Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Papua New Guinea Catholics calling for international aid to build church in the western highlands

byMark Bowling
17 February 2020
Reading Time: 3 mins read
AA

Community spirit: A scene from an offering procession during the recent fundraising launch for Sinsipai’s big, new church.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Community spirit: A scene from an offering procession during the recent fundraising launch for Sinsipai’s big, new church.

A NEW parish of largely subsistence farmers in the Papua New Guinea western highlands is seeking international help to build a church of cathedral proportions.

The 10,000 Catholics who live in the mountainous Sinsipai Sacred Heart parish congregate in a church made of corrugated iron sheeting.

Their grand design is to build a massive house of worship set against the picturesque peaks of PNG’s highlands.

The isolated Sinsipai parish was declared in 2014 and has already embarked on a rapid building program including a priest’s house and a pastoral centre with conference facilities and accommodation.

But Sinsipai’s faithful are not stopping there. 

They recently launched an international fundraising appeal to build a new place of worship, led by Church and community.

Mount Hagen Archbishop Douglas Young told local leaders the project was a huge undertaking for a rural village, but not impossible with the help of God.

Archbishop Young used a Chinese proverb as an example: “If you want to walk a long distance, you have to take one step at a time”, and he has supported the idea of building a new church as most churches in Mount Hagen archdiocese were built by early missionaries and require rebuilding or considerable maintenance.

Divine Word University Education dean associate professor Joseph Kekeya is also backing the project and has assured Sinsipai’s Catholics that all-of-community participation will see the church building completed.

He used the example of local ingenuity used during the colonial days.

Related Stories

Secret baptisms show how Christians still persecuted worldwide

Christine holds love of music and Church in perfect harmony

Russian Catholics grieving, angered after Ukraine invasion, says official

“Our grandparents were asked by patrol officers to carry each part of a car from Tambul to Mendi through the bush track and reassemble the car in Mendi and start the car,” he said. “The same concept can be applied if all contribute towards the new church building.”

Sinsipai has a flourishing history as a progressive Catholic stronghold and a self-reliant community. 

It was originally the name give to the food garden of the Poika Komb people. 

The first missionaries came and set up the first church in the 1960s. The traditional chief at that time, Chief Polgi, accepted the faith and gave his prime land to the Catholic Church.

The late Divine Word Missionaries Father Francis Cruisberg was a noted leader who encouraged an open and enquiring approach to the Catholic faith. 

He was dedicated to Christian education and commitment to taking care of people in need. 

The Church community has already built a priest house and a pastoral centre.

Like many today, Sinsipai is a church community in transition − from an outstation to parish and from an aging congregation to younger members and families.

It is estimated building a new church would cost almost $900,000.

For information about  Sinsipai church project email Allan Sumb at asumb@dwu.ac.pg/allansumb7@gmail.com or the parish at Sinsibaiparish@gmail.com 

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Former royal commissioner Susan Pascoe to lead new church disaster response council

Next Post

Fr Tony Casey remembered as a gentle pastor

Mark Bowling

Mark is the joint winner of the Australian Variety Club 2000 Heart Award for his radio news reporting in East Timor, and has also won a Walkley award, Australia’s most-respected journalism award. Mark is the author of ‘Running Amok’ that chronicles his time as a foreign correspondent juggling news deadlines and the demands of being a husband and father. Mark is married with four children.

Related Posts

Secret baptisms show how Christians still persecuted worldwide
World

Secret baptisms show how Christians still persecuted worldwide

29 June 2022
Christine holds love of music and Church in perfect harmony
QLD

Christine holds love of music and Church in perfect harmony

2 April 2022
Russian Catholics grieving, angered after Ukraine invasion, says official
World

Russian Catholics grieving, angered after Ukraine invasion, says official

2 March 2022
Next Post

Fr Tony Casey remembered as a gentle pastor

From doco to dock, Brisbane nurse Jess Davis has been changing lives in Africa

Archbishop Mark Coleridge

Archbishop Coleridge in Rome for meetings on seal of confession, Plenary Council and Cardinal Pell

Popular News

  • Plenary Council assembly reaches decision day about the Church role of women

    Vote over role of women disrupts Plenary Council assembly

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Plenary Council assembly reaches decision day about the Church role of women

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Plans for indigenous elements, memorials to trauma, to complement Catholic liturgy

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Mass with signs of indigenous respect launch historic Plenary Council assembly

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Called to share the message of Jesus at mission school

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Caritas Australia Richard Landels

‘We must act now’ – Caritas Australia chief says Ethiopian food crisis is acute

by Hannah Kennelly
6 July 2022
0

RITAS Australia chief executive officer Kirsty Robertson has called for an immediate response for ugent famine prevention...

Plenary Council assembly reaches decision day about the Church role of women

Vote over role of women disrupts Plenary Council assembly

6 July 2022
Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk.

Pope Francis condemns Independence Day parade attack and calls for end of violence

6 July 2022
Plenary Council assembly reaches decision day about the Church role of women

Plenary Council assembly reaches decision day about the Church role of women

6 July 2022
‘For the moment, no,’ – Pope Francis dismisses resignation rumours in wide-ranging interview

‘For the moment, no,’ – Pope Francis dismisses resignation rumours in wide-ranging interview

5 July 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping