Cross-cultural ministry
28.11.2008
When a part Indian/part Fijian family asked to be received into the Catholic Church, Fr McCaffrey describes how the event brought both communities closer together.
The Catholic village of Dogoru, a vibrant Catholic community of approximately 34 families is part of Holy Family Parish, Labasa. These families farm the land owned by them adjacent to their village. Nearby are Indian families who farm other land, leased from the Fijian families.
Kann Sami and his wife Akisi were born and raised in Kumbulau, in the province of Bua, Vanua Levu. Kann is Indian, a descendant of Indian immigrants who came 100 years ago to work in the sugarcane and coconut plantations in Fiji. Akisi is an indigenous Fijian, a descendant of the first arrivals to the Fiji Islands approximately 3,500 years ago.
Both communities (Fijian and Indian) while engaged in farming, are different in many ways. Indians are mostly engaged in sugarcane farming while Fijians are engaged in yaqona, dalo, yams and breadfruit farming. The Indians are either Muslim or Hindu, the Fijians are all Christian. Indians speak Hindi, Fijians speak Fijian. Indians live as separate family units on the land they have leased from the Fijians, Fijians live as a community in the village and commute to their own land.
Sami and Akisi were married 30 years ago, one of the few inter-racial marriages to take place between Indians and Fijians. Sami was a Hindu, Akisi was a Methodist. One of the many happy outcomes of this marriage is that Sami and Akisi and their five children are fluent in Fijian and Hindi.
Last year the family moved from coconut farming in Bua to sugarcane farming in Macuata. They leased 20 acres of land near the Catholic village of Dogoru. Over the past 50 years the Catholic community of Dogoru village has grown from four to 34 families.
In recent years a few families have moved from communal life in the village to live and plant sugarcane and reside on their cane farms. Three families have settled on their cane farms adjacent to Kann Sami's farm. As Kann Sami and his family are fluent in Fijian, communication between these cane farmers is no problem.
Sami's son, Nagaiya drowned in the flooded river near his home leaving behind his wife and three young children. The Fijian Catholic families living nearby were a power of support to the family in this tragedy.
Recently Kann Sami realised the support they had been to him. He also realised that he and his extended family were half Hindu and half Methodist but were not committed to either religion. He and his family decided to request the Dogoru family to accept them into the Catholic community there.
The Catholic community of Dogoru responded magnificently. On September 23, 2006, they welcomed Kann Sami and his extended family on their first visit to St Christopher's Church, Dogoru. The family began preparations for the sacraments of initiation this year.
The big question to be faced was:
In what language should they be instructed? In what language should they be taught to pray? It's important that they learn to pray and sing in Fijian so that they can be part of the Fijian community. It's equally important that they learn to pray and sing in the language that they daily speak to one another in their home. This is predominantly Hindi.
The Fijian Catholics in Dogoru speak only a smattering of Hindi. To assist the community in Dogoru in this translingual task, Mr Jaiwant and Mrs Agnes Krishna, a Catholic couple from Labasa kindly agreed to travel every Sunday to assist Kann Sami and the local Fijian families in preparing for baptism. Nasoni Nagelekalou, his wife Teresia and their extended family were the main instructors from the Fijian community. They taught prayers, hymns and instruction in Fijian. Catholics from Dogoru supported them and wanted to learn the Hindi prayers and hymns.
The baptism ceremony was conducted in the Dogoru river.
On Holy Saturday the youths of the village all pitched in to block the water in the river to make a beautiful pond in which the baptism took place.
The ceremony began with the blessing of the Paschal Fire and Paschal Candle by the waterside. After the singing of the EXULTET we proceeded immediately to the blessing of the water of the river and the celebration of the sacrament of baptism. Afterwards all proceeded by candlelight procession to the large tent that had been erected for the occasion. The village church was too small to hold the overflow crowd. While all processed to the tent, the newly baptised went to a nearby house where they dressed in their new clothes symbolising their new birth in Christ. When all were seated in the tent, the newly baptised processed to the front and were welcomed with joy and great excitement by the community.
After the liturgy of the word the newly baptised received the sacrament of confirmation and after the liturgy of the Eucharist they received the sacrament of the Eucharist. Hymns prayers and readings were in Hindi, Fijian and English, a moving multicultural and multilingual celebration.
After the celebration of these sacraments of initiation the rejoicing began and continued into the early hours of the morning. Kann Sami and family felt truly welcomed into the Catholic Community of Dogoru and are now fully fledged members of the community.
All this has prompted the Catholic community of Dogoru to learn Hindi hymns and prayers and has been a powerful impetus to further efforts to establish links with the Indian community and share with them the message and love of Jesus Christ.
The Dogoru community is delighted to be able to positively express in a practical way their missionary vocation in sharing their faith with Kann Sami and his family.
Fr Patrick McCaffrey is returning to missionary work in Pakistan.
