This week I have been busy editing the monthly newsletter, Crossroads, of St Thomas's Anglican Church at Upper Gully. In the newsletter, I have a section called Fasts and Feasts which highlights significant dates in the church calendar for the month ahead. On September 2, the church commemorates the New Guinea Martyrs. The story of the New Guinea Martyrs is a moving story which, no matter how many times I read of it, brings tears to my eyes. I included in Crossroads Bishop Neville Chynoweth's 2002 sermon on the topic.
To-day, Alan Ramsey in The Sydney Morning Herald has remembered the Martyrs again because yesterday was the anniversary of their deaths on 12 August 1942 [this date may not be accurate. Other references say the beheadings occurred on 6 August 1942.]. Alan has publicised further information in the form of letters by Mavis Parkinson and May Hayman, the fiancee of the Rev Vivian Redlich [photo above].
