Today we celebrate World Mission Sunday. It is
a day on which Catholics throughout the world recommit themselves to the
Church’s various missionary activities through prayer, sacrifice and financial
support. The Holy Father writes: “Although this event is repeated every year
with the passing of time it loses none of its special significance and
importance, because mission is our response to Jesus' supreme command: "Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations ... teaching them to observe all
that I have commanded you".” Today we ask ourselves: How am I responding to this
final instruction given to me by the Lord before His ascension.
I would like to talk to you about my own experiences as a lay missionary in the
Republic of Kiribati. During 2000 and 2001 I lived and worked in the Diocese of
Tarawa and Nauru, the same diocese that we support through an annual collection
at Christmas. This diocese covers two whole countries: The Republic of Nauru,
which you may be familiar with as it was the main centre that refugees were sent
as part of the Federal Government’s “Pacific Solution” and the Republic of
Kiribati. Both are Micronesian nations located in the vast central region of the
Pacific ocean.
Kiribati is made up of 33 inhabited atolls, the capital atoll being Tarawa, of
which the Diocese is named. I taught in a new Catholic secondary school on
Tarawa, named Sacred Heart High School. The students are materially poor. Many
families struggled to pay their school fees on time and as a result many
students are sent home by the school till they pay. This may seem heartless, but
bear in mind that the school itself is also extremely poor and is lacking in
teaching resources and the normal facilities that we are used to. This lack of
funds reflects the situation in the diocese as a whole. The Church in Kiribati
has a big heart, but doesn’t have many material resources to draw upon. The
annual collection from this diocese, our spare change, makes up the bulk of the
finance available for the diocese to use to finance parishes, pastoral
programmes, catechises, education, support for the sick and dying and the
formation of seminarians and novices. Building projects can only take place
through grants from international organisations or foreign governments.
My students came from a very different background to the majority of Australian
students. An I-Kiribati home consists of small thatch-roofed buildings,
typically with no walls. Pandanus mats are laid on the ground as a floor
covering and can also be hung as wind-breaks around the home. I-Kiribati live in
large extended-families. Most people grow up with their grandparents, aunts,
uncles and cousins living either with them or in close proximity. Meals
typically consist of large amounts of plain rice, as well as fish, shell fish,
tinned corn beef, Pandanus fruit, coconut or breadfruit. Vegetables and fruit do
not occupy a prominent place in the diet of the I-Kiribati people.
Tarawa is over populated. There has been over many years a consistent migration
from the outer islands to the capital: a common trend in the developing world.
This has resulted in some severe health and environmental problems. Of
Kiribati’s 90,000 people, a full third live on Tarawa, just 1 of 33 inhabited
islands. The water table on Tarawa has become severely polluted through
over-usage and human waste. There are no toilets in Kiribati. The island’s
Lagoon is also severely polluted. Ocean reclaiming projects over the years have
extended the land, but have filled in essential sea channels and has
considerably constricted the flow of clean sea water into the lagoon. This is
the water in which people bath and swim. The same water in which one can see
floating by dirty nappies, dead animals and other items of waste. Hepatitis A
and B are extremely common: approximately 90% of the people carry at least one
form of the disease. Hygiene is a major problem. Many people do not understand
proper food preparation. This coupled with bad water and a high consumption of
sugar has led to massive diabetes and malnutrition problems. And recently, AIDS
has entered the country with a vengeance and is looming as a new urgent health
problem in the country.
For the I-Kiribati death is a day-to-day occurrence. I went to more funerals
during my two years on Tarawa than I have ever been to before in all my life. It
is especially sad that a good proportion of these funerals were for suicides.
Indeed, during my time there four students in the school died, one of my
students, a boy of about 13 committed suicide. The students take such things in
their stride; sadly loss of friends and family is a part of life. At the time of
my leaving, another two students had recently been diagnosed with Hepatitis B.
Health care is such in Kiribati, that there is a strong possibility that they
will not recover.
Domestic violence, alcoholism and unemployment are also significant social
problems. Overpopulation is looming as a major issue, with more than half of the
population under eighteen. It is true to say that the I-Kiribati people are
facing some very important challenges, not the least being a rising sea level
which threatens to end the very existence of the country within my lifetime.
I have deliberately focused first on the negatives, because they are
significant. But now I want to tell you about some of the great things in
Kiribati. The things I will always remember. The things that make cross-cultural
missionary experience so rewarding.
The most enduring memories I have of Kiribati are not snorkeling in the
beautiful ocean. Nor are they about the idyllic tropical settings found on outer
islands. They are not even about the unforgettable tastes of fresh sea food and
coconut. The memories I hold close to my heart all involve the people I met. It
is the people you meet that makes the experience a life-changing one. I found in
Kiribati some of the most beautiful and generous people I have ever met. I
experienced an openness, a friendliness and a generosity that really does leaves
a mark. A mark that is not easily forgotten or left behind. My students were
generous. They had nothing, yet put a little bit of change in the poor box each
week. They spent hours making gifts for people that they really didn’t know,
because they believed it was the right thing to do: to honour visitors. They
never held a grudge after being in trouble, and the times they were in trouble
were rare. They were devout. Prayer was taken seriously, and God was really
considered an important, every-day reality. They were full of joy despite a host
of reasons that we could come up with as to why they really shouldn’t be. It’s a
shock, but enlightening to see people with no cars, CDs, televisions, new
clothes, even furniture and walls for their homes. But they are so happy, and
yet we seem to have everything and have somehow missed out understanding what
this type of joy is all about. Someone once said the key to being rich is having
few needs. It really is true. The I-Kiribati are rich, not in possessions or
social position, but in family, in community life, in song and dance and pride
in the positive aspects of their culture.
