Mass honours SVD priests

A SPECIAL liturgy was held at the Society of Divine Word’s (SVD) cemetery in Madang last Saturday to honour SVD priests who died while serving in Papua New Guinea.
The missionaries were remembered in a para liturgy held at the SVD missionary cemetery in Alexishafen to conclude the number of activities last week to commemorate the order’s 125th anniversary since its establishment in the country.
Special prayers were offered for the souls of the SVD missionaries and co-workers.
Cardinal and Archbishop of Port Moresby Sir John Ribat, Archbishop Anton Bal of Madang, Archbishop of Mt Hagen Douglas Young together with other serving and retired bishops, priests, deacons, seminarians, nuns and the laity gathered at the cemetery known as Maria Mama Helpim Pilgrimage area offering incense, candles and prayers.
SVD superior general Fr Poulus Budi Kleden, who came from Rome in Italy earlier in the month to take part in the celebrations, thanked God for inspiring the SVD founder St Arnold Janssen who had sent out the first six missionaries to the Territory of New Guinea in 1896.
He said in 1943 and 1944 during World War II, around 92 priests, brothers and sisters died.
“Over the 125 years, 1,000 SVD missionaries sent to PNG have died.”
Fr Joe Maciolek, the SVD historian in Madang, said in 1914 during World War I, 85 missionaries were sent to New Guinea.
Fr Maciolek said out of those 20 died the same year.
He said, at the cemetery, the plate on the commemorative monument had 55 names of sisters and 60 names of priests and brothers who died during the war whose remains were never retrieved.
The first SVD headquarters was built in Alexishafen along with a cathedral that was bombed during World War II.