The peoples of Oceania

Place and Time

6. The Synod gave recognition not only to a unique area spanning almost one-third of the earth's surface, but also to a large number of indigenous peoples, whose joyful acceptance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is evident in their enthusiastic celebration of the message of salvation.⁽⁷⁾ These peoples form a unique part of humanity in a unique region of the world. Geographically, Oceania comprises the continent of Australia, many islands, big and small, and vast expanses of water. The sea and the land, the water and the earth meet in endless ways, often striking the human eye with great splendour and beauty. Although Oceania is geographically very large, its population is relatively small and unevenly distributed, though it comprises a large number of indigenous and migrant peoples. For many of them, land is most important: its fertile soil or its deserts, its variety of plants and animals, its abundance or scarcity. Others, though living on the land, are more dependent on the rivers and the sea. The water allows them to travel from island to island, from shore to shore. The great variety of languages - 700 in Papua New Guinea alone - together with the vast distances between islands and areas make communication across the region a particular challenge. In many parts of Oceania, travelling by sea and air is more important than travelling by land. Communication can still be slow and difficult as in earlier times, though nowadays in many areas information is transmitted instantly thanks to new electronic technology.⁽⁸⁾

The largest country of Oceania in both size and population is Australia, where the Aboriginal people have lived for thousands of years, moving over large tracts of land and living in deep harmony with nature. Discovered and colonized by European people who named it the Southern Land of the Holy Spirit (Terra Australis de Spiritu Sancto), Australia has become very Western in its cultural patterns and social structure. Deeply involved in the scientific, technological, and social developments of the Western world, Australia is now a largely urban, modern and secularized nation, in which successive immigrations from Europe and Asia have contributed to make it a multicultural society. The Australians are therefore "an original people, the result of the meeting of people of very different nations, languages and civilizations".⁽⁹⁾

The Christian faith was brought by immigrants who came from Europe. Many priests and religious joined them, and their pastoral dedication and educational work helped the immigrants to live the Christian life in a strange new land. Local priestly and religious vocations and many lay people made their own indispensable contribution in Australia to the growth of the Church and the accomplishment of her mission. Among them was a remarkable woman religious, Blessed Mary MacKillop, who died in 1909 and whom it was my joy to beatify in 1995. On that occasion I recalled that "by declaring her 'Blessed' the Church was saying that the holiness demanded by the Gospel is as Australian as she was Australian".⁽¹⁰⁾ The relationship of the Church to the Aboriginal peoples and the Torres Strait Islanders remains important and difficult because of past and present injustices and cultural differences. Besides this challenge, the Church in Australia now faces many modern "deserts"⁽¹¹⁾ similar to those in other Western countries.

The original inhabitants of New Zealand, an island nation, were the Maori people who called their country Aotearoa, "Land of the Great White Cloud". Colonization and later immigration have shaped the nation into a bi-cultural society, where integration of Maori and Western culture remains a pressing challenge. Foreign missionaries first proclaimed the Gospel to the Maori people. Then when the European settlers came in greater numbers, priests and religious came as well and helped to maintain and develop the Church. Modern developments have made New Zealand a more urban and secularized society, in which the Church faces challenges similar to those in Australia. Though there is among Catholic people an "increased awareness of belonging to the Church", it is also true that in general "the sense of God and of his loving providence has diminished". Such "a secularized society needs to be confronted again by the entire Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ".⁽¹²⁾

Papua New Guinea is the largest of the Melanesian nations. It is a predominantly Christian society with many different local languages and a great wealth of cultures. Like other smaller Melanesian island nations it has gained political independence in quite recent times, and its history since then has been shaped by struggles for stable democracy, social justice and the balanced and integral development of its people. These struggles in Papua New Guinea and other parts of Melanesia have recently been marked by violence and separatist movements, in which people and institutions have suffered greatly. Church leaders and many Christians have done a great deal to bring peace and reconciliation, and this must clearly continue in a situation which remains very volatile.

The island nations of Polynesia and Micronesia are relatively small, each with its own indigenous language and culture. They too are facing the pressures and challenges of a contemporary world which exerts a powerful influence upon their society. Without losing their identity or abandoning their traditional values, they want to share in the development resulting from more direct and complex interaction with other peoples and cultures. That is proving to be a delicate balance in these small and vulnerable societies, some of which are facing a very uncertain future, not only because of large-scale emigration but also because of rising sea levels caused by global warming. For them, climate change is very much more than a question of economics.

