A small Tamaquto village boy in the highlands of Fiji is perplexed by the toy Fr Frank Hoare offers for Christmas - Photo:Fr Frank Hoare
Maybe it was because I wasn’t wearing the required red robes or lacked a white beard, but the reaction of the male children to being offered a soft toy animal was not what I expected. Or perhaps these items were too strange for the small boys in Tamaquto village in the interior hills of Ba Parish.
When I drew a soft toy out of my sack and offered it to a little boy, he looked at it with suspicion before turning away in disdain and clinging to his parent’s neck in utter rejection of my offering.
It was the Sunday before Christmas. I had offered to help Fr Pat Colgan, who was on his own in the large and extensive parish of Ba in the west of Fiji. For me, it was a break from life in the capital, Suva, and a welcome return to a village and parish I had worked in many years before. I was grateful to have the opportunity to return to Tamaquto in the hills, as I had many happy memories from my previous stay there. This village had Mass only once every three or four months and sometimes even less frequently when the rivers on the way there flooded in the rainy season.
In the absence of a priest, their catechist, Semesa, led the Liturgy of the Word and distributed Holy Communion on Sundays. Other catechists from nearby villages would also help out when needed. Catechists are very important in Fiji. They also prepare couples for marriage and the baptism of their children. They often instruct children in preparation for the sacraments of Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation.
Catechists are unpaid volunteers who give their time willingly to God and the Church. Their wives are a big support to them and assist them in their work. The Archbishop has recently begun to commission female catechists too, but it is taking a while for them to be fully accepted. I was delighted to meet four catechists in Tamaquto after Mass and to sit and chat with them.
Someone, who came from overseas, had given Fr Pat a large bag full of soft toys for distribution to the children for Christmas. Pat suggested I take them to the small village of Tamaquto, as there might not be enough for all the children in one of the larger villages. He didn’t want there to be disappointed children left in my wake.
I believed that I would be a very popular priest by playing the role of Santa Claus. Not so! At least not among the male children. The reaction of the young girls, however, was very different . They directed a big smile and outreaching arms my way. That was more like what I had expected! It seems to me that the behaviour of the sexes in Tamaquto originates more from genetics than environmental conditioning. Well, maybe from both.
Columban Fr Frank Hoare lives and works in Fiji.
Listen to "A Christmas surprise"
Related links
- Read more from The Far East - November/December 2022
