Fr Ioane Gukibau on the occasion of his silver Jubilee in Fiji. Photo: Fr Donal McIlraith SSC
Ordained in 1994, Fr Ioane Gukibau was the first Fijian to join St Columbans Missionary Society.On December 21, 2019 he celebrated his Silver Jubilee of priesthood in his home parish of Lami, Suva. He joined with his mother, other family members, Columban colleagues and many friends to celebrate and he recalled the journey of those 25 years and gave thanks to God for all the joys and challenges they gave him.
Fr Ioane’s family hails from Vutia in Rewa province with links to Ono, Kadavu and to Serua. His great great grandfather, Catechist Dionisio Dau, at the request of the Marist Fathers, brought the faith from Rewa to Serua where there is now a thriving Catholic community. His grandfather, Iosefo, was the captain of the Bishop’s boat for many years and his father, Mika Gukibau, was a classmate of the late Archbishop of Suva, Peter Mataca, and a prominent member of the church in Fiji.
Twenty five years ago with great joy Archbishop Mataca ordained his classmate’s son a priest of St Columbans Missionary Society in his home parish of Lami, Suva. On that day Ioane’s family presented to the then Columban Director a whale’s tooth which still hangs on the wall of the Columban house in Suva.
It was just a chance remark by a Marist Father, Fr Aiden Carvill, that pointed Ioane towards the Columbans. Following his graduation from the Sacred Heart College, Ioane worked for Telecom for some years. But then the passing suggestion from Fr Carvill hit home! “I made enquiries at the Columban Centre,” Ioane recollected, “and the following day Fr Charles Duster turned up at my parent’s front door with a sevusevu, a gift of Kava”. The rest is history.
It was the beginning of Columban seminary formation in Fiji and Fr David Arms, the first Rector of the seminary, recalled that from the very beginning the staff decided that it would be appropriate to follow Fijian culture and customs as much as possible in the Formation House. Accordingly, it was decided that everyone would sleep on the floor, Fiji style! But Ioane immediately objected: “As a Suva boy, I am used to a bed!”
Upon graduation from the Pacific Regional Seminary, but before ordination, Ioane and his cousin and fellow Columban, Isimeli Cagica, were sent for their first mission assignment to Brazil where he learnt to speak Portuguese. After his ordination however he was assigned to Peru where he learnt the Spanish language and engaged in mission to the poor of the city of Lima. In 2006 Fr Ioane was assigned back to the Region of Fiji where he worked as the vocations director and as Vice Director for the Columban Region.
Fr Ioane’s next appointment was to Rome where he studied Missiology so successfully that he was invited by his Jesuit professors to continue with doctoral studies. But Fr Ioane was needed back in Fiji at his alma mater, the Pacific Regional Seminary, where he joined the academic staff teaching church history and theology. Fr Ioane has also ministered as Pastor of the Columban Parish of St Pius X in Raiwaqa in Suva and has also served in the Columban Formation Program in Suva.
In September, 2018, Fr Ioane was elected to represent Fiji as a delegate at the Columban General Assembly in Taiwan. Then almost immediately upon its completion he set off for Peru once more to take up another appointment. There he is director of the Columban Missionary Collaborators, a group of volunteer lay leaders who travel to the outskirts of the diocese of Lima to support the parishes there in evangelization and development.
We give thanks for Fr Ioane Gukibau’s vocation and 25 years of missionary priesthood and pray for ongoing blessings of inspiration and energy for him.
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- Read more from The Far East, May 2020
