Priest who taught the Nation to sing its faith: Fr. Francis Tilo MSC laid to rest in Port Moresby

Port Moresby – For many Catholics in Papua New Guinea, they learned Fr. Francis Tilo before they ever met him. They learned him in song.

PORT MORESBY – The Church in Papua New Guinea has farewelled one of her most beloved sons. Fr. Francis Tilo MSC (13 November 1960 – 23 August 2026), missionary, pastor and composer of Papua New Guinea's most beloved Catholic hymns, was laid to rest on Saturday 29th August 2026 at the Bomana MSC Cemetery following his Funeral Mass at St. Charles Lwanga Parish, Gerehu Stage 2, in the Archdiocese of Port Moresby.

The Mass was a celebration of a priesthood lived in simplicity, availability and song. On his casket were placed four eloquent symbols of his life and vocation: the Cross, the Cassock and Constitution of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the Bible, and the Chalice and Paten. But a fifth symbol remained, not on the casket, but in the mouths of the people: his songs.

His Grace Archbishop Rochus Tatamai MSC, giving a Final Commendation and Farewell to Fr. Francis Tilo

When the choir intoned the Offertory hymn at his own funeral – "God You Are Here" – the congregation recognized not just a hymn, but a life. The same was true for the Communion hymns – "O My Jesus" and "Abiding Love" – and for the Recessional – "Come at a Time." These are hymns known countrywide, sung in cathedrals and bush chapels, at youth rallies and vocation camps, in Tok Pisin and English, in joy and in mourning.

Fr. Francis was ordained a priest on 26 November 1989 at Vunapope, East New Britain, alongside his formation brothers Archbishop Rochus Tatamai MSC, Archbishop of Rabaul, and Fr. Andrew ToNgaina MSC. His missionary journey carried him across the breadth of the nation: from Kavieng and Lihir to Lae, Bialla, Tapo, Vunamarita, Uvol, Mai, Kilenge and Port Moresby.

He served the Church as Parish Priest at Gerehu and St. Matthew Parish Vunamarita, as Vocation Director for the MSC, as Post-Novitiate Director at Vunapau, and as Superior of De Boismenu College, Bomana, forming future priests as a spiritual director and father figure. He was main celebrant at diocesan celebrations including Catholic Teachers Day, where he reminded teachers that their teaching ministry must be sustained by Catholic Faith in the face of challenges.

But it was during his time at Raunsepna Parish, North Baining, in the Archdiocese of Rabaul (2007-2009), that his pastoral and contemplative life found its enduring musical voice.

"His songs were a reflection of his own personal journey with the Lord"

In his eulogy, Fr. Sylvester Warwakai MSC said: "His songs were not simply expressions of his lyrical talent or musical creativity. They were, in many ways, a reflection of his own personal journey with the Lord."

Ashes to ashes, hope to hope. His Eminence John Cardinal Ribat MSC, praying where the earth has kept Fr. Francis's mortal remains in Bomana

At the Funeral Mass, His Eminence John Cardinal Ribat MSC, Archbishop of Port Moresby, preaching from the Gospel of John 11:21-27 – I am the resurrection and the life – said: "He gave himself humbly and generously... One of his gifts was to compose hymns. The hymns he composed we know them and we are singing them even in this celebration."

Cardinal Ribat likened Fr. Francis to Lazarus, the family friend of Jesus: a familiar, faithful presence in the life of families, present in their joys and sorrows.

Fr. Warwakai recalled a priest who lived with a simple backpack – Bible, Constitution, rosary, Mass kit, cassock – always ready to move when the Church asked. A man, he said, "of wisdom, humility, patience and simplicity... a father figure to many."

The hymns that taught a nation to pray

Four hymns, sung at his own funeral, encapsulate his theology and pastoral heart.

1. "God You Are Here" – The hymn of the searching pilgrim

Sung as the Offertory, it is Fr. Francis's vocational hymn.

*"I want to be that someone being called to live.

The longing and the dreams in my life, I carry without rest.

I want that peace in my soul which only You can give... 

Down the valley I go and up the mountain I climb. The journey for me is so long.

Only You O God who will see me through, for I believe You are here."*

Fr. Francis himself had found his call as a boy at Ulapia through a small MSC pamphlet hidden in his brother's exercise book. The song speaks of restlessness – "my heart is restless for You alone O Lord" and "Standing by the crossroad looking for a sign of hope."

