as the chiefs of the Morata community.”
Each bishop was then led in a procession escorted by a boy and a girl from 10 provinces represented in the Morata Parish led by the Western Highlands group with their traditional dance to the priest’s house.
They had a continental breakfast prepared by OLSH Sisters along with Maureen Lesley, a parishioner.
The Holy Eucharist started at 9am. The Bougainville singsing group led the entrance procession, Enga mothers led the Bible procession, the Sepik group led the offertory procession and Erave mothers led the final procession.
All the processions were done in traditional costumes wiht dances and songs. After the entrance hymn, Western Highlands mothers put the leis on the five bishops as the second sign of welcome to the Parish community of Morata.
Bishop Gilles Cote’ was the main celebrant for the Eucharist and he said; “The convoy of the cars you came with to pick us up and the grand welcome that you had for us shows the joy that you have to welcome us to your parish and to have us with you. We are blessed to be in your parish community this Sunday morning.”
Bishop Michael McKenna delivered the homily, he said, “During the Easter season, Jesus shared his peace with us by saying, “Peace be with you”. He invites us to share his peace with others especially with those we are not in good terms. Then the peace of Jesus Christ becomes a living experience among us.”
At the end of the Holy Eucharist, parish chairman, Elias Eno Bare thanked the bishops and presented bilums to each one of them saying, “In Papua New Guinea, we always have our bilums with us and carry some important things in them. Today, we present this bilum to you to carry our love with you.”
Archbishop Jean Pierre Cottanceau, said; “Our God is a God of dances which you shared with us in your beautiful traditional dances during the Holy Eucharist. Our God is a God of colours which you shared with us through your beautiful colourful bilas( costumes).
Lastly, Our God is a God of love which you have shared with us through your love that you have shared with us during our presence with you. “Many years ago missionaries shared their faith with you and today you have enriched our faith with yours.
“Thank you and God bless you for that. We are from different provinces of Papua New Guinea and different countries of Oceania and the world at large.
“One thing that unites us here is the love of Jesus Christ. Today is a memorable day for us in our lives. We promise you that we carry your loving memories in the bilum of our hearts and it will be always remembered.”
At the end of the Holy Eucharist, Bishop Bosco Purthur said; “The faith of the people of Morata is really alive shared with their beautiful dances, traditional costumes and active participation in the liturgy. The faith of the people of Morata has enriched my faith.”
The bishops were again escorted by the parish youths dressed in traditional bilas during the final process of the Holy Eucharist. They were served a traditional lunch with cultural dishes which they enjoyed very much.
Some of the delicious dishes were kaukau (sweet potatoe) with chicken mumu from Chimbu, taro cooked on fire from Western Highland, pork meat prepared with vegetables inside bamboo on hot coals from and aigir (chicken, vegetables, kaukau and taro cooked on hot stones) from Tolais of East New Britain.
The five bishops of Oceania left with huge smiles and a ‘traipela tenk yu’ to all the parishioners of Morata.
“It was a blessed moment to have the bishops of Oceania with us; the whole parish is united in mind, body and spirit in preparing and celebrating the moment,” parishioner Anna Kaupa said.