by Jan Dixon
Special to The Leaven
LEAWOOD — It was no surprise to her family or members of her parish — Church of the Nativity here — when AnneMarie Whitehead accepted the call to become a member of the Sister Servants of the Lord and Virgin of La Matara (SSVM). She had always embraced mission work during her formative years.
“When you say yes to God, you never know what’s coming or where it might take you,” said Tom Whitehead, father of Sister Sacrifice. “You’d better hang on tight.”
But even they couldn’t have imagined who the young missionary would be hosting a short five years later at her mission in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea (PNG).
“The papal visit was truly a surreal, once-in-a-lifetime experience!” said Sister Mary Altar of Sacrifice. “I never thought . . . that the Vicar of Christ would come to the ends of the earth to visit us simple missionaries.
“God is always full of surprises.”
The SSVM order, known internationally as Servidoras, are missionaries who go to the peripheries to bring the news of Christ to the people. The Diocese of Vanimo is both a very poor and very remote area of PNG and it is here that Sister Sacrifice serves alongside the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE) priests and other Servidoras.
“We are a very small delegation that includes three communities in PNG and one in the Solomon Islands,” said Sister Sacrifice. “Since we are not many Sisters in the delegation, we all serve in many roles.”
Wearing many hats
Two of the communities operate the vocation house for aspirants and postulants and the Lujan Home for Girls, a live-in safe house. Sister Sacrifice’s community has a number of apostolates: They administer and teach in the primary and secondary school; run the diocesan pastoral center and the Queen of Paradise children’s orchestra; and lead many parish activities. Those include taking Communion to the sick, teaching catechism, directing the youth group and helping in nearby parishes.
Sister Sacrifice manages the money for the entire delegation, looking after finances and accounting. She spends most of her time in the school where she serves as vice rector of the primary and secondary school and helps teach first grade. The recent opening of the secondary school is serving as a model in the province, where all students are taught on the same campus.
“We seek to give a Catholic humanistic education, using a classical curriculum with a holistic focus, to form not only intelligences, but also hearts and wills of students, to become good citizens for their country and for heaven,” said Sister Sacrifice.
The hard work of the missionaries and the success of their Catholic teaching is what brought Pope Francis to visit. He was also fulfilling a promise made back in 2019, when a small group of parishioners from Vanimo visited the Holy Father in Rome.
The pope fell in love with these simple people and their colorful culture, said Sister Sacrifice, and he told them he would visit them in their country.
“He was always interested in the news and adventures of our mission here,” she said.
Preparing the way
Preparations for the papal visit began months earlier with the whole diocese getting in on the work.
In the heat and humidity, the jungle brush had to be cut back with machetes, stones and roots from the side of the road removed, and colorful flowers and bushes added to the area for a truly tropical Papua New Guinean welcome.
The local youth and family fathers painted building exteriors, made sidewalks to accommodate the pope’s wheelchair and built a welcome sign to float in the bay. The mothers and children cut bamboo, decorated with flowers and palm leaves and made simple papal flags.
All of the preparations were done at very little cost.
In addition to assisting with these preparations, the Sisters also taught the people about the great treasures of the Catholic Church: the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Eucharist and the pope. This catechesis, combined with the instruction and homilies given by the priests, helped prepare the people of Vanimo to welcome Pope Francis.
“The important point was that he wasn’t just some guy from Argentina,” said Sister Sacrifice. “He represents Christ himself!”
Joyful moments
Pope Francis arrived by an Australian military plane on Sept. 8, the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and also the date Our Lady of Lujan, patroness of Argentina and of the IVE religious family, had arrived in PNG.
Now, 25 years later to the day, the pope came and gifted her a golden rose. He blessed statues of Our Lady of Lujan to be distributed to villages throughout the country. This was more than a coincidence.
“God’s attention to these details is just one of the many joyful moments that we celebrated during the papal visit,” said Sister Sacrifice.
Welcomed by some 20,000 believers at a public event, Pope Francis donned a gift of a traditional headdress, created with bird of paradise feathers. He then spent an hour visiting the school compound, where Sister Sacrifice provided the Holy Father with introductions and explanations in Spanish and translated for the people into their native Tok Pisin language.
Following a special concert by the children, he visited privately with the priests and then with the Servidoras.
“The atmosphere was familiar and relaxed as Pope Francis enjoyed homemade “alfajores” and “mate” (traditional Argentinian caramel cookies and tea) prepared by some of the Argentinian Sisters,” recounted Sister Sacrifice. “The whole time he was joking around and very joyful, which also radiated to us religious.”
Before departing, the pope consecrated the town of Vanimo to Mary. An essential part of the congregation’s identity is that they are both missionary and Marian, so they were able to share their love and devotion to Mary with the whole diocese.
Sister Sacrifice said that this tiny town in Papua New Guinea received their first permanent missionaries just a century ago. Now, they have received the Successor of Peter to strengthen them for the obstacles of living as true Christians in a still pagan society.
Even though material advancements like electricity, running water and roads are lacking, the faith is growing.
“We ask you to keep our mission in your prayers,” said Sister Sacrifice, “and your hearts open to however God may be calling you to help advance the faith in Vanimo.”
