Paul Guy MSC, Requiem Mass and Burial
Peter Guy MSC with Rochus Tatamai MSC and confreres.
Reflection by Rochus Tatamai MSC, former Bishop of Bereina, now Archbishop of Rabaul.
There's a lot to reflect on and contemplate upon today as I personally recall Fr Paul Guy MSC, my elder brother in the faith, an MSC confrere in Religious Life, a brother priest sharing in the Priesthood of Jesus Christ, my mentor and Spiritual Director as pilgrims on earth, my confessor and Confidant in the discernment process searching out God's Divine will, my best friend and colleague in recreation and light moments, the person whom I fondly addressed as "my lord", even as a younger and inexperienced priest just beginning the initial steps going forward as an amateur shepherd in the vineyard of the Lord at St Joseph's Parish Boroko,(1990-1992) Port Moresby NCD. PNG.
Even when I prematurely resisted and pleaded earnestly against the then Provincial Superior late Fr Neville Dunne MSC not to be appointed to a city Parish let alone to be Assistant Parish Priest to Fr Paul Guy MSC at St Joseph Parish Boroko, Fr Neville Dunne's humble appeal to the young Rocky then 1989/1990 was " Rocky, please don't cross your bridges even before you in fact even crossed them". That response was an honest and challenging feedback that easily melted my hard-hearted heart to succumb to the prompting of the Holy Spirit "to swallow my personal pride and resistance and humbly accept my official appointment to St Joseph as Assistant Parish Priest and Vocations Director of the MSC PNG PROVINCE (a position I held from 1989 - 1997 @ 8 years in total).
During my years as a young priest especially 1990 - 1995, Fr Paul Guy MSC played a vital role as a companion and mentor who always respectfully and sometimes teasingly fondly would address me as "my lord" an address person to person we both mutually exchanged with respect and high regard.
Reverend Fr Paul Guy MSC you are surely a humble and most deserving "guy" of the highest recognition as the most unannounced deserving "monsignor" for your humble Pastoral care and personal sensitivity to all the half-cast mixed race population in Port Moresby, Bereina, Central Province and the rest of PNG.
And in your exact word, you reminiscently boasted that, "you (I) baptized them, you (I) heard their first sincere confessions, you (I) celebrated and gave them their First Holy Communion in their respective Parishes, you(I) prepared them for their solemn celebration of the Sacrament Confirmation, you(I) celebrated and joined them in Holy Matrimony, and surely you happily cried with them and buried them in their respective cemeteries in Hanuabada, Badili, Boroko, Gerehu, Hohola. 9mile, Bereina, etc, in all these Parishes, Churches, schools, institutions Cemeteries.
With thanks to John Walker MSC for screen shots of the Mass and graveside photos.
