Columban Mission - May 2010

The Magazine of the Missionary Society of St. Columban

May 2010

Fiji:

New Horizons in Columban Mission

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Volume 93 - Number 3 - May 2010

o n t e n t s

The Issue Theme: New horizons in Columban mission in multifaceted, multicultural Fiji

Columban Mission Published By The Columban Fathers

Columban Mission (Issn 0095-4438) is published eight times a year. A minimum donation of $10 a year is required to receive a subscription.

Send address and other contact information changes by calling our toll-free number, by sending the information to our mailing address or by e-mailing us at missionoffice@columban.org.

Mailing Address: Columban Mission PO Box 10 St. Columbans, NE 68056-0010

The Mission Cycle Turns 360 Degrees

12 “Thanks Be To God I Already Had The Language!”

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4 The Yean Sin House

The lay missionary program’s beginning in Fiji

6 Work on the Islands

Mission in Fiji takes many forms.

9 The Heart of the Jungle

Columbans build a parish center in the remote Fijian bush.

11 A Week in the Life

Embracing multicultural Fiji

15 Farewell and Thanks Archbishop

The first indigenous Fijian Archbishop retires after 34 years of service.

17 To Develop Together

Building trust and overcoming racial stereotypes

21 Fiji Day Celebrations in the Philippines

A multicultural feast for the eyes, ears and stomach

Departments 3 In So Many Words 23 From the Director

The Invitation of Global Mission

On the cover: Columban lay missionary Monika Lewatikana on her home island in Fiji CM 002 final.indd 2

Toll-Free Phone: 877/299-1920 Website: WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG Copyright © 2010, The Columban Fathers (Legal Title) Publisher Fr. Arturo Aguilar, SSC directorusa@columban.org

Editor Sr. Jeanne Janssen, CSJ jjanssen@columban.org

Managing Editor Kate Kenny kkenny@columban.org

Editorial Assistant Connie Wacha cwacha@columban.org

Editorial Board Fr. Arturo Aguilar, SSC Jesus Manuel Vargas Gamboa Sr. Jeanne Janssen, CSJ Kate Kenny Jeff Norton Fr. Richard Steinhilber, SSC Connie Wacha

The Missionary Society of St. Columban was founded in 1918 to proclaim and witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ.

The Society seeks to establish the Catholic Church where the Gospel has not been preached, help local churches evangelize their laity, promote dialogue with other faiths, and foster among all baptized people an awareness of their missionary responsibility.

Cover and Graphic Design by Kristin Ashley

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Being Missionary Today

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or me, being missionary today is responding to the question: If Jesus were here now, how would He deal with this particular situation I am facing? However, this is easier said than done!

Listening to my fellow lay missionaries, and affirmed by my own faith journey, I can comfortably say that being missionary today is about relationships — with one’s self, with others and with God. The elements of being motivated by faith, crossing boundaries of culture, race, language and creed and moving out of our comfort zones in order to build relationships with people, reflect the missionary life attributes of presence, witness and service.

The life of active presence among the people calls for an openness to journey with them in their joy as well as their pain and take initiatives in responding to the needs of the most vulnerable in society. “I came that you may have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10). The life of witness calls missionaries to be true to the Gospel; to take on the attitude of Christ in our daily encounters with others bringing them God’s love, offering them a life of hope often in the face of hopelessness. And the life of service calls us to offer our services to the local Church and make it more missionary, promoting missionary vocations, reaching out in our communities and networking with others in the effort to build the n o any ords Kingdom together.

By Serafina Ranadi Vuda The missionary of today is invited to be open to the challenges while trusting in the Spirit. We work with the people to promote and build a more just society which values human dignity and all forms of creation and life. “All things were made through Him and without Him nothing came to be” (John 1: 3).

The modern missionary is engaging people of other cultures and faiths in multi-ethnic and multi-faith communities to dialogue in order to reconcile differences and build life-giving relationships. Mission is the accompanying and advocating for migrants who are often ignored, unseen and unheard, as they struggle to provide for themselves and their families.

Mission and missionaries are present in the realities of environmental, social, economic and political crises. There we are committed to collaborating and working as partners with our fellow lay missionaries, the ordained, parishioners and other groups inside and outside Church structures who share a common vision of building a more just and humane society, announcing the Good News and denouncing acts of injustice.

Finally, being missionary means moving where the Spirit blows and discovering each time the newness and life of the mysterious presence of God in the people we minister among, in the diverse situations of their lives and in their joys, needs and struggles in which we share.

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“A life unlike your own can be your teacher.”

– St. Columban

Originally from Fiji, Serafina Ranadi Vuda is the Columban Lay Missionary Coordinator and lives and works in Ireland when she is not traveling to countries where Columbans serve.

www.columban.org

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The Yean Sin House The Lay Missionary Program’s Beginning in Fiji

By Fr. Charles Duster

“I’ll give it a try.” For most new initiatives, someone has to step forward and say “yes.” The year was 1993, and the initiative was the newly formed Columban lay missionary program. The person who said yes was Father Ed Quinn, an Omaha native, who at that time was working in Fiji. The Columban Society had agreed to start a lay missionary program, but each country was to begin implementing the program when it was deemed appropriate. Fiji was anxious to start, so Fr. Ed, a veteran missionary who spent twelve years in Korea before arriving in Fiji in 1973, volunteered to serve as the first lay missionary coordinator.

There was no handbook and few guidelines. It was a “fly by the seat of your pants” approach in the early days. The word went out to Fiji’s 33 parishes; applicants were interviewed, screened and accepted. A house was rented behind the Suva market, and basic furniture was acquired to fill it. The

99 steps from street level to the front door of the house provided an ongoing fitness test.

An orientation and training program was developed, calling upon the generosity and expertise of Columbans and other priests and religious teaching in the regional seminary and elsewhere in Suva.

Basic courses were developed and adapted. Scripture, theology, anthropology, cross-cultural experiences, training in personal growth and counseling skills were some of the components of the initial preparation. The first team of four young women and two men was commissioned by Archbishop Petero Mataca in early 1994 and assigned to Ireland. In the ensuing years, teams were assigned to Chile, Peru, Philippines and most recently Korea and Pakistan.

As one could imagine, the Fijian lay missionaries’ arrival in Ireland caused quite a stir. One writer wondered if they might be the first Catholic missionaries to

Fr. Charles Duster and Fijian lay missionary Serafina Vuda in Peru

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go to missionary sending Catholic Ireland since St. Patrick in 432.

After a period of orientation, they were assigned to three different parishes staffed by diocesan clergy.

They found plenty of missionary work awaiting them, particularly in visitation of families and the elderly and engaging with young people.

