Fr Pat Colgan (left) and Fr Peter O'Neill (right) with staff and students of St Teresa's School, at the opening of the Academic year Mass. - Photo: Fr Pat Colgan
On Thursday February 16th, 2023, in the last week of the Columban administration of the parish of Ba, we were visited by the Director of the Region of Oceania, Fr Peter O’Neill.
He had a packed three-day program which included concelebrating the opening of the Academic Year Mass for St Teresa’s School, blessing and opening the new “St Columban Gate” for the school, and visiting Votua Catholic School in the rain to offer valuable advice to parishioners there about the perils (as well the potential for good) of the Pacific Employment Schemes to Australia, to which many islanders are applying. He also came with me to Navala Village to celebrate the sacrament of matrimony for five young couples, the baptisms of five children and one adult, and the induction of two new Ministers of the Eucharist.
It was the last event (the trip to Navala) which was the most memorable and potentially most hazardous of all. This was due to the rain which had fallen continually for three days in the hills, so that by the time the morning of the weddings had arrived, the bridge leading to the village was totally inundated with water, and the river itself was a raging torrent.
We stood with many others on the far side of the river, looking at it all and debating whether it was wise, possible, or prudent to cross it. At first, the catechist who waited for us asked if we thought we could swim it. I know Peter is an avid swimmer, but I, an amateur by comparison, couldn’t see myself taking the risk. There were very powerful surges already swirling at our feet.
As a Plan B, there were many groups of young men ready and equipped with tyre tubes to ferry us over, if we were willing.
It was one of those moments where I honestly didn’t know what to do. Peter said he would respect my decision.
I thought of the embarrassment of the five young couples whom we were told were dressed and waiting in the church, the animals were slaughtered and feast ready, and parents were already moving towards the church to present their children for baptism. I also saw the eagerness to help us in the young men’s eyes, and a deep breath and three Hail Marys later I stripped off and went down to the tube. There was a yelp of joy from the people on the riverbank and in I got (to the middle of a tube), holding aloft a plastic bag containing the Government of Fiji Marriage book, communion breads, baptism oils, our soutanes, my change of clothes, and the ‘sevusevu’ (traditional farewell gifts I had prepared), seeing as this would be my last Mass in Navala as Parish Priest and Columban.
The crossing was rough, and my three bodyguards who swam the tube over struggled mightily to not let us drift into the strong current, which would have swept us very far down-river. I was deposited about 30 metres downstream and clambered, shoeless, over a rocky incline into the village. Peter was afforded the same service (though he got four bodyguards instead of my three either a “tribute” to their perception of my strength, or a nod to his “superior rank”!).
Regaining our land legs, we then walked in vest and shorts through the village, to the amazement and curiosity of the school children who crowded to look at us and touch us. We got to the church, and Mass began about 45 minutes later.
After Mass, it had started raining again, and I wanted to “cut and run” in case the river swelled more, but the villagers were having none of it. We were shepherded to a classroom where Fijian ceremonies of thanksgiving and asking forgiveness for any of their shortcomings were performed for the Columbans over the 70 years of our service there. We reciprocated all those sentiments with the sevusevu that had come across in my held-aloft plastic bag.
Eventually we were given permission to leave, by which time we were able to walk across the road bridge, locked in the arms of the aforesaid bodyguards, because the water was beyond our thighs and still surging. My body began “releasing its adrenaline” on the drive back, but we did stop, as promised, to visit the families of two Columban missionaries in Ba: the father and brothers of Ioane Naio (a final year Columban student in Manila) and the sister and family of Fr Pat Visanti in Pakistan. We recounted our adventures to them, and the whole day seemed to “round out” the rich experiences of ministry that I have had here in the parish of Ba.
It may not have been Moses holding back the Red Sea, but it was certainly a moment of casting ourselves on the love of the people.
If Mary persuaded Jesus to provide wine at Cana, so that a young couple be spared shame, maybe she too was behind the scenes, enabling the provision of priests for a wedding Mass.
Given that the village church is consecrated to the Immaculate Conception, was it a coincidence that the page of my bible opened at that very Cana Gospel while I searched for my wet homily?
Columban Fr Pat Colgan lives and works in Fiji.
Listen to "A wedding feast and 'river Baptism' in Navala"
Related links
- Read more from The Far East - June 2023
