Bishop’s Cup Unites Altar Servers

Megiar, Madang Province: Bishop’s Cup a fun packed event of soccer and Spiritual talks was held at the Megiar Pastoral Centre between the 12 -18th of January, 2026.

The soccer competition attracted more than 500 young men, most of whom are Altar Servers from 10 parishes in the Madang Archdiocese. The 10 parishes represented were: Megiar, Alexishafen, Mugil, Holy Cross, Saidor, Jomba, Karkar, Kayan, Holy Spirit and Banara.

Due to numerous participants this year, two divisions were formed - Senior and Junior;

The Junior Division comprised of participants aged 15 years and below, while the Senior Division included participants aged 16 years and above.

In the grand final matches, Banara Parish beat Holy Spirit Parish 1-0 in the Junior division while Saidor parish won the Senior division defeating Megiar parish 2-0.

During the presentation of awards, His Grace, Most Reverend Anton Bal, DD, Archbishop of Madang reminded the players that the Bishop’s Cup competition differs from other competitions.

“This Cup is not similar to that of other cups that people play for. This Cup is to promote Christian Value. You demonstrate your best skills but in a Christian manner by not using your physical strength to harm each other,” he said.

Apart from competitive soccer, the Spiritual Talks were centred on Vocation with additional helpful conversations on substance abuse to educate the young men about the harmful effects of illicit drugs and alcohol.

Christopher Lai who has been an altar server for 9 years with the Holy Spirit Parish expressed gratitude for the Bishop’s Cup competition as it allowed him to meet altar servers from other parishes and share and discuss valuable knowledge such as how vessels are carried during a Liturgical Mass. In regards to the game, he said watching the Junior division from his parish play with so much cheer and enthusiasm for themselves and for other teams was overwhelming.

Moses Wakarua, an altar server at the Jomba Parish mentioned that some altar servers had stopped serving over the years but the Bishop’s Cup competition has motivated them to return to the ministry. He added that the educational talks on substance abuse has challenged and encourages transformation in the boys.

The Bishop’s Cup was initiated by former Archbishop of Madang, Most Reverend Stephen Joseph Reichert OFM in 2009. Since its inception, the Bishop’s cup competition had been an annual event until 2019 when it went into recess due to COVID and other issues. This year, the Bishop’s Cup competition has recommenced under the leadership of His Grace, Archbishop Anton Bal DD.

The idea of sponsoring the Bishop’s Cup soccer competition was to create an avenue to promote Vocation and an aspiration for priesthood in the future as well as encouraging good discipline, faith and to develop friendship bonds between altar servers  as well as catholic families from different parishes within the Madang Archdiocese.