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Forty Years of Missionary service: Crosier Bishop Alphonse Sowada retired as shepherd of Diocese of Agats in 2001, but he still remains actively involved with ministering to, promoting, and defending the Asmat people and culture. He served for 32 years as the Bishop of Asmat in Irian Jaya, also called Papua, on the western side of the island of New Guinea. Bishop Sowada is originally from Elmdale, MN. He was first sent as a Croiser Missioner to Indonesia in May of 1961, and ordained as Bishop of the newly created Agats Diocese in 1969. The Asmat people are commonly associated with headhunting and cannibalism but in a 2001 interview with the St. Cloud Visitor, Bishop Sowada insisted that the Asmat people are very "open and friendly." Bishop Sowada has been instrumental in evangelizing the Asmat people and helping to save their identity through the preservation of Asmat Art and culture. "Evangelization of the peoples like the Asmat, however, does not mean insisting that all cultural practices end," he said in that same 2001 Visitor interview. "The result is 'Catholicism with an Irian bent'...and helping them realize that God and his love are already present in their midst."
Bishop Sowada has also worked to promote awareness of environmental issues, human rights, and property rights among and for the Asmat people. Currently Bishop Sowada is actively enjoying his retirement and resides in the St. Cloud Diocese. Learn more about the Crosier Missionaries and Papua or check out a special video news documentary about the Crosier Fathers and Brothers work in Papua that is available for loan from the St. Cloud Mission Office.
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