austraLasia #1784

'Dialogue, like the tango...': missionary's 'dance' with cargo cult

RABAUL: 16th December 2006 --  When a missionary describes intercultural and indeed pastoral dialogue as a Tango, you know you are in for a good read!  Fr John Cabrido, Hawaaian by birth, Filipino by first adoption, Papua New Guinean by second adoption and Salesian to boot, is currently in Rome completing a doctorate in Scripture, but he is more than an amateur anthropologist.  He joins the long line of Salesians who in various countries in various parts of the world, have brought not only salvation but a degree of understanding of culture which is to the benefit of the people who are of that culture and wish to know Jesus Christ as Saviour.  Fr John's work on pastoral directions for a remote Rabaul Diocese parish area dominated by one of the famous PNG Cargo Cults, has just recently been published in the Melanesian Institute's publication, 'Catalyst'.  If you wish to read more about the Melanesian Institute, then you would do well to turn to another Salesian, Fr Ambrose Pereira in the Solomon Islands, who edits Voice Katolica for the archdiocese there, and offers an excellent description of the Institute which is based in Goroka PNG.
    Fr John's article, titled 'Sketches for a dialogue with the Pomio Kivung - a cargo cult in the Merai sub-parish', outlines many features of cargo cult, essentially a PNG phenomenon with many roots, one of them being a syncretist approach to religion. He remarks that in this particular cult, the 10 commandments, perhaps adjusted a little here and there, are religiously followed, thus making the area almost crime free - in contradistinction to many parts of Papua New Guinea!   But the real issue in cargo cult, according to Fr John, and this to my mind is the value of his paper, is his insistence that much of western 'appreciation' (or lack of) of cargo cult misses out on an understanding Melanesians have of person and world.  One has to appreciate the Melanesian view of personal and communal existence, and then tackle cargo cult. Employing the Pidgin term Gutpela sindaun, which he translates as 'fullness of life', and which Melanesians (using that or similar terms) believe is onyl achieved through and with the community, Fr John re-images cargo cult, at least this one, as a desire for salvation. Having established this our author then sets out some guidelines for dialogue which engage catechesis, inculturation and contextualisation based on community as the starting point.
    Given the ongoing difficulties Salesians face with inculturation in many settings, the 'Pomio Kivung' paper could be useful reading, even if they know nothing of PNG and cargo cult. It is available on the Bosconet home page under the 'what's new' section.
     GLOSSARY
to boot = as well
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