For a priest whose life was marked by missionary availability – "Wandering amidst so many things with a heart so burden to fall" – the valley and the mountain are not only PNG's landscape, but the path of obedience. It is a hymn of discernment for every young Papua New Guinean asking, "What does God want of my life?" God is not distant from our longing. At every crossroad, His presence is the answer.

2. "O My Jesus / Jesus The Bread of Life" – The hymn of the Eucharist

Sung at Communion:

*"O my Jesus, O my Jesus, you are my Lord.

In your life, in your heart, we see God, has loving us...

You are, you are, you are the Bread of life.

In this bread, this cup of wine, is your flesh and blood divine.

You nourish us to strengthen us as we journey together as one."*

If there was a centre to Fr. Francis's priesthood, it was the Eucharist. Upon his casket, the Chalice and Paten recalled a ministry that celebrated countless baptisms, marriages, confessions and anointings of the sick.

The hymn moves from adoration – "You are my Lord and my God" – to mystery – "is your flesh and blood divine" – to mission – "as we journey together as one." For PNG communities far from the main parish, where the faithful walk for hours to Mass and the priest may visit only once a month, the refrain "You are our food for our soul. You are our drink for our faith" is not poetry. It is sustenance.

Fr. Francis, the eulogy recalled, "continually offered Christ and himself for the life of the Church." This song is his priesthood set to music.

3. "Abiding Love" – The hymn of mercy and return

The second Communion hymn, and the one Cardinal Ribat singled out in his homily: "One of the hymns, Abiding Love, he believed God loved him and sent him."

*"For all the times I've been away from you O Lord I know you never abandon me.

For all the times I've been astray in many ways you always say; you'll love me still...

Lord you can never leave me alone, in spite of who I am you still forgive me.

For this is your Life, this is your way, this is your Love that knows no end."*

Silence at Bomana, where the MSC Missionaries rest

This is perhaps his most pastoral composition – a hymn of confession without despair. The singer acknowledges failure – "I've been away... I've been astray... I pick myself from every fall" – but God's response is never abandonment: "Your guiding light forever beckoning me to a life full of happiness."

In his years as formator at De Boismenu College and Director of the Post-Novitiate at Vunapau, Fr. Francis accompanied seminarians through doubt, failure and discernment. This hymn was his spiritual direction in a chorus. It teaches what the Church teaches about mercy: that love is not earned after perfection, but is what makes return possible.

"And so with humble heart I run to you and seek your healing hands."

4. "Come at a Time" – The hymn of loneliness and friendship with God

Sung as the Recessional as his casket left St. Charles Lwanga:

*"Come at a time when I am so lonely. Be as a friend, when I'm down on my knees...

Come as you are as a gentle breeze. Who will ever know, your depths O Lord...

Today is another day, it comes with the morning... Nowhere to hide from you in this world, come and see and believe.

Be as I am, I don't know what to do. Walking with you, I feel alright."*

This was Fr. Francis's most human hymn. It does not speak from the altar, but from the ground – "down on my knees." It gives voice to the loneliness that missionaries, youth, and families in difficulty know well. The answer is not a solution, but a presence – a friend, a gentle breeze, one who walks beside.

"Lead me Lord, help me through."

Fr. Warwakai said: pastoral care is not always preaching. Sometimes it is simply being there. This hymn is his understanding that God is the same – He comes at the exact time we are lonely.

His own words remain his epitaph, taken from Abiding Love:

A voice now silent, a faith still singing

For the faithful, Fr. Francis will be remembered first as a songwriter. His compositions, including Abiding Love and Saint Peter To Rot, have become part of the liturgical life of parishes across the nation.

As Fr. Warwakai concluded: "His voice may now be silent, but the faith he expressed through his music continues to sing among us. Every time we sing 'Jesus the Bread of Life,' 'Come at a Time,' or 'Abiding Love,' we remember not only his musical gift but the priest and man of faith behind those words."

The priest who taught the nation to sing its faith has now gone to hear the choir he always sang for.

His own words remain his epitaph, taken from Abiding Love:

"Lord, you can never leave me alone, in spite of who I am you still forgive me."

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.