Fr John McEvoy with parishioners during his last Mass at St Pius X Parish - Photo: Columbans Fiji
Fr John Mc Evoy was installed as senior pastor of St Pius X Parish on the Sunday of Pentecost, 2015. I joined the Parish Pastoral Council as its Chairman in February, 2017. Fr John transitioned to Central House, Nasese, to occupy the Chair of both Country leader and Vice Director, Columban Oceania Region, in August, 2020. I served as his Pastoral Council chairman for three years and six months during his tenure as senior pastor.
They say lightning does not strike twice in the same place. Not for thunderbolt here...installed in the parish on Pentecost Sunday, 2015, left in August, 2020, arrived back on Sunday of Pentecost, 2023. There is something about Pentecost, that stirs a lot of feelings and sentiments. The same wind that filled the upper house where the apostles were gathered, afraid and uncertain, of what the future held for them then, was the exact same wind that blew in on the Sunday of Pentecost, 2015...this time it was the winds of change.
This brief description of my association with him is a feeble attempt to do justice to a pastor who did so much for a parish he came to call home ...” Raiwaqa, ...there is no better place.” He shouldered his pastoral responsibilities with diligence and dutiful conviction. I dare say he was the epitomy of a good shepherd modelled on the great shepherd leader himself; tending to his flock with abundant enthusiasm and an affectionate charisma. He knew his flock so well that he recognized a stray sheep when he saw one...” I haven’t seen you at Mass lately”, he would quip with an unassuming look in his eyes. He was a very likeable pastor and people connected with him, but he never held back giving a piece of his mind if ever there was a need for one. He shot straight. He was not one to mince his words, and what he promised he delivered.
Fr John McEvoy at St Pius X Parish - Photo: Columbans Fiji
On the flip side I’ve known him to have a penchant, a likeness, for infrastructural betterment and the physical enhancement of parish facilities. In 2018 he gave the church building and adjacent attachments a total makeover in time for the celebration of the parish’s golden jubilee. Such was his shrewdness that he converted an old office and a music room cum store room into the parish Administration block it is today. Throw in a parish car, gravelling of the front car park, extension of the carport area and his total commitment to the combined efforts of the Men of the parish and the East Club in the construction and completion of the parish boundary fence, that was pretty much the sum total of his efforts built up from the time of his arrival. I haven’t quite listed the whole works. Lest we forget, the parish bazaars that earned record totals each successive year until COVID paid a visit. He was visionary and dreamt ahead of his time. That’s his legacy....
Our presence, our gifts, our prayers and our love is the going rate for someone who did so much for us, pastorally and in the stewardship of our parish temporal goods.
So to cut to the chase, Fr John dearly loved Raiwaqa and was always proud to see the parish machinery in full steam where families, communities, commissions and ministries all came alive at once to salute a great man of God and a pastor of his people.
Fair winds, Padre.
Vina du rikhi
Dan R Burese (PPC Chairman, 2017-2020)
Note: The parish of St Pius X farewelled Fr John at the 9:00am mass on Sunday 30 July followed by a cultural presentation, traditional yaqona ceremony and lunch prepared by the parish. We thank Fr John for his more than 50 years of missionary work in Fiji. Fr John has always been extremely willing and generous to share his many gifts and talents in a variety of ministries, in particular leadership and parish ministry. We wish him God's blessing on his new assignment to the Region of Ireland.
