into their lives. Today hundreds of Southern Highlanders serve the Church as lay ministers of various kinds, catechists, prayer leaders, ministers to the sick and so on. These people are too numerous to name. The Catholic Church has grown and is healthy. More than 100,000 people have been baptized since 1960 when the fIrst baptisms took place. Today there are about 75,000 Catholics spread over 31 parishes and pastoral areas in the Diocese. There are nearly 350 Catholic communities in the province. Several Southern Highlanders have become priests or religious, the first being Fr. Simon Apea, a diocesan priest, and Br. Peter Warea, a Capuchin brother celebrating his silver jubilee this year. There are numerous young men who are presently discerning God's call to the priesthood and religious life and are in the seminary or other formation programs. The Diocese of Mendi has its own diocesan congregation of sisters, the Franciscan Sisters of Mary. Sr. Pat Puame and Sr. Elizabeth Epei are the seniors of this growing community, and they too celebrate their 25th year during our Golden Jubilee. For many years the Capuchins provided nearly all the missionary priests and brothers for the mission. However, there were always a few diocesan priests, mostly from Australia, but also from New Zealand and America who came to preach the Gospel in the Southern Highlands too. More recently other religious congregations have come, the Heralds of Good News, Missionaries of the Holy Family, Missionaries of God's Love, a Carmelite and Korean Mission Society priests. Diocesan priests from Poland are now working in the diocese as well. Today there are many missionary and local sisters serving the Church in the Southern Highlands. The list of sisters who have worked in the Diocese in the past numbers in the hundreds. The first sisters arrived in 1960, four members of the Order of St. Francis of Oldenburg, Indiana USA. They were Sr. Noreen McLaughlin, Sr. Annata (Kate) Holohan, Sr. Matrine Mayborg and Sr. Claver Ehren. Sr. Martine is the only one of this group who still remains in PNG. She runs the adult literacy program of the Mendi Diocese. Religious sisters from many congregations have served in the diocese, Swiss Sisters of Baldegg, Our Lady of the Missions, Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary, Handmaids of the Lord, Marist Sisters, Missionaries of Charity, Daughters of Mary Immaculate, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Franciscan Clarist