Fr. Patrick “Kevin” Cantwell SVD, "Missionary": A Mission Diary and Guidebook

Missionary, written by Fr. Patrick “Kevin” Cantwell SVD, is a diary of an SVD missionary in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Missionary in missiological perspectives is certainly a precious mission diary and helpful guidebook to those missionaries who are about to enter or just arrive in PNG.

Fr. Kevin Cantwell SVD, an Australian born in 1927, joined the SVD at the age of 21, received his first mission assignment at the age of 39 and subsequently worked as an SVD in his native land for 16 years. In 1976, at the age of 48, he received his new mission assignment to the people of PNG. His life as expected has been changed ever since. In his book hence he writes, “One week I was in Sydney enjoying a peaceful life, two weeks later I was on the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea” (p. 4). He continues, “and the rest is history” (Ibid.). In this new post, Fr. Cantwell had studied the new culture and then served the Sepik villagers until 1980, when he suddenly collapsed and fell into coma due to the black water fever that he had contracted. Nonetheless the protagonist of Missionary did not give up his dream but kept going on with his bush assignment, this time, in the Highlands as recommended by his medical doctor in Brisbane. Missionary then turns into a new chapter with the PNG people in different bush stations in the Highlands (1980-2003). On Jan 6, 2004, Fr. Cantwell returned to Australia after having served in PNG for 28 years (1976-2004).

Fr. Cantwell’s missionary activities as recorded in Missionary were revolving around the celebrations of the Eucharist and other sacraments and also countless pastoral visits to bush stations. Missionary is about a bush missionary in PNG, the book is consequently filled with numerous missionary activities fashioned in PNG ways of life. Occasionally one of his missionary days was filled with unexpected things: fighting in the Highlands, for instance. Fr. Cantwell writes, “Often while going into HAGEN, I’ve passed the fighting lines of both sides” (p. 26). He was however unharmed, for the fighters of both sides “all waved and said good day” to the bush missionary (Ibid.). At night the missionary and his team would be some times disturbed by uninvited guests, the rascals, who took “the rear lights and side mirrors of a visiting Suzuki” (p. 148). These guests unfortunately returned to the mission station. This time they “had the spare tyre from inside the Suzuki and had the two rear wheels off… They had dug a hole under the metal fence and apparently had brought meat for the dogs” (Ibid.). To these rascals, Fr. Cantwell however asserts, “Not to worry too much about the problems up here… [It] is not always as bad as it seems. The TV crews who fly in and out tend to sensationalise a bit and often get the ‘rascals’ to act for the cameras” (p. 86).

Mission in PNG, as in all over the world, is thus challenging. But Missionary also reveals many rewards. The PNG children, for example, are surely fun to be working with. When taught why the snow covers the top of Mt. Wilhelm (15,400 feet high), one of the students at once reacted, “You’re joking! Someone has just thrown some flour around” (p. 25). On the New Year Day, the people in PNG really celebrate the coming of the first day of the year. Hence, due to “the boisterous nature of New Year’s Day here, most parish priests cancel Masses at the out-stations” (p. 78). When Pope John Paul II had arrived in Morseby for the beatification of catechist Peter To Rot, “it rained in dry PORT MORESBY where [the people] have a chronic water problem” (p. 79). To explain this unexpected rain, “Some have said it is [Blessed] Peter’s first miracle” (Ibid.).

Fr. Cantwell names his book Missionary. The book virtually discloses the essentials of Missiology: “God was already in PNG before we came” (p. 5), “God loves each with an equal love” (Ibid.), “the people in PNG have a culture and a way of life that is very different” (Ibid.), and missionaries should be able “to realise that the country belongs to the people here, that we are not masters or saviours, that we are here to help the people as they develop their own country and their own Church in their own way” (Ibid.).

Missionary, a mission dairy, is also a guidebook, as have mentioned above, for missionaries who are about to enter or just arrive in PNG. Fr. Cantwell spends 13 pages in the first section of his book to help the new arrival being aware of the PNG culture. To name one of these social-cultural insights: “Privacy or lack of it: So often it happens in a village everyone in sight, seeing that something is going on, will come up beside you, listen in and even join in. This is the way it is in village life. Your problem will give them something to talk about around the fire at night” (p. 7). Thus in the beginning of his book, the author reminds the newcomers of the principle of culture: “The local people think in a different way. They have different values. Their ideas of such things as responsibility, law, time, courtesy and discipline are different to [our] standards. With patience [however] the newcomer will learn” (Ibid.).

I lived in the same SVD community with Fr. Cantwell in Marsfield, NSW over two years. Working in PNG for 26 years has gracefully enriched his personal and also missionary life. An intellectual and humble SVD is the image that I have toward Fr. Kevin Cantwell. This character is truly revealed in the beginning of his book. On the first page of Missionary, he simply writes: “Dedication: To create greater mission awareness and perhaps a vocation or two” (p. 1). Evangelizing mission since Vatican II has shifted to a new gear. Ad Gentes 2, for example, traces the origin of mission to the mystery of the Trinity, namely, Missio Dei. Out of God’s love for all creatures, God sends the Son, the first missionary of salvation history to the world in order to save it. The Holy Spirit, the second missionary and principle agent of mission, is sent after Jesus in order to continue and also to bring to the completion the work Jesus has begun. Missionaries of all ages are therefore sent out by Jesus Christ to be living witnesses for this Trinitarian love. Reading Missionary is also experiencing Fr. Kevin’s living witness for his faith in Missio Dei. Undoubtedly his book does create greater mission awareness due to his own living witness. Who knows, the Holy Spirit through Missionary will enkindle the mission flame in the heart of not only one or two but rather many readers of the global village.

Divine Word Institute of Mission Studies (DWIMS)

December 2018 — Tagaytay, the Philippines