Each year, during the summer months we welcome a missionary speaker from a third world country seeking support for their missionary work. I have been a missionary speaker during the seven years I was in Haiti. I was welcomed by many parishes in our Diocese who to this day are still supporting a parish in the Diocese of Les Cayes, Haiti. We continue to support St. Gerard’s Parish in Haiti over these past 20+ years.
As a parish we have welcomed missionary speakers each year. We have had priests, sisters, and lay people from countries far and wide seeking our support. This year for the very first time we will be welcoming a bishop! (So, make sure you behave!) Bishop Siby Matthew Peediayil is from India and represents the Diocese of Aitape in Papua New Guinea.
His diocese has 32 parishes in 3 deaneries. Evangelization work is carried out by 19 priests, religious and laity, in a spirit of shared responsibility, under the leadership of the Diocesan Team of Pastoral Animation. As you can see, this means that each priest has responsibility for more than one parish. Logistic and economic problems, lack of personnel, long distances and difficult communication routes deprive the faithful of a regular sacramental life. The diocese has a Pastoral Center for training catechists and lay ministers, as well as for continuing formation of the faithful. The diocese runs health facilities, schools, vocational centers, a center for the disabled and a school that gives second chances. There are a lot of opportunities for evangelization and pastoral care. But the diocese is short of money for all fields of pastoral work.
Bishop Siby will be here the weekend of August 17 and 18. We will have a second collection to assist the work of his Diocese. I am hoping that we can be generous in supporting the work of the Diocese of Aitape, so that they can flourish abundantly in the vineyard of the Lord. We are so blessed and fortunate to be in a position to assist our brothers and sisters in need in Papua New Guinea.