Cherubim Alfred Dambui, (23 February 1948 – 24 June 2010) was a Papua New Guinea politician and

Roman Catholic bishop In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an Holy orders in the Catholic Church, ordained Minister (Catholic Church), minister who holds the fullness of the Sacraments of the Catholic Church, sacrament of holy orders and is responsible for teachin ...

. Dambui became the first

Sepik The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the third largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River, Fly and Mamberamo River, Mamberamo. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provi ...

to be ordained a

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...

in 1974 and served as the first

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

East Sepik Province East Sepik is a province in Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Wewak. East Sepik has an estimated population of 450,530 people (2011 census) and is 43,426 km square in size. Its density is 10.4 people per square kilometer. History Cherubim D ...

beginning in 1976. Dambui also served as the

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Port Moresby The Archdiocese of Port Moresby () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea. Its cathedral is in St. Mary's Cathedral, in Port Moresby, National Capital District. History * Establis ...

, Papua New Guinea.

Biography

Early life

Dambui was born on 23 February 1948 in Timbunke,

East Sepik East Sepik is a province in Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Wewak. East Sepik has an estimated population of 450,530 people (2011 census) and is 43,426 km square in size. Its density is 10.4 people per square kilometer. History Cherubim ...

Territory of Papua and New Guinea The Territory of Papua and New Guinea , officially the Administrative Union of the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea, was established by an administrative union between the Australian-administered territories of Papua and New ...

. He was the oldest of his family's four sisters and six brothers born to his mother and father, Henry Nambau. Dambui attended Angoram Primary School in

Angoram Angoram is a town and seat of Angoram District in East Sepik Province in north-western Papua New Guinea. The area is noted for its rubber and cocoa plantations and the town is situated on the Sepik River The Sepik () is the longest river on th ...

from 1957 to 1961. Dambui then completed 7th–10th grades at

Kerevat National High School Kerevat National High School, also known as the Kerevat School of Excellence, is a government high school in the East New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) that takes admissions from throughout PNG for Grades 11 and 12. It was founded ...

, which he attended from 1961 until 1966. Dambui enrolled at St. John's minor

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

in 1966 for his 11th and 12th grade years. In 1968, Dambui entered the Holy Spirit Seminary in Bomana, where he studied for the priesthood for six years. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

for the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak is a suffragan diocese of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madang. It was elevated to a diocese in 1966. Bishops Bishops of Wewak *Camisio Teodoro Gellings, SS.CC. (1913−1918) *Adalberto Ottone Rielander, S ...

on 5 December 1974, becoming the first

to be ordained a Catholic priest.

Political career

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

gained independence from Australia in 1975. Prime Minister

Michael Somare Sir Michael Thomas Somare (9 April 1936 – 25 February 2021) was a Papua New Guinean politician. Widely called the " father of the nation" (), he was the first Prime Minister after independence. At the time of his death, Somare was also the lo ...

appointed Dambui as the first interim

in 1976, when the new provincial government was established. He served as the interim premier until 1979, when he became the permanent premier of East Sepik. Dambui remained in office as premier until 1983. Today, the head of East Sepik Province is now known as the governor due to the 1995 Provincial and Local Level Government Act.

Catholic Bishop

Dambui took a two-year

sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work; "an extended period of time intentionally spent on something that’s not your routine job." The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Bi ...

. He worked in several positions within the Catholic Church including a

rector, teacher and

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

. In 1995, Dambui became the

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

of the

, based in East Sepik. He worked in the Wewak diocese until 2000. Dambui was appointed the

of the

on 30 October 2000, and was ordained on 6 February 2001. He remained in this position until his death in 2010. Additionally, Dambui served as the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Sussar. Cherubim Dambui died of kidney failure on 24 June 2010 at a hospital in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, at the age of 62. A

memorial service A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...

, which was attended by dignitaries, including Prime Minister

and Lady

Veronica Somare Veronica Somare ( Kaiap; born 1946), known as Lady Somare, is a former first lady of Papua New Guinea. Her husband, Sir Michael Somare, was the country's first prime minister and is known as the "father of the nation." Veronica Somare has been h ...

, was held at the shrine of the Don Bosco Technology Institute (DBITT) in

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

on 30 June 2010. In his eulogy, Prime Minister Somare spoke of his relationship with Dambui, ''"I have always been impressed with people who could accommodate and balance a traditional culture with Western and even Christian values...I say this because the late Bishop Dambui was a master

craftsman Craftsman may refer to: A profession *Artisan, a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative *Master craftsman, an artisan who has achieved such a standard that he may establish his own workshop and take o ...

, musician and a truly modest Melanesian leader who believed the words of God which he spread amongst us...My family connection with the late bishop existed long before we actually met, my uncle and aunty were employed at the Angoram Health centre where Henry Nambau – father of the late bishop also worked and lived with his family. It was at this time that the bond between our families was first established."''

Powes Parkop Powes Parkop (born 18 February 1962) is a Papua New Guinean lawyer and politician, from Manus Province. A former lecturer in Law at the University of Papua New Guinea, he is the current governor of Port Moresby and the National Capital District ...

, the governor of the

National Capital District A capital district, capital region, or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any politic ...

and mayor of Port Moresby, donated a US$1,777 cheque to the Papuan Catholic Church to cover the costs of the funeral. Dambui's body was flown to

Wewak Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. It is on the northern coast of the island of New Guinea. It is the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. It is the see city (seat) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak. ...

, and flown by

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

to his birthplace, Timbunke, for viewing. He was then laid in state at the East Sepik provincial capital building in Wewak. A Roman Catholic funeral was held at the Christ the King cathedral in Wirui, Papua New Guinea. Dambui was survived by his father, Henry Nambau, who was married to his mother for more than fifty years, until her death in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dambui, Cherubim 1948 births 2010 deaths 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinean politicians 21st-century Roman Catholic titular bishops People from East Sepik Province Grand Companions of the Order of Logohu Officers of the Order of the British Empire Deaths from kidney failure Roman Catholic bishops of Port Moresby Papua New Guinean Roman Catholic bishops

Biography

Early life

Political career

Catholic Bishop

See also

References