Holy Family Mission in the diocese of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, receives an award for the creation of an entrepreneurial community centre for women and children empowerment to support themselves and their families.
Br. Adolf Mugume, C.S.C., Director of Communications, C.S.C Rome
In this year of the 800th death anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi. On May, Saturday 16, the Congregation of Holy Cross’ Holy Family Mission, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, was awarded the “Francis of Assisi and Carlo Acutis for an Economy of Fraternity” International Award to create aHantoa Fraternity Hub.The ceremony took place in the Hall of Spoliation, dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi, which is adjacent to the church of St. Mary Major (also known as the Sanctuary of Spoliation), the first cathedral of the diocese of Assisi in Italy. The Hall is located inside the former bishop’s palace, and is both a historical and spiritual site where a young St. Francis of Assisi cast off his rich vestments and renounced his wealth in front of his father and the then bishop of Assisi, Guido, in 1206.
A delegation of people from Papua New Guinea and the Congregation of Holy Cross receiving the award in Assisi
Hantoa Fraternity Hub in Papua New Guinea
The award goes to support the creation of the Hantoa Fraternity Hub, an entrepreneurial community center that through the Katholik Women’s Association of Christ the King Parish in Hantoa will provide women opportunities to work together in solidarity to support themselves and their families. It will include a restaurant, tailoring workshop, and vegetable garden. The goal is to create a collective savings mechanism that guarantees long-term self-sufficiency and, in the process, becomes a model of an economy of fraternity for the entire Pacific region. It is precisely this type of work of supporting men and women of goodwill to build communities of the coming kingdom that motivated the Congregation of Holy Cross to approach the Dicastery for Evangelisation in 2022 to ask where it might best serve the needs of the Church. There was a desire to heed the call of Pope Francis “to go out to the peripheries.”
Drawing the Peripheries into the Heart
The Congregation of Holy Cross captured this spirit by celebrating a special Year of Mission that coincided both with the establishment of the new mission, which was named for the Holy Family, and also the great Jubilee Year of 2025. The year’s theme was to share a “Hope Beyond Borders”. The inspiration was drawn from the Congregation’s Constitutions that state “our mission sends us across borders of every sort. Often we must make ourselves at home among more than one people or culture, reminding us again that the farther we go in giving the more we stand to receive.”
Now, Holy Cross’ going out on mission to Bougainville at the call of the Church has formed a bridge, connecting Bougainville to Assisi through the International Award “Francis and Carlo Acutis for an Economy of Fraternity”. Holy Cross’ mission has drawn the peripheries into the heart of the Church, as Pope Francis always envisioned.
“The Hantoa Fraternity Hub’s reception of the Francis of Assisi and Carlo Acutis International Award affirms that the margins of the world are its center,” said the Most Rev. Dariusz Kaluska, Bishop of the Diocese of Bougainville, who participated in the award ceremony via Zoom. “On a small Pacific island, people witness community life and dream of a better future for their children and life. This reflects Pope Francis’s teachings and his desire for the Church and us. For communities that have long lived in the shadow of conflict, economic exclusion, and geographic isolation, that visibility carries immense spiritual weight. It declares: ‘You are not forgotten. You are not peripheral. You are, in the logic of the Gospel, exactly where transformation begins,’” continued the bishop.
Br. John Agyemang Amponsa, C.S.C., with some members of Hantoa Fraternity hub in Papua New Guinea
“Francis and Carlo Acutis for an Economy of Fraternity” Award
Instituted by the Diocese of Assisi in 2020, the year of the beatification of Carlos Acutis, the “Francis and Carlo Acutis for an Economy of Fraternity” Award seeks to animate fraternal economic projects originating from the grassroots. It honors projects that advance economic models rooted in human dignity, social inclusion, and environmental care, as outlined in the vision of Pope Francis. This year there 78 applications from 31 different nations, submitted in five different languages.
“This is an important moment to mature projects and ideas for a different and supportive economy, capable of overturning the pyramid, starting not from the strongest, but from the weakest,” said the Most Rev. Felice Accrocca, Bishop of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino and of Foligno. “May this small seed make a great tree sprout, like the mustard seed of the Gospel. This is the hope that we launch today, and we trust that the Lord will make it his own.”
Men with Hope to Bring
Hope is at the center of the Congregation of Holy Cross’ charism, and hope, of course, is at the center of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that the Church seeks to share with the world.
“In his message for the ninth World Day for the Poor, Pope Leo expressed his hope that the Jubilee Year would encourage the implementation of ‘new initiatives to support and assist the poorest of the poor,’” said Br. Paul Bednarczyk, C.S.C., Superior General. “On behalf of the Congregation of Holy Cross, I express my sincere gratitude to all who are associated with the award and for partnering with us in responding to the Holy Father’s challenge with your generous support of the Hantoa Fraternity Hub. As Holy Cross religious we say that we are ‘men with hope to bring.’ With this prestigious award, we have become much more. We have become together with you and the women of the Hantoa Parish, true Pilgrims of Hope. What a joy! What a blessing!” said Br. Bednarczyk.
From its origins in Le Mans, France in the 19th century, the Congregation of Holy Cross’ mission currently spans six continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania (where the Holy Family Mission in Papua New Guinea is located).