Meanwhile, back in Fiji, the other arm of the Columban program, the incoming dimension, was up and running. Shortly before the Fijians departed for Ireland, a small team of lay missionaries arrived from Korea. The group included two young women, Yean Sin and Yean Han, who had already become good friends before they were accepted for the program as they had taught kindergarten together in an impoverished area in Korea where hepatitis had been endemic.

Providentially, Fr. Quinn spoke Korean fluently so he was most helpful in their orientation and adjustment. The two women were

Fr. Charles Duster visits the grave site of Yean Sin Lim. www.columban.org

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completing their initial study of the Hindi language as they prepared for their first parish assignment in Ba, an area of Fiji that has many IndoFijian communities. At that critical moment, Yean Sin, just 23 years old, was hospitalized. It turned out that she had advanced hepatitis but had told no one of her symptoms.

The staff at Suva’s Colonial War Memorial Hospital provided the best possible care, but Yean Sin died on November 4, 1994.

Yean Sin’s parents arrived from Korea and were with her during her final days and hours. As nonChristians, (Yean Sin was the only Catholic in the family) they just assumed that she would be cremated, and they would take her ashes back to Korea for burial.

However, when they witnessed the outpouring of grief and devotion to their daughter at the wake and funeral service, held at the Columban parish of Tamavua, they readily agreed to have her buried in Fiji saying, “This had already become her home.” A year later, both parents were baptized in Korea and more recently, a younger sister was baptized as well.

In her short life as a lay missionary in Fiji, Yean Sin touched many people by her smile and good humor, her pleasant manner and above all, by her example and enthusiasm for mission. Despite their grief and sadness at her death, the Columbans were proud that such a dedicated missionary would await eternity alongside some of the Columban priests who died in Fiji.

From its early fragile and sad beginnings, through God’s grace, the lay missionary program in Fiji has gone from strength to strength in the past sixteen years.

On the mission sending side of the program, eight teams have been sent overseas since the first group left for Ireland. Many of these young Fijian and Tongan men www.columban.org

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Fr. Ed Quinn with Korean lay missionaries, Yean Sin, Bok Ja and Yean Han

and women have served a second, three-year term abroad and several have become long-term (more than six years of service) lay missionaries and are still engaged either in the overseas missions or in leadership capacities.

One long-term Fijian lay missionary, Serafina Vuda, who served in Chile and Peru, is now coordinator of the Society-wide Central Leadership Team for the entire lay missionary program which at present involves 67 missionaries working in eleven different countries. On the mission receiving side of the program, Fiji has received teams from Chile, the Philippines and most recently Peru.

The assuming of leadership roles within the program by the lay missionaries themselves is most encouraging. In Fiji, I succeeded Fr. Quinn as the coordinator of the program. After six years, I was replaced by a young woman who had served in Ireland. She, in turn, was succeeded by a Tongan lay missionary, Losana Ve’ehala, who had been missioned in the Philippines. Three years ago Losana was succeeded by the present coordinator, lay missionary Katarina Mukai, who had worked for ten years in Chile. Most of the other national programs have similar developments. It bodes well for the future.

Of course there have been physical developments as well. In

my six years as coordinator, we rented five different houses to serve as residence/training centers depending on the need at the time.

Eventually we were able to acquire a simple, small, three bedroom house right next door to our Columban seminarians’ formation house. The lay missionary house recently underwent a small extension to accommodate larger numbers. The current coordinator, Katarina, and the community decided to call it the “Yean Sin House,” so that is its official name.

As the candidates in training look out the front door and windows, directly across the narrow frontage road are Suva Harbor and the blue Pacific Ocean. The view is a constant reminder of that commission of Christ: “You then are to go and make disciples of all the nations…and, remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”

The journey for the Columban lay missionaries is starting from a very special departure point. We think that perhaps Yean Sin has a hand in pushing off the stern of the canoe, the bili-ni-mua, or final part of the traditional Fijian departure ceremonies as we continue to send Fijian lay missionaries forward to “…make disciples of all the nations….” CM Fr. Charles Duster lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.

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L-R: Christmas on Kadavu; Students at the Pacific Theological College; Gathering in celebration

Work on the Islands Mission in Fiji Takes Many Forms

By Fr. Donal McIlraith

Christmas on Kadavu

Cyclone Mick delayed my departure for Kadavu during December 2009, but I finally got on an inter-island ferry. Eight hours later I was on the Kadavu wharf.

Since my arrival was unexpected, I was very happy when young Siga Seeto arrived and took me to Nasalia, my first stop. I had baptized Siga on my first visit to Kadavu nineteen years ago.

I know everyone here very well from my many visits. Nasalia is a tiny settlement nestled on 6

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a bay, about ten miles from the government station. The total Catholic population is about 150 and growing. I had a busy weekend with confessions, baptisms and visiting and anointing the sick. I also did some lectio divina for the community on the Christmas story.

There we had our first Midnight Mass on December 21. God’s ways are strange because this early celebration enabled Catechist Jack Lockington to celebrate his last Christmas. He died unexpectedly in Nasalia on December 24. It

was Jack’s grandmother, Elizabeth Johns, who brought the Catholic faith to this district some 100 years ago.

On December 22 I got back on the ferry and traveled three hours to Naidiri which was once the hub of the Catholic Church in Kadavu. The historians tell us that in the mid-1800s there were 3,000 Catholics on these islands.

Today there are no more than 500 on all of Kadavu. Naidiri once had a school with the Cluny Sisters and a house with a resident priest. Now two classrooms and a catechist’s house are all that remain of this once bustling area. I slept in one of the classrooms. The other classroom serves as the chapel. And so here, by oil lamp, we celebrated our second Midnight Mass on Kadavu with the 30 remaining loyal Catholics. www.columban.org

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The next day, Catechist Bale arrived with his boat and spirited us off to Ono, the northernmost island of the Kadavu group. Here we celebrated Kadavu’s third Christmas. This village, Vabea, was hard hit by Cyclone Mick, and they were still cleaning up when we arrived. Trees were down all over the village but had been cut to enable movement. Crops were also damaged. The government boat was anchored off the beach.

Officials were assessing damages and had helped out by using their power saws to cut the trees.

Despite the damage caused by the cyclone, there was a happy mood in the village. Many relatives had come home for Christmas and the New Year. In this festive atmosphere we had our Midnight Mass with about 100 people.

Four children made their first communion during the Mass. Their eagerness and readiness to welcome Christ seemed like a Christmas parable for all of us.

On St. Stephen’s Day we went by boat to another village, Narikoso, with a Catholic population of about 50. I had half expected that we would have a fourth Christmas here, but they assured me they had already celebrated it and would like the Mass of St. Stephen. This village was also damaged by the cyclone. Thank God there was no loss of life in this part of Fiji though elsewhere eight people perished.