Living simply. That is certainly one of the big adjustments missionaries have to
make. They have to learn to live without television, CDs, restaurants, a variety
of foods, cars, hot water and electricity to name a few things. But its really
worth it, because they are not things you need, and as a missionary, having them
would really detract from the whole experience. It made me see the world in a
new way, a simpler way. Life in Kiribati is simple. It is slower. No one is in a
hurry. Everyone has the time to talk. And what’s more, everyone wants to talk.
The community is important. The family is important, more so that any individual
member. Lots of children is important. Celebration is important. I mentioned
earlier that I went to many funerals. But in Kiribati, it is case of “Three
parties and a funeral”. That would, I think, accurately express the ratio of
parties to funerals. Celebrating important milestones is very important: the
community meeting together to sing and dance.
People are so important: the job is second. Westerners sometimes find this
difficult to adjust to: we are used to putting tasks first and people second. In
Kiribati, talking to people, or not offending people is more important than
being efficient and getting the job done. Its easy to understand this when time
is not considered an obstacle: you have all the time in the world to get the job
done. This person is here now and deserves your attention. He/she is more
important than a mere job. This concern for people is also the probable reason
for the I-Kiribati people’s emphasis on hospitality and not offending at any
cost.
Visitors to Kiribati are continually stunned by a traditional and unique form of
Micronesian song and dance. I-Kiribati dancing is extremely powerful, dramatic
and emotional. It typically imitates the flight of Kiribati’s national bird: Tei
Tei: the frigate bird. It involves sharp uniform movements, of a precise degree,
in complete unison with the other dancers involved. It is so powerful and full
of energy that many dancers collapse or start screaming, overcome with emotion.
Many songs are war songs which call on the power of the bird to strengthen their
side for an approaching battle. Many songs incorporate traditional curses used
in black magic. Other songs tell tales of the deeds of famous ancestors. Song
and dance is central to very life of Kiribati: it is the preserver of their
culture and the public expression of their aspirations.
The final aspect life in Kiribati that I would like to speak about is religion.
Half of the population of Kiribati is Catholic, while almost all the other half
belong to the Kiribati Protestant Church. Religion in Kiribati is public. It
identifies who you are. Liturgy in Kiribati is energetic, bright, colourful,
full of motion and is devotional. Communal, public expressions of faith are
important. Mass involves lively song and modified traditional-style dance.
Devotions such as the Rosary, the recitation of the Angeles at midday and formal
prayers before Mass and after communion are central to the prayer life of the
Catholic community. Catechists occupy a whole extra level in the hierarchy of
the Church and is illustrative of a high level of lay participation in the life
of the Church. In fact, the Church in Kiribati is lay established. In the past,
white whalers came to Kiribati and abducted or took voluntarily I-Kiribati
people to work in the sugar cane fields of Fiji. While there, many converted to
Catholicism. On returning to Kiribati they formed small Catholic communities
which thrived for many years, until the community sent word to Samoa asking for
missionary priests and religious. It was only then that MSC priests and OLSH
Sisters arrived in Kiribati. In a sense, the I-Kiribati came by themselves to
know and accept Christ.
My experience in Kiribati also illustrated to me the universality of the
Catholic Church. In fact, it was in Mass and times of communal prayer that I
felt most connected to the people around me. We believe the same things, we
worship in essentially the same way and we strive in the same way to make Christ
the centre of our lives. In other words, I felt instantly at home. I really felt
that we were part of the same family, the same body, the one Church.
I think this is a good point to finish on, because it is this connection that we
have with other Catholics in the world that we are asked to be aware of today.
Our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world are not as well off as we
are. They don’t have the same opportunities as we do. They do have very real
needs. We are called to do as the Lord commanded and go out. But how can we be
missionaries? Earlier this year the relics of St. Terese came to the Cathedral.
She, an enclosed nun, is the patron of Missionaries. But she didn’t go anywhere.
You don’t have to go anywhere to be a missionary. I can tell you, that when you
are away from home, there is nothing more encouraging than support from home.
Last year money raised in the Cathedral and Assumption parishes paid for a
television and video for Sacred Heart. Numerous letters of support buoyed me
along during challenging times and times of homesickness. Some people write
letters of support and solidarity to people in other parts of the world. People
prayed for me, for the Diocese and for my students. The local Rosary makers
guild make and send rosary beads overseas, while simultaneously praying for the
people who receive them. People donate money to missionary societies, or pay
Mass stipends to priests in developing countries to help finance seminarians.
People work in the local St. Vincent de Paul conferences. These are all
missionary activities.
Today, you might like to consider making a donation towards the missionary
activities of the church, and more importantly, remember to spend some time
praying for these activities. It is through this kind of support that Catholics
in other parts of the world feel our solidarity. I will finish with a
traditional Kiribati prayer asking for Health, Peace and Prosperity.
Te Mauri, Te Raoi, ae Te Tabamoa.
N aran Te Tamaa, ae Te Neiti, ae Te Tamni aroiroi. Amen.
Thankyou.
To Learn more about Being on Mission in Kiribati click the Kiribati link below.
This site was last updated 16/09/03
