Tailspins & Tiki Gods:Smoots Guide The Mission

The Mission:

Located on the northern edge of Ile Trouve, the Mission has been run, at various times, by the Marists and the Pipcus Fathers. This is actually the result of the second attempt at a mission to Ile Trouve. The first was roundly told to leave by a chieftain representing the Kamekame.

This second attempt was better-received. The mission building itself is a cloister in a classical European style, and exists on a few acres ceded to the mission by the Kamekame decades ago. It is self-sustaining, if simple, and was built using second collections from masses worldwide. (Kids of the time may remember a second collection ‘for the pagan babies’- this was where some of that change went.)

The mission is staffed by lay brothers (in occupations ranging from carpenter to scientific researcher), priests and nuns. The remote nature of the mission also makes it a popular (if “popular” is the term) place for retreats and hermitages.

The issue of who exactly they answer to is a matter of some dispute. The Marists have, at some points, declared Ile Trouve to be part of their Oceania Province, while the Pipcus Fathers (the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, by their full name) have tended the day-to-day work of the mission. The matter not being immediately resoluble, those at the mission itself simply get on with their work and occasionally check in with the Archdiocese of Papeete.

[OOC: IRL, there are different parts of the South Pacific in Marist and Pipcus ‘turfs’. This is just splitting the difference for story’s sake, since Ile Trouve’s location is vague.]

Beyond politics, the mission faces a unique challenge in their work- The Kamekame themselves.

The Kamekame steadfastly do not permit missionaries to enter their lands to preach or convert. Reasons given go from “we have our own ways” to “If this is true, it will be true when I tell it. You don’t need to come in.” and “If I was not going to your peoples’ Hell until you told me it existed, why did you tell me so?” (and a flat refusal to pass the information further.)

However, there apparently are Christian Kamekame- at least natives who attend mass and otherwise go to the Mission on the north of the island, from several villages near the mission. Even the clurgy there are uncertain of this, but it seems like at least some moved specifically to those villages in order to do so. The Kamekame visiting the mission tend to be conversant in French, but the mission also works off the 1836 Tahitian translation of the Bible. (According to mission records, Matthew 8:8 is the most-popular Bible verse among the Kamekame.)

Beyond spreading the word, the mission also oversees Church efforts in Port Cochere (such as confessions, weddings, funerals, manning the small chapel in the Port itself, etc), maintaining a small plot of land for its own use (a few vines for winemaking, and otherwise to feed the mission itself), running a small infirmary and library, hosting those on retreat, and so on.