I then made my way back by speedboat to my first stop, Nasalia, and there celebrated New Year and buried Jack on January 2. Who knows? I may be buried here myself some day! The next day, the kids put on an Epiphany drama after Mass. The kings arrived from the East, inquired from Herod where the Christ Child was to be born and then followed the star to Bethlehem. On the www.columban.org

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way they collected $150 from the congregation. They presented the congregation’s gift to the Christ Child which will go to the papal Holy Childhood fund for the children of the world. Finally, I went back to Suva to get ready for school. Kadavu gets a priest two or three times a year. In between times, the catechists in each village lead the people in prayer and support them in their Christian lives. They are praying that one day Kadavu will have a resident priest again.

Fiji and the Missionary Mandate

“Go, therefore, teach all nations…” are Jesus’ last words to the Church according to Mt. 28:20. The ordination of Archbishop Mataca as bishop in 1974 was probably the key factor in changing Fiji from “mission receiving country” to “mission sending country.” The Archbishop was seriously committed to making the archdiocese an evangelizing force, and today we see that Fiji is fulfilling the missionary mandate in a marvelous way.

The first overseas missionaries from Fiji were lay people— anticipating even at the turn of the last century Vatican II’s affirmation that the whole Church is missionary. There were 150 Catholics of New Hebrides (Vanuatu) origin in Suva and in 1898 two Marists took some of them back to New Hebrides to begin the Church on the Island of Pentecost.

Today the parish of Melsisi which they helped start is itself producing priests, Sisters and brothers. In 1899 Bishop Vidal brought nine Fijian catechists to the Solomons to help start the Church there.

The Church in Fiji grew and was consolidated under Bishops Nicholas (1919-1941) and Foley

(1944-1967). In 1923 Bishop Nicholas set up a seminary in Fiji, but the first ordination did not come until 1939. Fr. Tito Daurewa, SM, was the first Fijian to be ordained. After that came a trickle of priests but that became a steady stream when the Pacific Regional Seminary was established in Suva, with fifteen students, in 1972. The seminary currently has 130 seminarians and many of these are missionaries. Columbans study there.

The Columbans arrived in Fiji in 1952 but did not open a seminary program here until 1986. The Columbans are unique in that we focus only on mission. Among the first seminarians was Ioane Gukibau who was ordained in 1994. Fr. Ioane served for twelve years in Peru and is currently Vice Director of the Fiji Region. Others followed Fr. Ioane and today five men from this program minister abroad and there are six in the formation program. Fr. William Lee and Fr. Vincent Ratnam both work in Chile. Fr. Palenapa Tavo is missioned to Peru, Fr. Felisiano Fatu to Pakistan. Seminarian Taaremon Matauea, a Banaban from Rabi Island in Fiji, serves in Taiwan.

Since the Columban lay missionary program was launched in 1993, 48 Fijian lay missionaries have gone to six other countries: Ireland, the Philippines, Peru, Chile, Korea and Pakistan. The Pakistan mission from Fiji began with two young men, Peter and Paula, who left Fiji on February 12, 2010. There are currently fourteen Fijian and Tongan lay missionaries overseas. Right now the Columbans are the only ones sending lay men and women on mission from Fiji.

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L-R: Visenia Navelinikoro, Fr. Ioane Gukibau, Kata Mukai

Parishioners on Kadavu

sending countries of the Catholic Church. Archbishop Petero Mataca has written many pastoral letters encouraging mission during his 30 years at the helm. The Lord has blessed his efforts mightily. From an archdiocese that numbers about 80,000 people in all, some 80 missionaries are carrying out the missionary mandate in 2010.

So when Dr. Tevita Havea, their New Testament professor, was suddenly recalled to be General Secretary of the Free Methodist Church in his native Tonga, I was not too surprised to get a call from the dean of the P.T.C. “Donal, can you help us out?” “Can you make things easy for me and put on a course on the Apocolypse?” “I’ll get back to you.” So, some days later the dean called again. “In fact, it is a few years since we had an M.A. course on the Apocolypse. You’re on.”

And so for the next eleven weeks I explored this wonderful book about the Resurrection with seven eager students, five men and two women. Four were Tongans from the Methodist Church, one was a Congregational pastor from Tuvalu and two were Anglican priests. It was a rich mix indeed but par for the course at the P.T.C. Twice a year we have a joint ecumenical gathering between the two colleges. My personal highlight during the course was being able to preach to the two colleges on Rev. 2:4, “I have this against you, that you have abandoned your first love.” In the Book of Revelation, the Risen Jesus is presented as “the one loving us.” The verb “to love”

An Ecumenical Experience in Fiji

The biggest Church in Fiji is the Methodist. The next largest is the Catholic Church followed by the Assembly of God, the Anglicans and the Seventh Day Adventists.

Traditionally these Churches have worked together in a group called the Fiji Council of Churches.

Today there are more than 1,000 denominations registered in Fiji.

For more than twenty years now, I have been teaching Sacred Scripture at the seminary of the local Bishops’ Conference (CEPAC). This is based in Suva and serves about twelve dioceses throughout the Pacific. Up the road is the Ecumenical Pacific Theological College opened by Archbishop Ramsey of Canterbury in 1964. We have a close working relationship between the colleges.

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in this context is only used of Jesus, not of disciples. The response He seeks is described as “works” and Rev. 2:19 describes these as “love, faith, service and endurance.” The heart of these is love. So what is most important for each Church and each individual is to love Jesus.

This realization was also behind Pope Paul VI’s invitation to the Patriarch Athenagoras to meet him in the Holy Land in 1964. His reasoning was – let us each bring our Church to Jesus. He alone, through His Spirit, can make us one.

For us in the Pacific, we must each see to it that Jesus does not accuse us, as He does the Ephesians, “You have abandoned your first love.” Then we will make progress in unity.

Life in Fiji is full of both rewards and challenges. It is with joy that I serve the Fijian people and help to educate the next generation of priests, catechists and lay missionaries. CM Fr. Donal McIlraith lives and works in Fiji.

www.columban.org

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The Heart of the Jungle

Columbans Build a Parish Center in the Remote Fijian Bush

By Kate Kenny

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n 1973, just three short years after the British granted Fiji independence, Columban Fr. Ed Quinn arrived in Fiji where he would live and work for the next thirty-four years. A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Fr. Ed spent twelve years in Korea and five years in the U.S. doing vocation work and launching the Columban Fathers’ Korean apostolate in www.columban.org

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Chicago, Illinois, before his assignment to Fiji. After the difficulty he encountered learning the Korean language, a mere two months of Fijian language school provided the skills Fr. Ed needed to communicate.

With the ability to communicate established, Fr. Ed embraced his new island home. Comprised of 322 islands and 522 smaller islets, only 106 of Fiji’s islands are inhabited.

While Fiji covers a total area of 75,000 square miles, roughly 10% is land mass. The island of Viti Levu is home to Suva, the capital city and nearly 75% of the population.

