Cornelius Giris

I was born on the first of January 1974 on the island of Buka, Papua New Guinea. At the age of six I started school in our local school which was run by Marist missionaries. After completing primary school in 1987 I was send to a secondary school from 1988 to 1992. My secondary schooling was disrupted by the Bougainville Crisis. My high school days were no different from what is experienced today by so many young people. I had to face the big decision about what I wanted to do with my life.

After completing school I was accepted at a teachers' training college but decided after a month that it was not what I wanted. Looking back now, I think I went because all my mates were going. I went back home and worked with my brother in an electrical company. I went through all the normal things that young people go through and even thought about settling down with the girl I was seeing at that time. Regardless of all these things I was never at peace with what I was doing and felt that God had planned something else for me. I can still recall the look on my ex-girl friend's face when I told her that I wanted to go to the seminary. She must have thought I was crazy because we had always talked about settling down one day. Looking back now, I think God had a claim on me because of the way things turned out.

In 1997 I entered the minor seminary and was there for 2 years. It was there that I decided to join the Society of Mary after visits from the Marist superior of Bougaiville. I guess what attracted me was the spirituality of the Marists and the type of the work they do. In 1999 I was sent to the "Marist Come and See" program for nine months. I entered the major seminary in Bomana (PNG) in 2000. In 2001 I entered the Marist Novitiate in Tutu (Fiji) and was professed as a Marist on the 28th of December 2002. After Novitiate I went back to Bomana for a year and was asked to come over to New Zealand to do a degree in theology.

I have read somewhere that whenever a religious superior visits a community, he or she has only to ask one question and the question is, Are you happy? I have never regretted the choices I made and I am happy I made them. I am still faced with the usual struggles of life but deep down I feel that this is where God wants me to be.