OCEANIA/PAPUA NEW GUINEA - The entrustment of the nation under the mantle of Mary Help of Christians amid the pandemic

Tuesday, 26 May 2020 marian worship   orders   youth   coronavirus  

Port Moresby (Agenzia Fides) - The feast of St Mary Help of Christians was an opportunity to entrust Papua New Guinea to the Lord and place it under the loving mantle of the Mother of God, in the difficult time of the pandemic: this is what priests, religious, nuns and lay people of the Salesian Family told Agenzia Fides, who met yesterday, 25 May, to celebrate the feast of the special Patroness, one day after Ascension Sunday. As measures to counter Covid-19 have been loosened in the nation, Archbishop Kurian Mathew Vayalunkal, Apostolic Nuncio for Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, the Bishop of Vanimo, Bishop Francis Meli took part in the celebration.
After a novena celebrated in many churches, parishes and local communities, the Salesian Family - reports to Fides Fr. Ambrose Pereira, from the Office for Social Communications of the local Church - had the opportunity to meet, pray, share, in the spirit of proximity, friendship and fraternal charity.
The Apostolic Nuncio thanked the Salesian Family, who gathered for the feast, recalling the 40 years of Salesian presence in Papua New Guinea and the valuable contribution offered in the field of technical and professional education to the young people of the country. The Nuncio recalled Fr. Valeriano Barbero sdb, pioneer missionary who started work with the first institute in Araimiri. The Archbishop concluded by linking this service and this precious mission under the protection of the Virgin Mary, inviting the Salesians to "always be ready to carry out the mission of service and closeness towards the needy". (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 26/5/2020)


Share: