Kiribati

Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is a country in Micronesia in the central Pacific Ocean. The permanent population is just over 110,000 (2015), more than half of whom live on Tarawa Atoll. The sovereign state comprises 32 atolls and reef islands and one raised coral island, Banaba. They have a total land area of 800 square kilometres and are dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometers.

After a request from Bishop Paul Mea to Provincial Br Greg Ryan, Br Bernard Blewman went to investigate in 1983. Despite its isolation from the rest of the Province it was seen to be “Champagnat country”, because of the isolation and the poverty. The first brothers went in 1984 and the post-primary school became St Louis High School. In 1986, the brothers opened a formation house and the first local brothers formed a community on the island of Marakei in the nineties. Since then, a growing number of Marists are working in St Louis and in the diocese. The presence of the brothers is marked by internationality: brothers from Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, and New Zealand have been and are involved in this Marist mission.