When eighteen-year-old Paul Tierney finished secondary school in Bath, England, his uncle, Columban Fr Arthur, influenced him to join the Columban missionaries.
Ordained on April 6, 1975, Fr Paul was appointed to Fiji where he studied Hindi and gained pastoral and cultural experience in Naleba settlement in Labasa parish. He studied the Fijian language for most of 1981, including a few months immersion in Nacamaki village on Koro Island.
Equipped with two local languages, Fr Paul worked in five parishes: three years in Vatukoula, one year in Lautoka, thirteen years in Ba, seven years back in Labasa and he is now in Raiwaqa for the last five years. He completed a one-year course in formation studies, which prepared him to accompany local Columban seminarians, and diocesan and Columban students during their cross-cultural experience of living with Indo-Fijian families.
As Columban Vocation Director, he visited schools at this time to promote missionary vocations. He spent one period of three years making mission appeals for the Columban Society in Britain.
Fiji suffered a military coup d’etat in May 1987. One year later, Fr Paul was one of eighteen people arrested at Sukuna Park, Suva, for participating in a peaceful, prayer protest on the anniversary of the coup. They spent a night in the Central Police Station but were released the next day. They were found guilty of unlawful assembly a year later, but no punishment was handed down.
Fr Paul likes to make a point through symbolic action. When in Naleba, he would leave a house, if the householder was not present for the prayer meeting. In Votua village, upset by the lack of punctuality, he sat down silently after the Sunday Mass entrance hymn until most of the late-comers had arrived. Then he continued the Mass.
Concerning spirituality Fr Paul said, “Being faithful to prayer and believing in the power of the sacraments has been important.” Pastorally, he fosters gospel-sharing in prayer groups and encourages inter-cultural dialogue. “For me,” he says, “the image of mission is journeying with the people.” An avid reader, he prepares his homilies carefully and, being a keen Liverpool fan, he relaxes by watching English soccer on TV.
One parishioner said about him, “Fr Paul is very witty and very straight-forward. If he doesn’t like something, he says it straight out. He listens to people too but makes his own decision about what is right and just.”
Another parishioner said, “He has a wicked sense of humor. He travels by bus and often pays short visits to parishioners, which is a big thing.”
Related links
- Read more from The Far East - March/April 2025
