Melsisi is the principal Catholic mission on Pentecost, established in the late nineteenth century by French Marist missionaries on the west coast. The mission church is the largest building on the island, with a high-pitched roof, painted timber interior, and a setting on a bluff above a small bay that is one of the more striking pieces of architecture in northern Vanuatu.
The mission also runs a school and a small clinic, and has long been the centre of the francophone Catholic community on Pentecost — a counterweight to the largely Anglican and Presbyterian villages further south. Mass on Sundays is sung in a mix of Latin, French, and the local language, and visitors are welcome.