U.S.-born Capuchin buried where he served, in Papua New Guinea

Published: 2006-07-18

PITTSBURGH (CNS) -- When he died, U.S.-born Capuchin Father Dunstan Jones was en route home to Papua New Guinea and the people he had served for 44 years. "He wanted to be with his people," said Capuchin Father DeSales Young. It was a pull felt by other early missioners of the order to the remote, undeveloped island country in the South Pacific. "I tell them they're really living in the Acts of the Apostles," said Father Donald Lippert, vicar provincial of the Capuchins' St. Augustine Province, based in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood. "They're the first to bring the good news to the people. There aren't too many areas like that left in the world." The Pittsburgh Capuchins began their ministry in Papua New Guinea 51 years ago, and Father Jones arrived seven years later. "He was just a wonderful missionary, alive with God's love for people," Father Lippert told the Pittsburgh Catholic, newspaper of the Pittsburgh Diocese. Father Jones became a naturalized citizen of Papua New Guinea in 1976. He was 72 when he died June 26 in Denver on his way back to the South Pacific. He knew it would be his last trip because of advanced cancer. The Capuchins celebrated his funeral Mass July 1 at St. Augustine's, and then he was transported home to Papua New Guinea for burial.

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