This past weekend, Danita and I were blessed to be able to attend two
special events in the Archdiocese of Rabaul:
The 50th Anniversary of the Noviate of the MSC Sisters and
the Feast Day of Blessed Peter To Rot which also included a Youth Conference
for the Archdiocese.
We traveled to Rabaul by first going to Ulamona:
We left Ulamona in a 60hp dinghy on Thursday morning at 5AM, in very
rough waters:
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| Sr. Rose |
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| Sr. Bernadette |
Needless to say, the trip was miserable; however, there were some highlights. Lunch on one of the islands followed by a stop at the island of Sr. Bernadette’s Family:
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| Lunch - fresh fish |
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| Fresh water river at the area where we stopped to meet Sr. Bernadette's family |
The Noviate Anniversary Celebration was held at the Noviate house,
which is in the center of a Palm Plantation.
The Plantation was originally one but the Archdiocese donated it to
three religious orders: The MSC Sisters,
FMI Sisters and OLSH Sisters, so although still one main plantation, it is
split into three areas and provides income to the three orders.
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| Sr. Bernadette |
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| Sisters at 50th Anniversary Celebration |
After the celebration, Fr. Paul, who kindly acted as our guide and
driver throughout the weekend, took us the War Memorial Cemetery.
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| Sr. Bernadette, Karen & Danita. Hot and a bit of wind. |
On Saturday, we attended the Feast Day Mass for Blessed Peter To
Rot. Archbishop Francisco Panfilo, SBD,
and Bishop Rockoo (a direct descendant of Blessed Peter To Rot)
officiated. This was the final day of
the Youth Conference held in the Archdiocese of Rabaul and between 4,000-5,000
youth attended.
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| Relics of Blessed Peter To Rot, the first Blessed and soon to be Saint of Papua New Guinea |
On Sunday, we attended Mass at the new Cathedral and then took a tour
of the Archdiocese grounds, had lunch with the MSC sisters in their beautiful
convent on the grounds of the Archdiocese and then visited the Hot Springs at
Mitapit.
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| Inside the Cathedral |
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| List of Archbishops |
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| One of the pieces of artwork depicting the fire dance painted on the buildings of the Archdiocese |
Hot Springs:
One of the greatest blessings of the weekend was being invited to stay
at the home of the first Papua New Guinea Cardinal and meeting his entire
family. The Cardinal is an uncle of Sr.
Bernadette.
We were scheduled to return to Kimbe on Monday but there were some
delays with the boat transportation so we left Rabaul at about 4:45 AM on
Tuesday morning.
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| Our boat on the shore |
On the way back to Ulamona, we got to see the sun rise and arrived
safely.
O,
Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!
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