The islands are lush, covered in thick tropical forests, and are quite mountainous.

Following short stints in an island parish and as the regional bursar for the Society, in 1975 Fr. Ed was appointed to a jungle parish on Vanua Levu. When he arrived by boat, the only means of transportation, Fr. Ed found the local church and the area boarding school on the coast. The school served 300 students with half of the students in grades one through six and the other half in grades seven through nine. The students came from eight remote villages further inland. Parents would visit their children at Christmas and Easter break; students would return to their villages for the summer break.

The distances from the villages to the school were too great for more frequent visits.

The $20.00 per semester tuition covered the students’ educational materials, sleeping quarters and tea and sugar. The students were responsible for fishing, hunting or growing the rest of their food. Lay volunteers and assistants did prepare the food for the students. And, when parents would slaughter cows for funerals and weddings, they would often send part of the meat to the school. With the children in school for approximately ten years, the separation was hard on the families and the villages.

Soon, the Fijian government passed an ordinance that primary and secondary schools needed to be separate. The men of the village, a Fijian priest and a Columban, Fr. John Doyle, met for three days around the yaqona bowl. Yaqona is often regarded as the Fijian “national drink,” and turning down an offer to drink from the bowl is considered insulting. Yaqona is made from the root of a pepper tree, ground into a powder and mixed with water in the bowl. It May 2010

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Fiji Vanua Levu

Yasawa Group Mamanuca Group

Taveuni

Viti Levu Suva Kadavu Group

Fr. Ed Quinn, friends and lay missionaries enjoyed fellowship in Fiji.

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Lau Group

Moala Group

South Pacific Ocean

Fr. Ed Quinn, fellow Columbans and lay missionaries

produces a calming effect on the body, although it leaves the mind clear. For the yaqona ceremony, all guests sit on the floor in a circle.

The yaqona is offered in a small bowl to each guest in turn.

Following their three days of discussion and fueled by the yaqona, the men decided to build the primary school in an inland location in another county and leave the secondary school at the parish center on the coast. In much less time than three days, and without benefit of the yaqona bowl, the women decided this was not a good idea. They decided that the two schools would be built in a location central to the eight villages in what happened to be the middle of the jungle. The students would board Sunday evening through Friday noon and then walk home to their villages for the weekend.

Koro Sea

The students would spend less time separated from their families and their villages.

Once it was decided, work began. The location for the new schools and parish center was in the middle of the jungle. Aside from its relative central location to the outlying eight villages, there was nothing except jungle at the site. In fact, the place was so remote and untouched by humans that there were no mosquitoes or rats, two pests that need humans and their detritus to survive.

The villagers cut down the jungle growth with machetes and planted cassava. The flour made from the roots of the cassava plant is called tapioca and is one of the largest sources of carbohydrates for human beings in the world.

To pay for building materials, the the villagers harvested sugarcane.

With the proceeds from the cane, they purchased $10,000 worth of lumber for the two dormitories, three classrooms and the dining and kitchen area. Mass was celebrated in one of the classrooms.

They later built a priest’s house, although the first priest’s house was what could charitably be called a shack with a gunny sack door. A convent, a church and teachers’ houses completed the construction project.

Fr. Ed spent eight years in the middle of the jungle at the parish center before moving into administration and formation work in the Fiji Region. In addition to his work in the jungle parish, Fr. Ed started the lay missionary program in Fiji and welcomed the first Columban lay missionaries from another country to Fiji.

Today, the parish is still active and thriving, still educating students and still residing in the middle of the jungle.

Fr. Ed Quinn left Fiji in 2007. He lives in St. Columbans, Nebraska, and works at the Mission Office. CM Kate Kenny is the managing editor of Columban Mission magazine in St. Columbans, Nebraska.

www.columban.org

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A Week in the Life Embracing Multicultural Fiji

By Fr. Patrick Colgan

ometimes when we go through an intense period in our lives, it is only afterwards that we can look back and reflect on the meaning of it. I had such a week in Fiji right before I left for my vacation last year. I was running from one function to another without the opportunity to notice the wonderful tapestry being unfolded in front of me.

The week began with the graduation of Catholic teachers from Corpus Christi College, a school with which Columbans have a long association. The principal mentioned the Columban involvement with the school at the graduation ceremony. The Archbishop sent out the new teachers during Mass in the cathedral. Traditional ceremonies,

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Fr. David Arms, a newly installed catechist, Fr. Patrick Colgan

feasting and dancing continued long into the evening as people celebrated after the graduation.

The next day was the graduation ceremony for the new Fijianspeaking catechists who were returning from their three year training period at a center built

by Columban Fr. Jim Gavigan.

Fr. Gavigan built the center to train lay people to be “fathers and mothers” of faith in their villages.

The Archbishop reminisced in his homily about his dream of Fiji being a self-providing, selfpropagating and self-evangelizing Church. The newly installed catechists are surely a tangible sign of that dream becoming a reality.

The following evening, a number of Columban priests were invited to a fundraising dinner at

a Chinese restaurant for the Fiji Muslim Youth Sports’ Association.

The invitation prompted me to think about what a tolerant country Fiji is that we – two Catholic priests and youth leaders – would be welcome at and happy to contribute to such a cause.

The sentiment was strengthened when the main entertainment for the evening – Indian Bollywood dancing – was performed by a group of Fijian youth! Although the dinner was to raise funds for the Fiji Muslim Youth Sports’ Association, there was not a Muslim dancer in sight.

The next day a colleague and I took a trip to the jail to pick up a picture painted in the prison gallery. We then went to a Gujarati wedding ceremony, in which the bride and her companions get elaborate designs, called mehndi, drawn on their hands and arms with henna.

As I sat on the plane ready to depart Nadi and begin my vacation, I started reflecting on the events of the preceding days. I couldn’t help but think the words of Pope John Paul II on his pastoral visit in 1986, that Fiji has become “the way the world should be,” a place of tolerance and acceptance. CM Fr. Patrick Colgan is the Rector of Initial Formation in Fiji.

Graduation at Corpus Christi College www.columban.org

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The Mission Cycle Turns 360 Degrees Fiji Changes from Mission Receiving to Mission Sending

By Fr. Charles Duster

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arrived in Fiji on Christmas Eve, 1974, having earlier been missioned in Japan and on vocation ministry in the United States. I left Fiji on September 20, 2005, to take up my present assignment in Chicago. In those intervening thirty-one years, I was privileged to see the mission cycle turn 360 degrees. Let me explain what I mean.

One of the first people I met in Fiji was Joe Lee, a parishioner in Holy Family Parish in Labasa, the principal town on Fiji’s second largest island, Vanua Levu. From the time he was a young man, Joe was involved in the development of Holy Family Parish and schools.

The parish was founded in 1967 by Columban Father Dick O’Sullivan, who used to celebrate Mass in the movie theater after parishioners

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swept up the peanut shells from the night before.

