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A journalist colleague with a sharp eye noticed this elderly man with a goatee sitting on a bench at the Mary Help of Christians shrine in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Cooling himself under a large ceiling fan, Fr. Albert Boudaud had come to listen to Pope Francis and flinched a little when he was addressed in French, as if he hadn't heard it for 10 years. “I'm sorry, I've forgotten my French,” apologized this modest old man, who nevertheless spoke his native tongue with a certain elegance throughout the interview.
Seated in the front rows, Fr. Boudaud received the honors befitting the country's eldest missionary. After all, he's been here since 1968. How did he end up there, at the age of 28?
Bored and procrastinating, and then…
It's the story of a young man from the Vendée who was bored at the diocesan seminary in Les Herbiers. Then, Albert met a missionary who inspired him to dream of adventure. After procrastinating for two years, he joined the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Issoudun and was ordained in 1967.
He was sent to spend a pastoral year in the Paris suburb of Plaine Saint-Denis, which was “also a missionary environment.” At the end of this powerful experience, his superiors proposed that Father Boudaud go to Papua New Guinea, a place where his congregation were pioneers. He immediately signed up, packed his bag, took barely enough time to learn English, and set off on a quick vacation before going to the port of Marseille for his departure.
From there, the priest embarked on a long 45-day voyage that took him across the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and finally to the Pacific via the Panama Canal. He remembers sailing the Pacific Ocean for nine days without seeing anything but water. Then came the Marquesas, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Sydney. And from there, he traveled to Port Moresby. He didn't make the return trip until 10 years later, on vacation, but he has no regrets. “I came voluntarily, I integrated myself, I made it my country by living close to the people,” he tells us.
Multilingual missionary
With his feet on the ground in his missionary territory, this linguistics enthusiast found just what he was looking for: Papua has over 800 different languages, not counting the dialects... Moving from village to village, he learned one, then two, then three... When asked how many he knows today, he has a bit of trouble keeping count, as the list is so exhaustive.
To fit in, he also had to chew areca nut, the natural drug — also known as betel nut — that turns the teeth of so many Papua New Guineans red (and causes mouth cancer). “When the situation was a bit difficult, we’d chew together and that made it possible to get things done.”
Shoes and sandals wore out during these years of mission, when he wasn’t simply going barefoot over muddy terrain. He took the Gospel and the Eucharist on “patrols” to remote villages. He remembers being bitten by snakes before chasing them away with a stick.
He also has baptized people everywhere. “It's our most important job,” he insists. He spent several days in each village, celebrating Mass and conferring the sacraments.
After a long life of service, he retired a few years ago, and now offers his broad smile and stories to the Catholics of Papua New Guinea. “The work is now more for the Indigenous priests,” he concludes. His piercing blue gaze is now lost in memories, as polyphonic harmonies resound in the shrine’s nave.
