SVD in PNG

Divine Word Missionaries

Layers of misty Highlands ridges at dawn

Parishes and pastoral care

The Word, carried from village to village

From the first stations on the coast to parishes at the foot of Mount Wilhelm, Divine Word Missionaries and local catechists have walked together to bring the Gospel to the people of Papua New Guinea.

Where it started

A mission that went on foot

The first Divine Word Missionaries settled on Tumleo Island in 1896 and then at Alexishafen near Madang. In the early 1930s they pushed inland. By 1933 a party had crossed the Bundi Range to Denglagu, in what is now Simbu Province, where the first SVD parish in the Highlands was founded. It is still a parish today.

The Diocese of Kundiawa was the first in the Highlands to welcome the missionaries, with stations stretching from Denglagu to Mingende and beyond. Local carriers, helpers and leaders played a key part in helping communities accept the newcomers.

From those beginnings the work spread to new dioceses. Today Divine Word Missionaries serve in the archdioceses of Madang, Mount Hagen and Port Moresby and in the dioceses of Wewak, Kundiawa, Wabag and Goroka.

First landing
Tumleo Island, 1896
First Highlands parish
Denglagu, Simbu Province (1933)
Members in PNG (2024)
104: four bishops, 63 priests, 12 brothers and 25 in formation
80 years of the Gospel
In 2014 about 500 pilgrims walked from Madang to Mount Hagen to give thanks

Catechists

The people who hold the faith together

In many villages the priest visits only now and then. Between those visits it is the catechist who keeps prayer and teaching alive.

From day one

Local helpers and guides

Pioneer missionaries walked with local helpers and trained catechists village by village. Communities in the Highlands still remember the carriers and guides who made the first journeys possible.

In their own words

Preparing the ground

A catechist from Denglagu told a gathering that catechists hold the faith of the people together and prepare the ground in which priests plant the seed of the sacraments.

A bishop's testimony

A foundation for the church

Bishop Paul Sundu of Kundiawa, whose home parish is Denglagu, says the work of catechists alongside the early missionaries laid the foundation on which the church could grow. He was himself formed by SVD missionaries.

Faces of parish ministry

Lives given to the parishes

Behind the history are individual missionaries who spent decades in one place after another.

Western Highlands

Fr Philip Gibbs SVD

Born in New Zealand, he began as a parish priest in the remote Porgera–Paiela region and spent years in grassroots ministry before turning to research and leading Divine Word University.

Simbu

Fr Ryszard Wajda SVD

Arrived in PNG in 1985 as a young priest and has served the parishes of Neragaima, Kup, Hobe Karamui and, now, Wangoi in Chuave District.

Eastern Highlands

Fr William Seifert SVD

An anthropologist who served in PNG for more than thirty years. In 1980 the bishop of Goroka asked him to found a new parish in the town. He died in 2025.

Today

Young missionaries on the road

From 11 to 18 May 2026 fourteen younger missionaries gathered at Mingende in the Diocese of Kundiawa for a week of prayer and sharing on the theme "Witnessing in PNG". They came from Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Ghana, Poland, the Philippines and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Together they visited places that tell the story of the Highlands church, and celebrated Mass each day in a different community.

Sources and further reading

Where this story comes from

A short summary compiled from public sources. Membership figures refer to the dates given.

More from our work

Beyond the parish

The mission also teaches, publishes and broadcasts. Explore the university in Madang and the newspapers, radio and research that give the Word a voice.

Divine Word University → Media and culture Back to SVD in PNG