Labasa was then a sleepy sugar mill town with dusty streets. Now it is the busy center of the Northern Division of Fiji and over the years a church, rectory, convent, elementary and secondary schools with over 800 students and chapels in several nearby villages have been built and extended. Columban priests still serve there.

Joe Lee has been one of those closely involved in this process. A hard-working and successful farmer, Joe always seemed to have time for the Church. Be it by way of hard physical work, advice, knowing the right contact, whatever, the Church was top priority for Joe. The old proverb has it, “An apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

Joe and his wife Unaisi raised a

wonderful family of nine children.

Their fourth child, William, was ordained a Columban on August 2, 2008, and is now serving in Chile.

Fr. Willie did his final studies in Chicago, Illinois. When I asked him one day why he joined the Columbans, his answer was simple.

“All my years growing up I saw different Columban priests far from their home countries, being with the people and working hard to serve them and bring them Christ. I’ve always wanted to do the same.” And so he is. A revolution of the mission cycle: incoming from United States, Ireland, England, Australia, New Zealand, outgoing from Fiji.

In 1976, I was the first Columban assigned to Solevu Parish at the farthest tip of the same island. It was founded in 1861 by the Marist Fathers who served there for 115 years. The old mission is 110 miles from Labasa and sits on a lovely bay surrounded by hills. There are four Fijian villages nearby and a government station six miles away with three tiny retail shops. Replacing the Marists, I was named as pastor along with a newly ordained diocesan priest, Father Daunivucu, as associate pastor.

For the first several weeks two women living in the mission compound, Ulalia Lawa and a friend, brought us prepared food three times a day from their houses up a steep hill from the rectory. They did this in addition to preparing meals for their own families and continued until we engaged the services of a cook.

Ula’s husband, Leone, was involved in caring for the mission property and tending the school’s root crops and gardens. The Lawas had two children and the older, Katarina, was just a little tyke running around the mission in those days.

Fast forward to 1997. I was now coordinator of the Columban Lay WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

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1.

2.

5.

3.

4.

Clockwise from the top: 1. Fr. Ioane Gukibau and lay missionary Maopa Dulunaqio 2. Lay missionary Lusi with her sleeping son and sister 3. Lay missionary Monika Lewatikana with her Mapuche friends in Chile 4. Fr. Charles Duster and Archbishop Petero Mataca 5. Lay missionary Monika Lewatikana holding a Mapuche baby in Chile

Missionary Program which had been founded two years earlier

by Fr. Ed Quinn. Lo and behold, who applied for the program but “Little Kata,” now a mature young woman. It was a joy to return to Solevu, interview her and revisit the family. Kata was accepted, trained for ten months in Suva, the capital of Fiji, and was assigned to Chile where she served ten years in difficult missions there among the indigenous Mapuche people.

Three years ago, at the request of the Columbans in Fiji, Kata WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

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was reassigned back to her home country to serve as the coordinator of the Lay Mission Program there.

So the mission cycle has made another complete 360 degree revolution.

There are other examples. Fr. Ioane Gukibau was the second Fijian ordained as a Columban in 1994. His grandfather, Josefo Dau Gukibau, served as the captain of the archdiocesan boat for decades and braved many stormy seas. Fr. Ioane’s parents, Mika and Ana, are involved in many parish and

archdiocesan activities. Again the apple didn’t fall very far from the tree. Fr. Ioane served many years in parish ministry and seminarian formation in Peru and is now back in Fiji as the Vice Director of the region, assistant in our Columban seminarian formation house and vocation director for the country.

You get the idea – another rotation of 360 degrees.

When the Columbans were invited to Fiji in 1952 and sent there by the Vatican’s Mission Congregation, we were assigned May 2010

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Above: Frs. William Lee and Charles Duster in Chicago, Illinois To the right: Fr. Ioane Gukibau in Peru

three existing parishes and asked to establish a fourth. Since those early years, we have served in those parishes and many others as well as in many different and varied capacities within the Archdiocese of Suva which encompasses the entire country. In my own experience, for example, I served as pastor or associate pastor in five different parishes, as vicar general to the first indigenous archbishop, Petero Mataca, as the Columban Lay Mission Coordinator and as a part time lecturer at the regional seminary in Suva. Other Columbans, in addition to fulfilling their parish assignments, have specialized in ministry to the Indo-Fijian communities requiring learning the Hindustani language, full-time teaching and formation of seminarians and of Catholic teachers, justice and peace work, linguistic and translation 14

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specialization, hospital chaplaincy, administration and the list goes on.

There is little chance to get bored under the swaying coconut palms.

In recent years, Columbans have ordained priests from Fiji and nearby Tonga. Those Columbans are ministering in Pakistan, Chile and Peru. Nine teams of lay missionaries have served or are serving in those countries as well as the Philippines, Ireland and Korea. As we older Columbans become more conscious of graying or disappearing hair and a little less spring in the step, it is a real joy every time that mission cycle clicks another revolution. It is a wonderful grace to experience these young men and women being attracted to the Columban Society and sharing our hopes and vision.

That vision is simple: to share the Good News that Christ brought to the world by crossing

boundaries of country, language and culture. Our patron saint, St. Columban, back in the sixth century, said it more simply: Peregrinari pro Christo, to be a pilgrim for Christ. As younger people from the various countries where Columbans have been working for the past 92 years join in the pilgrimage, we welcome them.

Together we strive, in the words of the Columban Constitutions “to be witnesses to the universal bond of love which should unite people as children of the Father.� CM

Fr. Charles Duster lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.

WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

3/26/10 9:31 AM

Farewell and Thanks Archbishop The First Indigenous Fijian Archbishop Retires After 34 Years of Service

By Fr. Frank Hoare A parishioner presents the whale’s tooth.

Traditional Rituals

Archbishop Petero Mataca

F

r. Petero Mataca, the first indigenous Fijian archbishop of Suva, on reaching the age of 75 in April 2008, submitted his resignation to Pope Benedict. After 34 years of service, Archbishop Mataca now awaits the appointment of his successor.

In June 2009, Archbishop Mataca came to confer the sacrament of Confirmation at Holy Family Parish, Labasa. The parish prepared a traditional Fijian www.columban.org

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ceremonial welcome and wanted to thank him for his pastoral leadership over the years.

Traditionally dressed parishioners from Dogoru village outside Labasa, some young Fijian students, parish council officers and women of the parish performed the main ceremonies. The whale’s tooth, the most important ceremonial item representing wealth in Fiji, figured prominently in the rituals.

Following the Archbishop’s arrival at the parish school on Saturday afternoon, he was presented with a whale’s tooth. The Archbishop was invited to leave his vehicle and be seated for his reception. Then another whale’s tooth was offered in welcome.

