Ron's Blog of May 20th

Greetings once again from Kimbe, WNB, PNG:

All is well with Karen and I.  We are settled in to our little two bed room.  Did a little cleaning and added some shelving.  It is beginning of the dry season which means it rains every three days or so instead of every day.  It is very hot and humid.  We usually take cold showers in the evening to cool down and remove a layer of sweat and dust. 

The most pleasurable thing for me are the friendly and helpful people.  They are a bit curious as to who we are but after a little more than a month most of the locals know us at least by sight if not by name.  English is spoken by many but the preferred language is Tok Pison.  We are learning it slowly but still not able to converse in it.  Bishop Bill encouraged Deacon-to-be, Boniface, to tutor us in tok pison. 

Boniface completed his seminary studies a few months ago and resides at the Diocese.  The Bishop requires all graduating seminarians to spend a full year at the Diocese so he can get to know them personally.  Boniface and two others, Chris and Joseph, will be ordained as deacons in November and three Deacons who are working in parishes will be ordained the following day.  The Deacons to be teach in the local parish, Catechist school and Cartas school.  They also have liturgical duties at the Cathedral.  Karen and I are blessed to have Boniface helping us with tok pision.  He is an interesting young man who loves music and can be found teaching music to the children and young adults.  He always wears a smile and laughs with regularity; a very happy person.

We have been blessed to get to know Fr. Yarak Wiesnewski, a priest from Poland.  The Bishop says when he offered to send Fr. Yarak to the remote parish of Bariai, Fr. Yarak replied, no electricity, no running water, no problem!  He is charismatic and leads his flock to Jesus Christ with passion.  This parish was without a priest for 45 years prior to Fr. Yarak's arrival. 

He recently made the long journey to Kimbe for the annual Priest retreat.  He brought with him a large contingent of young adults from Bariai and one evening at their gathering he invited Karen and I to join.  He asked that we tell them a bit about ourselves and why we are in PNG.  After a brief talk from us he asked for questions.  A few asked about where we are from and about our families and the work we are doing at Kimbe Diocese.  It was a joyous occasion and we thoroughly enjoyed our brief time with them.

Here is a portion of a letter he wrote to his friends back home:

“Dear Friends

As you know after 45 years of “Kilenge Rule” our parish is independent again because we got own priest!   I am 20^th October 2017^th to Bomai and 24^th March was officially introduced by Bishop who visited us in Kudeai and celebrated 85-Jubilee Mass. Governor Muthuuel Sasindra was present.

Working in Bariai is grate adventure and pleasure but always challenging things!  Priest house have no water supply, there is no electricity in none of the 10 churches or 25 schools including Gloster High School.  We do not have car or dingi.  But we don’t give up.

“Fatima Processio” in November and December made overwhelming effect:  200 baptisms, 150 first communions, 100 weddings in church and 20.0103 Kina donation. These money were used to buy 2 engeens and now youths are cutting tree to produce huge boat and use to send 100 youngsters on pilgrimage:  “Bariai – Kimbe – Ulamuna – Rabaul” and visit Blessed Peter Torot grave and so many historic places as Vunapope Cathedral, Minor Seminary, MSC, FMI Sisters, Vunabosco, etc.

This pilgrimage and other activities we do in 2018 are inspired by Pope Francis who proclaimed a “Year of Youths and Vocation Discernment”.  We already did two trips to Kimbe with 60 and 88 youths consequently. Good people always support our limited needs!

We were short in food and petrol but happy with witnessing priestly ordinations in January and Vocation Workshop in March! Average experience 3 or 4 drum petrol and 2 bells of rice daily which makes 2000Kina for petrol and 2000Kina for rice (two weeks program).  Thank you to these activities our youth is lazy to drink alcohols and smoke marihuana faight, still, adultery slowly will disappear. 

Some of youths will be inspired to join seminary or monastery but most will be encouraged to go forward getting education, make business and happy Christian families!

It is our goal and intention!

