Diocese of Aitape The people first came to Papua New Guinea some 50.000 years ago. Migrants on the way from Asia to Australia or further into the Pacific. Many came for a short time. PNG was just a staging point in their odyssey. Others stayed, reaping the great rewards of this island. An abundance of everything.
The north coast of Papua New Guinea is perhaps that which has been visited most. For at least 500 years by Chinese and Malay traders. They have risked the dangerous voyage to get the goods so valued in Asia it made their lives worth risking. Success was haphazard for the people of the coast lived insular lives isolated by difference of language and custom. Those living on the coast of what became Sandaun Province where often themselves just passing through. For thousands of years the Sepik river was a migration route. The people moved both ways, inland and along the coast. It is next to impossible to make a good record of the movement due to the lack of a written language. The wooden artifacts are rotted in the humidity within years.
Just over one hundred years ago European missionaries came to Sandaun to spread the news of the Gospel. They found the lack of common language, the heat, the geography and the isolation confronting. Everything about Papua New Guinea was foreign to them. They believed any plant, any animal and any tool of any value had to be brought from Europe. Gradually they found their place. The Church in Papua New Guinea gained credibility. It survived the impact of two World Wars and numberous changes of colonial administration. The people saw the benefit in the doctrine of a united church that shared a common view. Catholic schools educated national leaders and provided a future for those who were willing to learn. Hospitals provided an alternative to lying sick in a hut for those who had malaria. It was no longer necessary for women to die in childbirth. The vision of the original missionaries was coming to fruition.
Aitape Diocese is a post war development. Australian Franciscans took over from former German mission stations along the Aitape coast and later expanded inland over Torricelli Range to the Sepik River. By 1952 Italian Friars expelled from China joined them. In more recent years Spiritain priests and diocesan priests have joined the mission of the church here.
At present Bishop Austen Crapp ofm, heads a team of 104 mission workers: priests, brothers, sisters and lay volunteers. The diocese operates through three deanaries, with twenty one parish centres serving 66,000 Melanesians in an area of 15,000 square miles.
Traditionally the people are animist, effectively aware of the spirits of dead clansfolks and the spirits that pervade their traditional environs. Contact with Christianity, which liberated them from many of their fears, began some 100 years ago on the coast and moved inland within the last five decades.
The Sandaun people live with the old and the new. This occurs with any rapid cultural leap. For them, that leap is from the Stone Age to modern technology in a few short decades. Historically in Europe this same transition took centuries. Hence, the Melanesians have skipped some stage in development that have brought the European to the modern world!
New needs and aspirations emerge. Initially traditional values tended to be discarded. But after early enthusiasm, the new values are being reviewed to the point where the Melanesian can be his own man in the changed scene.
In progress of transition and revision of values, the Bishop of Aitape sees a clear role for his pastoral team. The Diocese offers a Christian perception of both the Old and the New. It focuses on aspects of each which may be overshadowed by more conspicuous attractions.
In order to give social and economic substance to an Independence still largely political, the Diocese offers training in health, education, technical and practical skills, in line with its goals for integral human development. It offers services in health and education to sustain our cultural transients until they can fend for themselves.
Overview
BISHOPS OF AITAPE
The confirmation of the Very Reverend Austen Crapp ofm, is the culmination of conscientious and dedicated life of service to the Church.
Born in Sydney, Australia in 1934, Bishop Crapp was educated at Tamworth in rural New South Wales. At the age of 18, the young Austen Crapp began his novitiate with the Order of Friars Minor, Franciscans. He made his first religious profession just before his 21st birthday, on February 19, 1953.
Austen's next move was to Victoria where he studied Philosophy for three years before moving across town to St. Pascals' College, Box Hill and further three years studying Theology. On May3, 1956, in Armidale New South Wales, Austen Crapp took his solemn vows and was ordained a priest.
Fr. Crapp worked for 17 months on Palm Island and wass then posted to Papua New Guinea. After a brief orientation period he arrived at Mukili, near Nuku, in Aitape in May 1962.
Mukili was a new parish and the young Fr. Crapp was the first resident missionary. His first priority was to establish the community. He oversaw the construction of the churh, airstrip, clinic and school.
Fr. Crapp served at Mukili until December 1966 when he was appointed Army Chaplain, posted first to Moem, Wewak for 11 years then in 1977, three years at Igam, Lae. In May 1980 he was recalled to Townsville. In 1982 Fr. Crapp was released from the army and returned to pastoral work and served as Dean of the Deanery at Lumi parish, Aitape.
Fr. Crapp was gaining responsibility when a year after his return in PNG he was appointed Vicar General under Bishop Kevin Rowell. In October 1986, upon the death of Bishop Rowell, Fr. Crapp became Diocesan Administrator until the appointment of Bishop Barnes just under 12 months later.
In 1987 Fr. Crapp was elected Provincial of the Order of Friars Minor. He served in this capacity for seven years before relinquishing the position and moving to Canada where he studied for a Licentiate in Canon Law at St. Paul's Univeristy, Ottawa.
Fr. Crapp returned to Aitape in 1996 and set up an inter-diocesan tribunal to deal with marriage annumlments, he also officiated all land dispute cases. All this while serving as parish priest at Pes. In 1997, when Bishop Barnes was transferred to Port Moresby, Fr. Crapp again found himself serving as Diocesan Administrator, a position he occupied right up to his Episcopal election to the See of Aitape.
It was during his time as Diocesan Administrator last year that Fr. Austen Crapp distinguished himself through his decisive and pro-active handling of rescue and relief services following the July 17, 1998 tsunami tragedy.