This was followed by the offering of a large yaqona bush. Yaqona is a species of pepper plant, found only in the south Pacific. The root of the yaqona is ground into a powder which makes a relaxing drink with many cultural uses.

After the presentation of the yaqona plant, water was then poured on some yaqona powder which had been readied and was waiting in a wooden bowl, called a tanoa. The soluble essence was extracted by vigorous kneading, and the dregs of the powder were strained off with a clump of natural fibers. These were squeezed occasionally during the mixing to estimate the correct concentration of the yaqona drink.

The warriors seated around and behind the tanoa sang an May 2010

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accompanying chant. Then the yaqona was squeezed into half of a coconut shell which was given to the Archbishop to drink. Following the yaqona ceremony, a feast including cooked root crops and a whole roast pig was offered to the Archbishop. Some women of the parish then brought mats to be offered to him also.

At this point the finance chairman offered another whale’s tooth expressing the gratitude of Labasa parish for the Archbishop’s wise leadership of the Church in 16

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Fiji. He wished the Archbishop a happy retirement. One of the parishioners placed a garland of flowers around the Archbishop’s neck. Others offered tea and cakes, after which the assembled parishioners all approached to shake hands.

Confirmation

On Sunday morning the sacrament of Confirmation was celebrated in a large, temporary shed, constructed on the grounds of the secondary school, because

the church was unable to hold the crowd. Archbishop Mataca confirmed almost 100 young people during the Mass. Some of the young people accompanied the lectionary to the ambo with singing and dancing.

After the readings and homily, the confirmands approached the altar one by one accompanied by his or her sponsor. The Archbishop had a few words with each person and then laid hands and anointed each of them with chrism.

Afterwards many confirmands posed with family and friends for photos before returning home for a celebratory meal.

Archbishop Mataca flew back to the capital that afternoon assured of the gratitude and best wishes of the parishioners of Labasa.

Rituals of respect, that predated the arrival of Christianity in Fiji by hundreds of years, had been integrated with the symbols of the Church’s sacraments. The lives of pastor and faithful were mutually enriched as they moved to another stage of life, a further gift of God. CM Fr. Frank Hoare lives and works in Fiji.

www.columban.org

3/26/10 9:59 AM

To Develop Together Building Trust and Overcoming Racial Stereotypes

By Fr. Frank Hoare

Funding a Project

“Give me a good reason why the Canada Fund should finance your facilitation project here in Labasa.

And don’t say that it is to facilitate a development project for poor women. That is what everyone says.

Give me a unique angle that will convince my boss!”

Adi Vasu of the Pacific Center for Peace-building (PCP) thought for a moment and said, “Here in Fiji, indigenous Fijian women’s groups can connect with government through their provinces. Our hierarchical culture demands that the leader has to be a chiefly woman. But if she is not committed to the group the other women can’t offend by bypassing her, so nothing happens. On the other hand, the more egalitarian WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

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Indo-Fijian women have a freedom to discuss and act but they don’t have a clear route to government.

A multiracial women’s group would pool the strengths of both. That is why you should fund our PCP program to facilitate the Vunicuicui Multiracial Women’s Forum in their cooperative store and seed bank projects.”

“O.K. that’s it!” said the Canada Fund lady. “I think we can buy into that project.”

Small Beginnings

PCP was formed at the beginning of 2009, with five members in the capital of Fiji, Suva, and with Adi Vasu (Fijian) and her assistant Sindu (Indo-Fijian) in the Labasa town office. Adi Vasu had previously met some members

of the rural Vunicuicui Women’s Forum at a workshop in Labasa.

She realized that it was a unique group and wanted to help.

Originally, a Labasa Multiracial Women’s Forum was started at the behest of some national politicians.

Julie Waqa, an indigenous Fijian woman, and Nirmala Wati, an Indo-Fijian woman from Vunicuicui settlement, ten miles from Labasa, independently attended the forum.

They met there, as enthusiasm for the Labasa forum began to falter. They decided to set up a women’s multiracial forum in Vunicuicui itself in September 2004. “I wanted Indian and Fijian women to work closely together, because we ladies just stayed at home doing housework,” said Julie.

They both gathered some friends and held meetings in their houses in rotation. Julie became president and Nirmala served as the vicepresident of the group.

The women shared their knowledge and skills with each other. “When the meeting was at my place, I would teach flower arrangement and landscaping,” reported Julie. “We used to organize raffles and collections, but we were not known to the Ministry May 2010

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for Women,” remembered Nirmala.

The Fijian women are Methodist and the Indo-Fijian women are Hindu. Prayers at the beginning of each meeting alternate between religions. At times the women met only once every two or three months, but the forum persevered.

Challenges

Language and communication is the biggest problem the forum faces. Some members only speak their mother tongue but not English or the other vernacular.

“Money is another problem,” according to Julie. “We need money, a better road and electricity. In the wet season the bus cannot travel to the end of the settlement and the farmers have to walk a long way with their market produce.” The forum persuaded a bus company to schedule a bus to leave for Labasa town at 6:00 a.m. so that the market vendors can get to town early.

Adi Vasu visited the Vunicuicui ladies and heard about their problems. She suggested that they send a petition for electricity to the government through the provincial office. The forum women decided their priority need was a shop near Nirmala’s house because there was none in that area of the settlement.

The forum, guided by the PCP facilitators, began to plan for a cooperative shop and eventually, when electricity arrives, an internet café for the children to use for school projects.

The area is also subject to heavy flooding. In the past the government has been slow in assisting the replanting of crops.

So a seed bank, situated in a Fijian village on high ground, became a second forum project.

Working Together

Nine members of the forum completed an eight day course in 18

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new business creation last June.

Most of the women who completed the course received small grants and loans from the government for individual projects. Their group project for the cooperative shop was also approved.

In July, the forum had a visit from the Ministry for Women.

She applauded the multiracial composition of the group and gave them a present of a sewing machine.

Adi Vasu invited me to facilitate two, one-day intercultural workshops for the forum. Because the work of this multicultural group of women is ongoing, I accepted gladly. I tried to help the Fijian and Indo-Fijian women understand how their different cultural values and communication styles could affect their work together.

The forum officers had one big blow-up. Unfortunately it occurred in front of the bank manager. An agreed change of contractor was not written in the business plan.

When this was discovered, just as the bank manager was to sign over the grant money to them, an emotional explosion occurred which split the group along racial lines. Racial stereotypes got a loud airing in public. Shame and fear resulted. However, the PCP facilitators later helped the group to reflect and learn from this.

Looking Back and Forward

Reflecting on their relationship over the last six years Julie said, “I learn a lot from the Indian women in our forum, and I like working with them. I learned how to budget and how they prepare food. We Fijians have to have a surplus of food. They prepare food nicely and just enough for each person.”

