St. Joseph Parish celebrates Caroline Islands with Chuukese Mass

Maura Baker

Staff Writer

A special Mass was celebrated, July 11, at St. Joseph Church, Crescent Springs. The Mass — celebrated with readings and song in Chuukese, the indigenous language of the Micronesian island of Chuuk — commemorated the anniversary of the Diocese of the Caroline Islands.

North of New Guinea, in Oceania, the Diocese of the Caroline Islands was officially established in 1993 by Pope John Paul II, when the original apostolic prefecture was split into the diocese and the Apostolic Prefecture of the Marshall Islands.

The Mass itself was coordinated by the Chuukese Catholic Community, bringing together individuals from the Caroline Islands from Northern Kentucky, Louisville and Tennessee together to celebrate this anniversary. The group also calls themselves the “Holy Cross” community — after its home parish on the island of Chuuk. Officers of the community were blessed and commissioned by Father Boelscher as part of the Mass.

The celebration commemorated “welcoming Jesus to our island,” according to parishioner Manisi Kikku, who helped to organize it.

Father Eric Boelscher, pastor, St. Joseph Parish, celebrated the Mass. In his homily, Father Boelscher compared faith to fire.

“It’s supposed to catch other people,” Father Boelscher said. “It’s supposed to spread. It goes heart to heart … We are the bringers of courage and the fire. We’re the ones who can clarify each other’s minds to show what’s truly important, and we can purify our desires to build up a life that’s fully given to God.”

“We all have to catch it,” he said. “We all have to burn with that incredible passion of Christ.”