It is hoped that the church will help the territory become a pilgrimage site.

The relics of St Peter Chanel, who is the patron saint of Oceania, are preserved on the neighbouring island of Futuna.

The church cost an estimated four million US dollars to build and reports from Wallis and Futuna say there has been unease over the cost.

The Wallesian community in New Caledonia have made a significant contribution to the cost of the building.

It has been reported the fund raising has left many contributors in debt.

Look at photographs of the new church and of the dedication service

Image:

• Radio New Zealand International
• victorbrial.blog.fr
• Image: FaceBook

Saint Peter Chanel might well be the Proto Martyr of Oceania, revered with affection in the Pacific and rightly so. But he also stepped on to the soil of South America when the first Marist Missionaries spent a rest time in Valparaiso, Chile, says Father Tony. But that is not the only reason why he is known, loved and revered in Peru and Venezuela in the places where for over fifty years the Marist Fathers have ministered.

Amidst the poverty and the growing violence of our times "Pedro Chanel" as he is known has become for the people here in "Barrio Paso Real" the "gentle, non-violent one" who could say as he meekly waited for the end "Death is good for me". On the 28^th of April 2011, as on that day every year, the people of the community of San Pedro Chanel , Paso Real, came to celebrate life, remembering their quiet patron, sang songs they had composed to him, prayed with him for his barrio burdened down by drugs, bullets, violent deaths and whose mothers like Mary stand at the foot of the Cross. Pedro's icon and relic were displayed before the altar and valued artifacts from Futuna were placed before him in his honour.

The Feast this year was within the octave of Easter and the coloured pastel materials like the Pacific lava-lava adorned the Cross, the lectern, the altar and Pedro's makeshift shrine. Christ has Risen alleluia, Pedro too lives on in his broken down chapel and out in his suffering barrio in between the high walls of the airport and the fields of sugar cane . Violence and revenge are not Pedro's way ."We sing Chanel" , they sing in Spanish,"Pedro Chanel, Mary's tender voice made a gracious choice in you".

The mural in the photo has Mary with the child Jesus, and St Peter Chanel is seated with the palm of martyrdom in his hand surrounded by children.

Source

• Tony O'Connor
• Image: Tony O'connor