Nirmala commented, “I was raised and socialized with indigenous Fijians. Our Fijian neighbors were very friendly, and our family was very close to them. I can understand and speak a little Fijian.

I really like the forum.”

On January 20, 2010, I was honored to bless the shop site at the ground breaking ceremony.

Government officials, bankers and local people were present. In the context of mistrust between Fijians and Indo–Fijians fanned by four coups in the last twenty years, the Vunicuicui Woman’s Forum and the Pacific Center for Peace–building have planted a seed of hope. It points the way to a better future, though there is still a long way to travel. CM Fr. Frank Hoare lives and works in Fiji.

WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

3/26/10 10:09 AM

“Thanks be to God I already had the language!”

A Newly Ordained Missionary Priest Finds His Way Far from His Childhood Home

By Fr. William Lee

I

was ordained as a Columban missionary priest on August 2, 2008, at my home parish in Fiji. My first assignment as a missionary priest was to the region of Chile. Being a missionary in a new land and immersed in a new culture means ministering to myself as well as others.

I work in one of the parishes on the south end of Santiago called San Matias. It is a parish with nine mission units. Each mission unit has its own chapel and serves a segment of the area population

A chapel in San Matias parish

Apartments in the parish www.columban.org

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since the parish includes 80,000 – 90,000 people.

Upon arrival in Chile for the first time, I realized that everything was totally different. However, I would say to myself that I was feeling what any missionary priest feels as he adjusts to and finds his way around a new place. I would say that I had the advantage of already knowing the language, Spanish, of Chile. When I was a student, I did my pastoral studies in Peru for two years and had learned Spanish during that time. Thanks be to God I already had the language, which allowed me to feel as though I could take part in any group dialogue or conversation. In other words I did not feel isolated.

Before I started work in the parish, I wanted to refresh my language skills, so I took a six week course in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and then returned to Chile. I was back in Chile a week after Easter 2009 when I heard that the Society had assigned me to San Matias in Puente Alto.

Following my assignment to the parish in spring 2009, there were a number of changes in the parish that took place while I was just settling into the area.

Originally, I was supposed to work with Columban Fr. Michael Cody in the parish. Unfortunately, he

Fr. William Lee and parishioners

passed away quite unexpectedly soon after my arrival. The former parish priest, Fr. Michael Hoban, was just leaving the parish because he was taking up the assignment of vicar general in another diocese.

These changes left only me and an associate priest from Ireland who was coming to the end of his threeyear commitment working with the Columbans in the parish.

These were big changes and interesting challenges in my first days as a newly-ordained Columban priest. How did I deal with the new changes? I took things one May 2010

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Am e

ric

a

A scene from Santiago

at a time, and I listened very well to myself and to other people. In addition, my personal prayer life and reflections helped me. My Columban brothers in Chile were of great assistance to me in sharing their experiences and helping me handle challenging moments in mission.

There were a lot of things going through my mind during those times, and I gained more confidence day by day by building up a vision of what I needed to do and creating a different way of doing things. I kept on learning new things and that is what a missionary’s life is meant to be.

After only five months in my parish, I was approached by the new regional council and asked if I would serve as the administrator of the parish. While I found this both surprising and challenging, I was ready for the new challenge and grateful for the opportunity.

In September 2009, I was named the parish administrator, and in November 2009, I was elected to be a member of the Chilean regional council. I want to thank the Lord that I am still breathing, happy and in good health.

The opportunity to serve in these new roles within the 20

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Columban Society and the parish is a manifestation of the work of the Holy Spirit that leads us to new life and to a deeper understanding of ourselves and the gifts and talents that we do not always recognize within ourselves. It’s a time of openness and a broadening of my world view. It changes and challenges my concept of life and the way I see things.

I gained more confidence day by day by building up a vision of what I needed to do and creating a different way of doing things. I kept on learning new things and that is what a missionary’s life is meant to be.

My pastoral work in Chile has sustained me very much in my missionary life. The people I serve in the parish of San Matias are living in one of the poorest areas of Santiago. Social problems are rampant – drugs, prostitution, murder – and very common within the parish. The residents of San Matias grow up poor in a

community mired in poverty with little opportunity to see first-hand that better living situations exist.

In the beginning when I heard gun shots I said to myself, “this is difficult work in a tough place.”

One morning some people came to the door asking if I could do the wake for a young person who had been shot at his home. God had called me to this place, and I knew that I would visit the family, pray with them and perform the wake.

Through these experiences God worked through me, and I know that there will be more interesting experiences in the future. I always say that life is continuously full of wonderful surprises. And I always say to myself, take things slowly as they come.

Finally, I say, gratefully, “I love what God has done in my life.”

God knows that I love working with people. I love sharing my experiences, knowledge and life with His people. He knows that I love the life I have found in Him. CM Ordained in 2008, Fr. William Lee is working in Chile.

www.columban.org

3/26/10 10:16 AM

Fiji Day Celebrations in the Philippines

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Kava ceremony

A Multicultural Feast for the Eyes, Ears and Stomach

by Etuate Tubuka

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woke up in the morning of Saturday, October 11, 2009, with a feeling of great delight and cheerfulness for it was the day we Fijians here in the Philippines were going to celebrate Fiji’s independence from Great Britain.

The actual date of independence is October 10, but since it fell on Friday, a work day, we decided to have the celebration the following day.

Exactly 134 years earlier Fiji was ceded to Great Britain due to unpaid debts to some Americans.

Fijians then were living under the traditional chief system and money was of no value. People were tricked into the barter system where land could be exchanged for an axe or a bottle of whiskey.

Settlers from Europe, America and Asia combed the Fijian shores, and traces of their blood still linger in the Fijian population. At this time, a Fijian chief by the name of Seru Cakobau declared himself to be King of Fiji without consulting all the other chiefs. This was quite astonishing because chiefs were only respected in their own province or vanua (in Fijian terms).

If someone crossed boundaries, it meant war.

It was during this time that the house of Cakobau’s ally, an American, was razed to the ground.

Cakobau was blamed for the fire and the looting that came with it.

There was nothing he could do since he did not have money, and the only solution was to seek help from another country. Therefore, on October 10, 1874, Cakobau and the other chiefs of Fiji, with heavy and sorrowful hearts, signed the deed of secession to Great Britain.

With that deed, Fiji became a British Colony for the next 96 years. On October 10, 1970, another deed was signed, this time with celebrations and joy as Fiji became known to the world as the Republic of the Fiji Islands and severed its colonial ties with Great Britain.

Although we are living and working in the Philippines, we Fijian Columbans wanted to celebrate the anniversary of Fiji’s independence with a fiesta. We passed out invitations to the Columban community here as well as to other Fijians and Pacific Islanders. The venue of the fiesta was the Columban House of Studies. It was our turn to host the community night, and it was a good May 2010

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opportunity to show off the new basketball court with floodlights in which the entertainment was to be held.

