By ENNIO KUBLE of WRight Media
Nestled within the cool humming sounds of Mon and Omdara rivers, which are the headwaters of the mighty Marigl River, is Yuri Parish of the Catholic Diocese of Kundiawa.
Yuri Parish lies humbly in the Southern Deanery of Kundiawa Diocese of Simbu province. Mt Digine with its movable legends overshadowed the Parish to the west while the Pildimina range where the Yuri ethnicity crossed over to the northern part of Simbu rise majestically like a brooding hen.
The Church building, the pillar of hope and prosperity for the Yuri parish lies humbly surrounded by the greenish environment. Photo: SVD Missionaries
Yuri in its calm and serenity of the place arose to festivity on the dawn of Tuesday 29th December, 2020 to celebrate the Parish 50 Years Golden Jubilee. The celebrations went on to Wednesday 30th December and ended with the Eucharistic celebrations to mark the establishment of the Parish in that part of Gumine district where the Catholic Church administered both spiritual and social growth of the people.
It has been 50 years since the first Society of the Divine Word (SVD) missionaries came in 1969 and started Yuri Parish. It was also the beginning of the civilization of the Yuri people. Since then, the SVD missionaries came and started schools, hospital and brought into the society of Yuri people the path to modernization.
Archbishop of Madang and President of PNG and Solomon Islands Catholic Bishops Conference, His Excellency Bishop Anton Bal who was the main celebrant of Yuri Parish 50 years Golden Jubilee celebrations. Photo: SVD Missionaries
The five clans of the Yuri tribe appreciated the great work of the SVD Missionaries who have contributed so much to the development of Yuri parish and progress of the people. The Yuri people together with the help of the hard working missionary and current Parish Priest Fr. Peter Kim, SVD, celebrated the 50 years Golden Jubilee beautifully.
Fr. Kim who administers three parishes in the Southern Deanery of Kundiawa Diocese for the past four years to now remains the spiritual director to Yuri and Nondri parishes with Dirima as his main parish.
With Fr. Peter Kim humbly overseeing the two-day celebrations the Golden Jubilee allowed for many priests, sisters, seminarians and elites to come together to partake.
There were also many people coming from various parishes in Chimbu province. The Archbishop of Madang and the President of the Catholic Bishops Conference (CBC) of PNG and Solomon Islands, His Excellency Archbishop Anton Bal, was the guest of honor at the celebration.
Archbishop Anton Bal gave a wonderful speech about the conversion of the lives of the people and to take care of the available services. He was also the main celebrant of the Jubilee Mass where he gave a great sermon. In his homily, he urged the people to be grateful with all their hearts for the many blessings received from God and to be responsible citizen. Another important person that came for the celebration was the Administrator of the Diocese of Kundiawa, Fr. Richard, SVD. He gave some good words of encouragement and spiritual input into the lives of the people. Fr. Richard also blessed the musical instruments together with the new Holy Family statue presented to Yuri Parish by Fr. Peter Kim, SVD.
The choir group composed some very good and meaningful songs and they sang like angels. The whole liturgical celebration was very lively. Also traditional singing groups who were all dressed in traditional attire including the altar servers led the processions. It was really entertaining and the people enjoyed the Mass. The church was completely filled and even outside the church there was not enough space. Although the place was very remote and usually dampened all the time, those two days of the celebration were amazing with clear blue sky and tantalizing sunlight.
The young and old of Yuri parishioners in traditional regalia celebrated the 50 years Golden Jubilee. Photo: SVD Missionaries
It was a great blessing for the Yuri Parish and the people enjoyed the celebrations very much. Many pigs were slaughtered with two cows including many fruits, vegetables and various food items. Everyone had enough and really enjoyed the celebration.
The 50 years golden jubilee celebration was a great success, all thanks to the tireless work of Fr. Peter Kim and the people of Yuri. They all appreciated the great and wonderful work of the founding SVD Missionaries who touched Papua New Guinea in 1896 starting with the then mainland New Guinea and progressed their evangelization work right through to the Highlands region over the years.
While different parishes are celebrating their anniversaries the SVD Missionaries are looking forward to celebrate 125 years of missionary work in Papua New Guinea this year 2021.
Yuri Parish with other parishes in Kundiawa Diocese remain grateful to the SVD Missionaries who fearlessly, for the love of God, sowed the seed of spiritual progress and social development in communities of Simbu province. Praise to the Almighty God for his blessings and looking forward for a prosperous future in the Catholic Christian faith.