Roman Catholic Diocese of Tarawa (Kiribati) and Nauru [Catholic Dioceses Around The World]

This video examines the history and churches of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tarawa (the country of Kiribati) and Nauru (the country of Nauru). However, a long description of the Catholic history is below, not in the video.

THE BEGINNING:
Protestants from Hawaii and the USA were the first to arrive in the Gilbert Islands (Kiribati's former name) in 1857. They translated the Bible into Gilbertese, the language of Kiribati.

CATHOLIC BEGINNINGS:
In the 1870s, Gilbertese natives working on plantations on other islands in the Pacific, met Catholic missionaries. 2 of these converted, Betero and Tiroi; they returned to Nonouti and instructed the local people about Catholicism. Amazingly, without priests, they built eight small churches where people of different villages assembled each Sunday to sing hymns and recite prayers. By 1888, these devote Catholics, Betero and Tiroi, had already baptized 560 people and were instructing and additional 600! As the number of Catholics grew, the two men wrote letters to many Catholic bishops requesting missionaries and priests.

BEGINNING OF CATHOLIC PRIESTS:
In response to the letters, 3 members of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Fathers Bontemps & Leray, and Brother Weber arrived on the Feast of the Ascension, 1888. The trip to the shore was taking several hours, so the two priests decided to celebrate Mass on the dinghy some distance from land, so the 1st Mass took place on a dinghy in the Nonouti lagoon. A statue of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart was placed in a visible location.

BEGINNING OF CATHOLIC NUNS:
Fr. Bontemps, in 1894, visited Issoudun, France, where the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, his missionary sister congregation, had their convent. He asked for sisters for the Gilbert Islands -- seven sisters, the oldest of whom was 25, went. Bontemps on the return, in 1895, stopped in Australia -- two more sisters joined them.
Upon their arrival, both material and social conditions were difficult for the 9 sisters. They faced stark poverty. Upon their arrival, they found a kitchen equipped only with two small saucepans, a few plates, and a single spoon, to serve all 12 missionaries -- no cups or glasses, so the missionaries drank out of jam tins. They lived off of coconuts, taros, fish, black coffee, brown sugar, biscuits, boiled rice, tinned beans, and salted meat. Condensed milk and bread were treats saved for Sundays and feast days. The extreme heat, in addition to malnourishment and disease, caused a number of deaths during the early years; further, news from Europe took four months or longer to reach them.

Nonetheless, a second group of sisters came in 1899. They visited newly established missions on other islands in the chain. These voyages were often hazardous. On one occasion, Mother Isabel and Father Bontemps left Nonouti to visit a nearby island, but after two weeks of battling against wind and strong currents, landed in Nauru, 100 kilometers off course.

PERSECUTION:
In addition to material difficulties the missionaries faced, they faced hostile opposition from Protestants, at that time the dominant and established belief since 1857.
Some of the inhabitants of the southern island of Nikunau asked for missionaries, so a priest and two sisters were sent. Upon the sisters' arrival, they were forbidden to go ashore, a command which they disobeyed at risk of their safety. They were left stranded on the beach, with the few possessions they had amidst a crowd of hostile people. Nobody gave them any assistance until dusk, when a European trader took pity on them and allowed them to spend the night on his veranda. The next day the sisters went out to collect materials to build their house. The local policeman threatened imprisonment to anyone who would work with the missionaries, so they had to do the labor themselves.
However, several years later conditions had improved to the point where the sisters were able to found a boarding school for girls. Nonetheless, the sisters, who were active in education, faced much opposition from the Protestant teachers! They faced fierce opposition from the island's Protestants.

ADMINISTRATIVE ESTABLISHMENT & 20th-21st CENTURY:
In 1897, the islands were established as Apostolic Vicariate of the Gilbert Islands (Insularum Gilbertinarum in Latin) from Apostolic Vicariate of New Pomerania.
Despite persecution, Catholic missionaries persevered. By 1970, there were nearly 25,000 Catholics in the diocese, nearly 45% of the population. By 2015 Census, Catholics made up 57% of the total population of Kiribati, numbering 63,116. Now Catholics outnumber Protestants!