The term “mass” comes easily to the lips of Catholic faithful. The term “mass burial” may be less familiar. The director of the morgue at the local hospital called me. “Father, we are having a mass burial today. Can you come?” I had heard of periodic mass burials in Papua New Guinea and had left my contact details in case I could be of service on such an occasion. I was happy to agree and quickly put useful items such as a cassock, stole, prayer book and a bottle of holy water into a small backpack and headed into the city. My mind, heart and emotions were not quite so prepared.

Mass burials in Port Moresby were first thought necessary because the storage at the city morgue was over capacity for the cooling system and neighbours were complaining about unpleasant odours. In recent times such burials are arranged when the morgue is full with unclaimed bodies. Names are advertised in the local newspapers, which motivates some people to come and claim the bodies of their relatives. Those remaining are listed for burial in a mass (paupers) grave, paid for by the city council.

Why would people leave their relatives to be buried by the city council? It seems that the main reason is that they are so poor. It costs money for a funeral and many people find it hard enough to get enough food for their extended family each day, without the expenses of a funeral, which could cost over $2000 — a large sum for people unemployed and living in semi-urban settlements. The morgue charges $5 per day, so if a body has been there for two weeks, they will have to pay $70 to retrieve the body from the morgue, and the charge goes up the longer they delay. Another reason is shame. Sadly the HIV rate is high in the city, and with stigma and discrimination, some dying from AIDS are simply abandoned. About one third of the bodies are of tiny babies. For reasons known only to them, some mothers whose babies have died at birth, depart from the hospital, leaving the hospital to dispose of the body of their dead child.

I arrived at the morgue as workers were nailing the lids on simple plywood boxes. There were bodies of 14 adults, 11 babies, 1 young boy, and various amputated body parts. Workers used a felt pen to write the name of the deceased on the lid of the box. I felt very sad when some boxes were labelled “unknown.” I heard from the police that some of those unknown are people who have been found dead somewhere in the city, with no indication as to their identity and noone claiming the body. Sadly, infanticide is not uncommon and bodies of newly born infants have been found disposed of in rubbish containers.

We travelled out to the local cemetery where a deep hole had been dug with a tractor and backhoe. Boxes were arranged in layers and the workers stood watching intently while I blessed the gravesite and said the prayers for Christian burial. “God Papa, mipela i laik givim nau bratasusa bilong mipela long han bilong yu…. (Father, now we give our brothers and sisters into your hands…..). It was sad, that these people, especially the “unknown” had no one to shed a tear for them on such an occasion. It seems to me that they are the poorest of the poor in Papua New Guinea today. But they did have someone to pray for them. I felt privileged and recalled the words from the Preface for Christian Death, “…Lord, for your faithful people, life is changed, not ended. When the body of our earthly dwelling lies in death, we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven.