Key Dates in the Development of Daru-Kiunga Diocese 

15 October 1959:

The mission is officially incorporated as the Montfort Catholic Mission

17 October 1959:

Fr. Gérard Joseph Deschamps, SMM, is named Prefect Apostolic.

December 1961:

Three Canadian Sisters from the Congregation of the Daughters of Wisdom arrived in Kiunga. They were here to set up a primary school and health care service.

1962:

The Mission purchased a plane, a Cessna 185, which allowed the missionaries to get out more easily into the region around Kiunga. Now that commercial airlines are more available, we no longer have our own plane.

19 March 1963:

Relationships became better with the community in Daru, and the mission was able to obtain land and set up its headquarters there. A primary school was also opened in that area which opened the way for the expansion of the Catholic Church on the coast.

1963:

Both Boset and Matkomnai were opened and, in both places,  the Sisters started a school and offered health care to the people.

21 January 1967:

Monsignor Gérard Joseph Deschamps, SMM, was ordained as first Bishop of Daru Diocese in his home in Ottawa, Canada. The same year the Cathedral was erected in Daru and the parish was inaugurated under the name St. Louis Marie De Montfort on 3 August 1968.

1967:

Three more stations were opened: Samari on Kiwai Island at the mouth of the Fly River, Kungim situated at 78 km. north-west of Kiunga, near the Indonesian Border and Bolivip in the Mountains, 112 km. from Kiunga.

January 1968:

The Diocese opened a Training Centre in Kiunga for the formation of Catechists. The two year courses began with approximately twenty students.

June 1976:

The General Diocesan Meeting to establish policies and orientations for the Diocese, had a majority of local people.

February 1979:

Important meetings were held in Daru with the Diocesan Church Council (several local leaders from all the parishes). They presented recommendations for the whole Diocese. They began 

to give special importance to the formation of Basic Christian Communities. Since that time the Movement for a Better World has helped the Diocese with courses, seminars and retreats in view of preparing the Diocese to put together a Pastoral Plan in line with teachings of the Vatican Council II.

1982:

The “New Image of the Parish” (NIP) Programme was introduced in the diocese.

1984:

Approximately 10,000 refugees from Irian Jaya crossed over to Western Province. 4,000 of them moved to a relocation camp in East Awin. This was later established as St. Bertilla Parish, Iowara in 1988.

1987:

Two new parishes were founded: St. Brigid in Kiunga and Our Lady of the Star Mountain in Tabubil. These parishes cater mainly to people who come from outside the Province and work at the copper mine.

1989:

We started a new effort for evangelisation in the Nomad district, under the leadership of a pastoral worker assisted by several catechists. This same year, our first national priest, 

Fr. Hubert Nekiri, a Kiwai from Samari in the South Fly Region, was ordained.

1994:

Our second national priest, Fr. Arnold Afaneng, a Faiwol who comes from St. Andrew’s Parish in the mountains was ordained. 

April 1995:

Fr. Gilles Côté, SMM, was ordained as auxiliary Bishop of Daru-Kiunga Diocese

March 1996:

During a Diocesan Assembly, we decided to change from the “New Image of the Parish” (NIP) Programme to the “Programme for the Renewal of the Diocese” (PRD). Following the  steps of the Prospective Method and with the participation of as many people as possible from all over the Diocese, we began the work toward writing our own Diocesan Pastoral Plan, which was launched in November 1999.