Mission and Culture

7. As early as the sixteenth century, when foreign missionaries first reached Oceania, island peoples heard and accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Among those who began and carried on the missionary work were saints and martyrs; and they are not only the greatest glory of the Church's past in Oceania but also its surest source of hope for the future. Outstanding among these witnesses of faith are Saint Peter Chanel, martyred in 1841 on the island of Futuna, Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores and Blessed Pedro Calungsod, killed together in 1672 on Guam, Blessed Giovanni Mazzuconi martyred in 1851 on Woodlark Island; and Blessed Peter To Rot, killed on New Britain in 1945, towards the end of the Second World War. With many others, these heroes of the Christian faith contributed, each in his own unique way, to the implantation of the Church on the islands of Oceania. May their memory never be forgotten! May they never cease to intercede for the beloved peoples for whom they shed their blood!

When the missionaries first brought the Gospel to Aboriginal or Maori people, or to the island nations, they found peoples who already possessed an ancient and profound sense of the sacred. Religious practices and rituals were very much part of their daily lives and thoroughly permeated their cultures. The missionaries brought the truth of the Gospel which is foreign to no one; but at times some sought to impose elements which were culturally alien to the people. There is a need now for careful discernment to see what is of the Gospel and what is not, what is essential and what is less so. Such a task, it must be said, is made more difficult because of the process of colonization and modernization, which has blurred the line between the indigenous and the imported.

The traditional peoples of Oceania make up a mosaic of many different cultures: Aboriginal, Melanesian, Polynesian and Micronesian. Since the time of colonization, Western culture has also shaped the region. In recent years Asian cultures too have been part of the cultural scene, particularly in Australia. Each cultural group, different in size and strength, has its own traditions and its own experience of integration in a new land. They range from societies with strong traditional and communal features, to those which are mainly Western and modern in stamp. In New Zealand, and even more in Australia, the colonial and post-colonial policies of immigration have made the indigenous people a minority in their own land and, in many ways, a dispossessed cultural group.

One of the most notable features of the peoples of Oceania is their powerful sense of community and solidarity in family and tribe, village or neighbourhood. This means that decisions are reached by consensus achieved through an often long and complex process of dialogue. Touched by the grace of God, the peoples' natural sense of community made them receptive to the mystery of communio offered in Christ. The Church in Oceania demonstrates a real spirit of cooperation, extending to the various Christian communities and to all people of good will. Deep respect for tradition and authority is also part of the traditional cultures of Oceania. Hence the present generation's sense of solidarity with those who went before them, and the exceptional authority accorded to parents and traditional leaders.

The cultural variety of Oceania is not immune from the worldwide process of modernization which has effects both positive and negative. Certainly modern times have given a new and higher profile to positive human values, such as respect for the inalienable rights of the person, the introduction of democratic procedures in administration and government, the refusal to accept structural poverty as an unchangeable condition, the rejection of terrorism, torture and violence as means of political change, the right to education, health care and housing for all. These values, often rooted in Christianity - even if not explicitly - are exerting a positive influence in Oceania; and the Church cannot but do all in her power to encourage this process.

Yet modernization also has its negative effects in the region, with traditional societies struggling to maintain their identity as they come in contact with secularized and urbanized Western societies and with the growing cultural influence of Asian immigrants. The Bishops spoke, for example, of a gradual lessening of the natural religious sense which has led to disorientation in people's moral life and conscience. A large part of Oceania, particularly Australia and New Zealand, has entered upon an era marked by increasing secularization. In civic life, religion, and especially Christianity, is moved to the margin and tends to be regarded as a strictly private matter for the individual with little relevance to public life. Religious convictions and the insights of faith are at times denied their due role in forming people's consciences. Likewise, the Church and other religious bodies have a diminished voice in public affairs. In today's world, more advanced technology, greater knowledge of human nature and behaviour, and worldwide political and economic developments pose new and difficult questions for the peoples of Oceania. In presenting Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life, the Church must respond in new and effective ways to these moral and social questions without ever allowing her voice to be silenced or her witness to be marginalized.