A reconciliation ceremony binds eight communities, bringing peace and harmony in St. Joseph's Parish, Catholic Mission, Pes.
The purpose or idea of having this event was generated from the parish being identified as a problem area, with the occurance of such crimes as stealing and break and entry into the priest's house and nearby institutions.
Even though people were taken to court various times they didn't change for the better. This happened over a period of 25 years, from 1981 until 2006 when an agreement was reached by all 8 communities to put an end to the problems.
Initially the reconciliation ceremony was an initiative of Tony Elmale, the Diocesan Peace and Justice Officer. After attending a TOT course he had decided to call certain authorities to attend an awareness course which he facilitated for one week. Those who had attended were community leaders and church representatives.
The main objective of the course was 'What is development, and What is meant to them.' Alot of good inputs were made mostly on the physical and spiritual aspects of life. These inputs also assisted them to properly realise and identify their plan of action, to have a reconciliation ceremony. This was also a realisation time for the people to really see the purpose of services that were provided and that had been provided.
The ceremony covered all those events or wrong doings between various groups of people in individual communities that had happened since Fr. Leo Leoni's first establishment in the parish until this year.
During the ceremony, several symbols were used to represent various messages. The Caritas PNG flag was put up commemorating Peace and Justice, two coconuts symbolised peace and Fr. Leo's picture symbolised 50 years since the first establishment of the mission in Pes.
Those who attended the ceremony were delegates from the Diocese of Aitape, and the Parish Priest, Fr. Martin We-en.
A cow worth K1, 000 was purchased with contributions from the eight communities. Each gave K200 which had also shown that they were keen to resolve their differences and live happily with one another.
A community collection was also done and present to Fr. Leo as offerings. The day ended nicely with good weather and a big feast.
The Peace and Justice Group-Yani, took the initiative to organise the ceremony affiliating with the Caritas DOA network for a fee of K50.
Mr. Elmale also mentioned that the reconciliation was also a trial to see if all goes well, the same will be done in other parishes to achieve peace and better cooperation among the communities.