The beautiful celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Yuri Parish in Gumine District – Chimbu Province. It has been 50 years since the first 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 Yuri People appreciated the great work of the SVD Missionaries who have contributed so much to 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 of three Parishes namely Dirima, Nondri and Yuri Parish – Fr. Peter Kim, SVD, the Yuri Parish celebrated the 50 years Golden Jubilee beautifully.
The celebration of the golden jubilee last for two days. It started on morning of Tuesday 29th of December and finished on Wednesday evening of the 30th. There were many priests, sisters, seminarians and elites came for the celebration. There were also many people coming from various Parishes in Chimbu Province. The Archbishop of Madang and the President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG/SI 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 and he gave a great sermon. In his homily, he urges 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 blest 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 the processions were led by traditional singing groups who were all dressed in traditional attire including the altar servers. It was really entertaining and the people enjoyed the Mass. The church was completely full and even outside the church there was not enough space.
Although the place was very remote and usually rains all the time. Those two days of the celebration were amazing, because the day was very clear and bright. 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 idem. 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 and the catechists who help in reaching out to the people and brought development into the place and the lives of the people. Thanks to the almighty God for everything and looking forward for a prosperous future.