Dark paradise
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Email28.11.2008
Columban missionaries lend a helping hand on Easter Island, one of the most isolated and enigmatic territories on the planet.
Be my witnesses... even unto the ends of the Earth" (Acts.1:8). Columbans have long sought to follow these words of Jesus. However, they’ve rarely done this quite so literally as when they have worked in the community of Santa Cruz on Easter Island - surely a candidate for the world’s most remote parish.
Easter Island (or "Rapa Nui" as it is known in the local language) lies some 2,600 miles from Chile, to which it now belongs. Just 16 miles long, it is a speck of rock in the immensity of the South Pacific. With its rugged cliffs and palm-fringed beaches on the coast, and numerous volcanic peaks inland, it is a place of extraordinary beauty. Its enchantment is increased by the presence of scores of ‘moai’, those unique stone heads which make the island famous.
Unfortunately, this tiny paradise hides some dark secrets.
By the time Europeans first arrived (in the form of a Dutch expedition in 1722, which made landfall on Easter Sunday - hence the name), a Polynesian culture had already been in existence for nearly a thousand years. This people had experienced a Golden Age of building, during which they’d erected the ‘moai’ to watch over their villages. (The stone heads are thought to represent the protective force of deceased elders).
But then, disaster struck. The Rapa Nui fell victim to their own success.
Population growth began to outstrip the island’s resources. Over-farming and over-fishing depleted food stocks. Forests were cut down. Competition for land resulted in vicious clan warfare. As each village raided another, they toppled their rival’s ‘moai.’ When Captain Cook visited the Island in 1774, only a few stone heads were still standing. By the time French missionaries arrived half a century later, none were.
Colonialism brought fresh woes. Most of the native population was spirited away by Peruvian slavers. The French corralled the survivors into a single encampment and turned the rest of the island into a giant sheep farm. Chile annexed the territory in 1888, but for nearly a century did little to help the local people.
With the advent of tourism in the 1960s the fortunes of Easter Island began to revive. Famous Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl did much to publicise the Island’s historical treasures and began the process of re-erecting the fallen statues.
Today, the population numbers just under 4,000 and is divided evenly between native Polynesian Rapa Nui and Spanish-speaking immigrants from the Chilean mainland. The one parish of Santa Cruz is administered by the Chilean Church in the form of one resident priest plus temporary priest helpers. Among the last feature a number of Columbans like Irishmen Gerry Bellew, Derry Healy and John McLaughlin have all joined in the enterprise. Recently, I was able to take my turn on the roster.
It was a fascinating experience. There is hardly any traffic and outside the one village of Hanga Roa, virtually no people. Walking the island, you never know what to expect. One moment you are following a track along spectacular cliff-tops. Then, you round a corner to be confronted by one of those mysterious heads, regarding you accusingly with timeless stone eyes.
Easter Island is full of missionary challenges: healing the wounds of the past; reconciling two peoples still separated by mutual suspicion; serving God in one of the most isolated spots on earth. It’s a tall order. But it helps when you remember that you are working in Paradise.
Fr John Boles is Rector of our Latin American Seminary in Santiago, Chile.