As young boy I was once in deep crises and some good priests in my native Poland were showing me the way in the dark tunnel of communism!

There is no communism in PNG but we do experience deep poverty which make people angry, drunked or embraced by faight, drugs, adultery.

God Bless

Fr. Yarek – Parish Priest Bariai”

His English is a little rough but I think you can all get the grasp of what he is communicating.

I also want to introduce you to four men I work with on construction projects, Victor, Karol, Israel and Johnny.  These guys have worked off and on for the dioceses the past four or five years.  They had not worked for several months until just recently.  They are a pleasure to work with.  Victor and Karol are the most experienced and skilled in carpentry and general building skills.  Israel and Johnny are a bit younger and learning the trades working with Victor and Karol.

Our first project together was redoing a kitchen in the Priest house.  Since then we have completed several smaller jobs including a new roof for the radio Maria equipment building which is about a half mile from parish grounds up a very steep hill.   The picture above is the completed roof with the “boys”.  We are now building shelving in four offices which are for the Catholic Health Services Administration and minor clinical services.  Five employees in total with a lot of visitors each week.  We are moving them from an office across the grounds which is in need of repair.  Their old office will be refurbished into living quarters or another office; to be determined. 

There are many projects at the diocese grounds and at every parish as most buildings are quite old and maintenance has not been a priority.  I will keep you post on other jobs as we are able to work on them.  Funds are limited so we must prioritize and hope for funding.

My number one job as diocesan property manager is to visit every parish (19) and document and prioritize their building and maintenance.  The first parish we visited in Kailia, a remote village accessible only by boat, has an immediate need for a water pump to lift water from the large rain barrel to a smaller roof top tank to provide gravity fed water to the priest house.  Currently carrying water by bucket and facilities are not used.  This house also needs a solar system to provide basic electrical for lights, outlets and the water pump. 

Our boss, Bishop Bill, is in Pittsburg for some very well deserved rest and medical appointments.  He will be away for two months returning late July.  He is already missed and gone only 6 days.

That’s all for now.  You are all in our prayers that God will be generous to each of you.  Please pray for us and all the people of Kimbe, West New Britain, PNG.

In Country Six Weeks

We have now been in country for 6 weeks!  (as of May 5)  We are very slowly adjusting to the heat if one ever adjusts completely!  After all, even the people born here suffer!  The days it rains are slightly better because at least it cools off a bit.  We are told we are now in the dry season and it still rains at least twice a week and not just gentle rain showers but downpours.  We are also becoming accustomed to earthquake tremors several times a week. 

All Diocesan priests, deacons and deacons to be were at retreat the last week of April.  It was good to visit with Fr. Nixon and Deacon Chris from Kaliai and Fr. Yarek from Bariai. 

Everything seems to be settling in to some degree.  There are still some questions as to what exactly Ron and I will be doing but Ron has had the pleasure of travelling to several of the closer parishes and has begun his assessments of parish buildings, schools and health centers.  He has also done some work on the Libori House on the Diocesan grounds which is where the priests reside when they are in Kimbe.  Currently, he is beginning to work on the Health Center on the grounds as well. 

I have been working on the financial side of things, trying to figure out GST tax refunds, etc.  Every item purchased has a 10% sales tax, there are no income taxes in PNG, and the Church may request refunds of a certain amount of the taxes they have paid on purchases.  These forms have not been filed for several years.  I have several ready for the Bishop to carry to Port Moresby on May 14 and we are hoping for a very healthy refund!

Recently, the Caritas Sisters asked me if I would work with one of the sisters on her English, so I have had the pleasure of working with Sr. Lomero three days a week.  Sr. Lomero came directly from South Korea with no English other than reading and writing.  When she reads something aloud she does very well, but in every day speaking she gets confused and slips back into Korean.  I am blessed because she tries so hard and in the process she is sharing some of her culture with me as well as some of her personal history. 

As always, we continue to be thankful for those in the USA who pray for us and support us in so many ways.  You are in our prayers as well.

O, Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!