The celebration began with Mass in English at 5 p.m. The liturgy was led by the Fijians with the help of “The Boys of 42” (the Columban seminarians from 42 Rosario Drive, Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines). The main celebrant was Columban Father Vincent Ratnam, a Fijian, and he reminded the congregation of the importance of joy in life. The Gospel that weekend was about a wedding feast, and Father Vincent connected it to the theme and celebration of the day.

After Mass, a traditional kava (a Fijian traditional drink) ceremony of welcome was conducted. This

was done to formally accept and welcome visitors and to show that we, the hosts, had no feelings of resentment towards them and at the same time we were asking God to protect them during their stay.

The highlight of the evening was the entertainment. While Fijian Columbans took part in the dancing and clapping, others did the watching and laughing. For one hour everyone in their different colors danced to the Pacific beat until dinner was served.

Dinner was cooked in a lovo, or earth oven, a traditional Fijian way of cooking in which the food is cooked by the steam of hot stones.

Anything can be cooked in a lovo, and in this case it was chicken, pork, fish, potatoes, cassava and palusami (taro leaves in coconut

milk). Our cook produced some Filipino dishes, and the Columban lay missionaries displayed their creativity with a touch of Indian cuisine. Thus everyone enjoyed a banquet fit for royalty.

Everyone dispersed after dinner, happy, excited and fulfilled after a complete and lovely evening enjoyed by all. The Fijians continued their celebration with more kava and singing late into the night which brought back memories of home. It was a night to remember; I felt proud to be a Fijian. CM After studying in Quezon City, the Philippines, Columban seminarian Etuate Tubuka returned to Fiji to complete his education.

“Give hope to others and receive income for life.”

With your participation in the Columban Fathers Gift Annuity Program, you become a partner in our mission to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who have never heard, or just barely heard, His message.

You become intimately involved in the work of Columban missionaries throughout the world who through their missionary commitment serve as examples of the message, “God will not abandon you.”

Etuate Tubuka and Fr. Sean Coyle

Additional benefits include: • a guaranteed fixed income for life.

• a tax deduction in the year in which the annuity is funded.

• an annuity may reduce your estate taxes at your death.

Missionary Society of St. Columban Attn.: Planned Giving Department P.O. Box 10 St. Columbans, NE 68056 877/299-1920 www.columban.org Seminarians enjoying kava in the Philippines

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www.columban.org

4/11/10 8:40 PM

The Invitation of Global Mission

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n 1993, I was living and working as a missionary in Brazil. In addition to pastoral work, I was a member of the overseas training formation program team for seminarians. It was a wonderful time to be a young priest enthusiastically embracing cross-cultural mission in a foreign country, and I remember my years and work in Brazil quite fondly.

Like many missionaries, my strongest memories are of the people among whom I served and with whom I worked.

One young man, who is now Columban Father Ioane Gukibau, was in his sixth year of seminary formation in 1993 when he was assigned to Brazil for overseas missionary experience. Fr. Gukibau hailed from Fiji, and I have long remembered what he told me: In 1985, I started my studies as a Columban seminarian along with two others. As the first Fijian Columban seminarians, we felt excited, and we were

From the Director

By Fr. Arturo Aguilar conscious of being pioneers. After our first year, the other two decided that the missionary life was not for them, and I was left on my own – the only Fijian Columban seminarian. I felt a bit lonely.

The sentiments expressed by Fr. Gukibau remind me of St. Teresa of Avila’s words that “Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.” While Fr. Gukibau might have

In only twenty-one years, the local Church in Fiji had developed to the point where it would start sending lay missionaries to other countries.

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been the lone Fijian seminarian in his class, he was never alone on the journey.

It was in February 1952 that eleven Columban Fathers descended the gangplank of the steamship Aorangi and began a new Columban mission in Fiji. Following our expulsion from China and with the Korean War putting development of our mission in Korea on hold, new seminarians were free to go elsewhere, to start new missions, to proclaim and witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ. It would have been impossible for the Columbans who landed in Fiji in 1952 to conceive of what was then a missionreceiving country becoming a mission-sending country by 1973.

In only twenty-one years, the local Church in Fiji had developed to the point where it would start sending lay missionaries to other countries. The first group of Fijian Columban lay missionaries went to Ireland; I can only imagine their surprise at the change in climate! In 1976, Fijian native Fr. Petero Mataca was installed as the Archbishop of Suva. In 2009, Archbishop Mataca reached retirement age, although he continues to serve as he, and the rest of the country, waits for his replacement.

Columbans continue to work in Fiji, helping to develop the local Church and evangelize the laity.

We continue to develop the vocation program and lay missionary program there. In early 2009, Fr. William Lee was ordained in Fiji and is now serving in Chile. Columban seminarian Etuate Tubuka just completed his course of study in Quezon City, the Philippines, and returned home to Fiji to continue his education. In February 2010, two Fijian lay missionaries went to Pakistan. In June 2010, two Fijian lay missionaries will begin work at our mission at the U.S./Mexico border.

Fijians have responded to God’s call and are actively inviting others to global mission. It is with great joy that we witness both the awareness and the commitment to the missionary mandate that has developed in Fiji.

4/11/10 8:30 PM

Columban Fathers PO Box 10 St. Columbans, NE 68056

NON PROFIT ORG POSTAGE PAID COLUMBAN FATHERS

“Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

–Mark 12:31

Join Columban missionaries for a mission encounter that will fill your heart and change the way you view the world: • U.S./Mexico Border (El Paso, TX, and Anapra, Mexico) April 2010 and October 2010 • China — October 2010 • Peru — February 2011 For more information and an application, visit our website: www.columban. org or Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach Amy Woolam Echeverria Email: ccaoprograms@columban.org Call: 301/565-4547 Missionary Society of St. Columban Attn.: CCAO Department P.O. Box 10 St. Columbans, NE 68056 877/299-1920 www.columban.org

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An Invitation Calls for a Response We are but clay, formed and fashioned by the hand of God.

That is to say, we are weak and vulnerable but with God’s grace we are capable of great generosity and idealism.

Is God calling you to spread the good news?

To a life of ministry among those who are less fortunate and more vulnerable than you are?

We invite you to join this new generation by becoming a Columban Father or Columban Sister.

If you are interested in the missionary priesthood, write or call…

If you are interested in becoming a Columban Sister, write or call…

Fr. Bill Morton National Vocation Director Columban Fathers St. Columbans, NE 68056 877/299-1920 Email: vocations@columban.org

Sr. Grace De Leon National Vocation Director Columban Sisters 2500 S. Freemont Avenue #E Alhambra, CA 91803 626/458-1869

Japan + Korea + Peru + Hong Kong + Philippines + Pakistan + Chile + Fiji + Taiwan + North America

3/26/10 10:43 AM