Oceania—3

This blog will discuss the remaining nations and territories of Oceania not covered in earlier blogs.  See my blog of June 27, 2018 for Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa; my blog of June 19, 2019 (Oceania 1) for Australia and New Zealand; and my blog of December 2, 2019 (Oceania 2) for Fiji, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Kiribati, Naura, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Vanuatu, and Wallis et Futuna.

Australian Territories

Christmas Island is in the Indian Ocean and was discovered by Europeans in the 17th Century.  The British settled the island in 1888 to exploit phosphate deposits, and transferred control of the island to Australia in 1958.  There are 2,200 people living on the island—70 percent are ethnically Chinese, 20 percent are of European heritage, and 10 percent are Malay.  Muslims account for 19 percent of the people, Buddhists for 18 percent, Catholics for 9 percent, and other Christians for 10 percent.  The rest have no specific religious affiliation.  The island’s 200 Catholics are served by the Archdiocese of Perth, Australia.

The Cocos Islands are 27 coral islands in the Indian Ocean.  Europeans discovered the islands in 1609, but they remained uninhabited until one family settled there and produced copra from the 1820s to 1978.  The British annexed the islands in 1857 and transferred them to Australia in 1955.  About 70 percent of the Islands’ population of 600 are Malays who live on one island and about 20 percent are of English heritage who live on another island.  Muslims account for 75 percent of the population and Christians (Anglicans and Catholics) for 6 percent.  The dozen or so Catholics are served by the Archdiocese of Perth, Australia.

Norfolk Island is an island in the Pacific Ocean which the British used as a penal colony during the late 18th and early 19th Centuries.  The British resettled several former Pitcairn Islanders there in 1856—descendants of the HMS Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian families.  The island became part of Australia in 1913.  About half the population of 1,700 are non-Catholic Christians and 13 percent are Catholic.  The rest claim no particular religion.  The island’s 200 Catholics are served by the Archdiocese of Sydney, Australia.

Former U.S. Territories

The Marshall Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean.  After the Second World War, they were administered by the United States until achieving independence in 1986.  More than 80 percent of the nation’s 78,000 people are Protestant, while the 6,000 or so Catholics account for about 8 percent.  The Catholics are served by the Apostolic Prefecture of the Marshall Islands which was established in 1993.  It is a suffragan jurisdiction of the Province of Agana, Guam.

Cathedral of the Assumption in the Marshall Islands, from Getty images.

The Caroline Islands are an archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean that were administered by the United States after the Second World War.  Independence came in 1986 with the eastern islands becoming the Federated States of Micronesia and the western islands becoming Palau.  Catholic evangelization began around 1890.

Micronesia has 102,000 people and 55 percent are Catholic and 41 percent are Protestant (mostly Congregational).  Palau has 22,000 people and 45 percent are Catholic and 35 percent are Protestant.  Catholics in Micronesia and Palau are served by the Diocese of Caroline Islands, which is a suffragan diocese of the Province of Agana, Guam.  The Diocese began as an apostolic prefecture in 1905, became an apostolic vicariate in 1911, before becoming a diocese in 1979.

Tonga

Tonga, unique among Pacific nations, has always been self-governing.  Tonga was settled for at least 1,000 years before Christ and had formed an empire by the 12th Century.  The Dutch were the first Europeans to visit Tonga beginning in 1616 and Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy visited three times in the 1770s.  Tonga became a kingdom in 1845 and a constitutional monarchy in 1875.  Tonga was a British protected state from 1900 to 1970 and remains a member of the British Commonwealth.

Protestant missionaries came to Tonga in 1797 and the first King of Tonga converted to Methodism.  Catholic missionaries came to Tonga in 1825, although effective evangelization did not begin until 1842.  Today, 64 percent of Tonga’s 106,000 people are Protestant, 19 percent are Mormon, and 14 percent are Catholic.  The Catholics are served by the Diocese of Tonga, which is immediately subject to the Pope.  It began as an apostolic vicariate in 1842 before becoming a diocese in 1966.  The current Bishop of Tonga was made a Cardinal by Pope Francis in 2015.

St. Mary’s Cathedral, Tonga, from Wikipedia.

The Pitcairn Islands

The Pitcairn Islands are a British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean that was settled in 1790 by nine mutineers from the HMS Bounty along with 18 Tahitians.  Today, there are 43 permanent residents—Pitcairn is the smallest democracy in the world by population.  The only religious institution is a Seventh-day Adventist church.  

Definitions

The Catholic Church is mostly divided into ecclesiastical provinces—a province consists of a metropolitan archdiocese and one or more dioceses.  The province and the archdiocese are led by an archbishop.  Each of the dioceses is called a suffragan diocese and is led by a bishop.  Archbishops have some responsibilities for the province, but all bishops answer directly to the Pope.  There are also jurisdictions below the level of a diocese.  These include apostolic vicariates and apostolic prefectures.  Both are missionary territories below the level of a diocese.