The Lone Ranger. Photo: © 1955 ABC Television
The Lone Ranger was a cowboy hero. As a child, I read about him in comics and saw him in films. He rode alone into a town where the bad guys were bullying the poor people. He challenged the bad guys. He shot them up and chased them out of town. Then he rode away into the setting sun.
In those days missionaries too, in our minds, were Lone Rangers working for God. They were priests or religious who chased away Satan and his followers. They led people to the true Church.
But the Vatican Council taught that baptism gives all Christians a mission. All of us are called to witness to and work for the Kingdom of God. Priests and religious aren’t the only active missionaries. Working as a team we can all join with our priests and religious to share our faith in Jesus Christ and to build Christian communities.
By 1994, Columbans Frs Dan Ahern, John McEvoy and I saw Pacificans responding to the call to go abroad on mission as Columban seminarians and lay missionaries. We recognized then the need for laity in our parishes to join in mission too. So we founded the Columban Companions in Mission (CCIM) in Tamavua Parish in 1994. Early members were Kenneth and Kitty Zinck, Rosema Dass, Elizabeth Krishna, Sisi Marama and others.
We agreed that the Companions would have two main purposes. The first would be to support our local seminarians and lay missionaries by prayer and fund-raising. The second was to work together as missionaries in Fiji with Columbans. I prepared leaflets explaining who could be companions in mission and what kind of mission work they could engage in, e.g. sharing faith with non-Christians, helping poor or marginalized people, catechizing neglected Catholics, and working for understanding and respect between different religions and ethnic groups in Fiji.
In 2012 and 2013 I was happy to take on the role of National Director of the CCIM. My main job at that time was vocation promotion. This involved travelling to different parishes in Fiji to speak to seniors in secondary schools and to organize Come and See days. So it wasn’t difficult to fit in meetings with the CCIM members on those trips. I remember some of us visiting members in Komave, Sigatoka, Tacirua and Tamavua as well as the Columban parishes of Labasa, Ba and Raiwaqa.
In 2013 we organized groups of Companions to go to neglected areas of the diocese. One group from Suva conducted one week of catechesis in Kadavu. A group from Labasa spent a week catechizing in villages in the Dogatuki region. A third group from Ba spent a weekend in Bemana. We promoted gospel sharing in this outreach to Catholics who lived far from priests, Catholic schools and parish centres.
Last year I was very happy to participate in the Wellness Project which encouraged healthy eating and exercise as a way to lose weight. Its success was a fitting tribute to the CCIM on the occasion of their silver anniversary of the founding.
Having companions in mission is a more satisfying and successful way of being missionary than operating as a lone ranger.
Columban Fr Frank Hoare is a Regional Council member and Student Formation educator in Fiji.
Listen to "Missionaries and the Lone Ranger"
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- Read more from The Far East, March 2020
