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Fr David Buenaventura SDB

My Mission Impossible

By Fr David Buenaventura SDB

For seven years, Fr. David Buenaventura was a missionary priest in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Then the time came for him to serve his fellow Pinoys struggling to live in a country that is rich in everything except Christianity – Japan.

I was appointed parish priest for Filipinos living in the Catholic Diocese of Oita in January 1997. The appointment was the first of its kind in Japan. We have a good number of Filipino priests working in Japan, but no one had been appointed parish priest. My appointment was based on Canon 518, which talks about the Personal Parish. I didn’t have a convent or a parish church. When asked by my parishioners, “How come the other parish priests in the diocese have their own convents and churches while you, Father, don’t have?” I would tell them with pride: “This is so because your homes are my convents and each Filipino community is my church.”

The Highland Warriors

By: Fr. Dave Buenaventura

I’m Fr. Dave Buenaventura, a Salesian of Don Bosco. This is my 5th year in Papua New Guinea.

Warriors
If your were to ask any Filipino working in PNG to describe the highlanders of this country, I bet they would use adjectives like fierce-looking, short-tempered, revengeful, and war loving. Of course these descriptions are exaggerated but even still these highlanders are known as the “warriors of Papua New Guinea.”