Michael Marai (1948 – November 3, 2021) was a Papua New Guinean

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...

and bishop emeritus of

Goroka Goroka is the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. It is a town of approximately 19,000 people (2000), above sea level. It has an airport (in the centre of town) and is on the "Highlands Highway", about 285 km from L ...

. He served as the Bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Goroka The Roman Catholic Diocese of Goroka is a suffragan diocese of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mount Hagen based in Goroka. It was erected Vicariate Apostolic in 1959 and elevated to a diocese in 1966. In 1982, part of the diocese was separate ...

from 1988 until in 1994. Marai was born in 1948 on Mushu Island,

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 Territory of Pap ...

, in present-day

East Sepik Province East Sepik is a province in Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Wewak. East Sepik has an estimated population of 433,481 people (2010 census) and is 43,426 km square in size. History Cherubim Dambui was appointed as East Sepik's first premier ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. He was ordained as a

Roman 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 layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

on December 6, 1976. He was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Goroka on October 25, 1988. Marai served as the bishop until he stepped down on November 15, 1994. Marai died from cancer at the Wirui Retirement House in

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. ...

, Papua New Guinea, on November 3, 2021, at the age of 73. His funeral mass was held at the Wirui Sound Shell in Wirui on November 16, 2021. He was buried in Wirui Cemetery alongside other PNG bishops, including Leo Arkfeld and Cherubim Dambui.

References

1948 births 2021 deaths Roman Catholic bishops of Goroka Papua New Guinean Roman Catholic bishops Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II People from East Sepik Province People from the Eastern Highlands Province {{Oceania-RC-bishop-stub