Fiji - 50 Years on Mission
Fr Martin Dobey was a member of the first group of Columbans to arrive in Fiji 50 years ago. Here he traces some of the development since then.
When Julian Vidal was appointed as first Vicar Apostolic of the infant Church in Fiji in 1897, he had only half a dozen parishes and 13 French Marist priests. All lived in very poor conditions. Through their dedication, courage and tenacity, they had given the Church a foothold in Fiji in a difficult and often hostile environment. In the years following Bishop Vidal proved to be an energetic leader.
Fifty years later Fiji experienced a new shortage of priests. Because of World War II and the conscription of seminarians into the army, there were fewer French Marists. It was in this situation that Bishop Foley, the Vicar Apostolic, turned to the Columbans for assistance. Assistance was available because our first and principal mission, China, had closed with the takeover of the communist regime. Thirten young Columbans were appointed to Fiji, a new and unknown part of the world.
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Fr Martin Dobey |
My first view of Fiji from the SS Aorangi in February 1952 was that of mountainous islands wrapped in dark low-lying clouds. The town of Suva had been left a shambles in the wake of a recent hurricane and the heat was oppressive. Bishop Foley needed priests to staff existing parishes and to establish new ones. There were two distinctive races in Fiji who were vastly different in religion, culture and language. The indigenous Fijian population lived a tribal and communal type life in villages under the leadership of traditional chiefs. Their religion since the mid-19th century was Methodist which nicely dovetailed into their communal way of life. The other half of the population was Indian. They were first introduced to Fiji as indentured labourers - akin to a form of temporary slavery - from 1879 onwards until the abolition of the indenture system in 1916. When their period of indenture was over, many opted to stay on and work as sugar cane farmers on small blocks of land leased from the native landowners. Their numbers were augmented by the other free settlers, tradesmen, businessmen and professionals who later followed them. While the two races lived side by side, the gulf between them in language, culture and religion was very wide indeed. |
For the Fijians, the British monarch was their great high chief. Like a religious icon, the picture of the Queen, even if it was only a page from a coloured magazine, had pride of place in every house. The Deed of Cession, which ceded Fiji to Queen Victoria, granted security of their land to the Fijians.
The Indians also sought recognition of their rights as British subjects and citizens. When Indian settlers and workers were being recruited for the colonies. Lord Salisbury, Secretary of State for India, stated, "Indians should be treated as free men with privileges no whit inferior to any other class in Her Majesty's colonies". This ideal was not attained in Fiji. Indian leaders who fought for it were looked upon as dangerous political agitators. When the wave of decolonization began to sweep the world and when India had Independence, this struck a very strong chord in the hearts of the Indian people in Fiji. This also caused fear among the Fijians especially the chiefs, "the owners of the land", as they called themselves. As independence was mooted one Fijian chief in the Legislative Council stated that "democratic ideals are completely unsuited to a country containing three major races that differ in language culture and religion and these races will never combine as one people". In the light of subsequent events since 1987, we have had three coups and great political instability. His words seem prophetic.
Nevertheless, the highly respected chief and politician Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara who ruled Fiji as Prime Minister for 27 years after independence in 1970, said that he had a vision of Fiji "where people of different races, opinions and cultures can live and work together for the good of all, can differ without rancour, govern without violence and accept responsibility as reasonable people". Sadly this vision has not become a reality and we have lived through three coups, political turbulence and economic stagnation for the past 16 years.
Our work as Columban missionaries was carried out over the past half century in this changing and often confused and turbulent social and political context. Apart from that, those of us who arrived at the beginning had to adjust in the 1960's to what were in hindsight, extraordinary changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council - changes for which we were not prepared.
We came to our missionary work in Fiji with the bulky Latin tomes of theology and Church law and practice. Armed with these we felt we had all the answers and certainties we needed for our encounter with non-Christians and heretical sects. In the aftermath of the Council the latter became "our separated brethren" and the former we were assured had 'certain seeds" of the word of God in their ancient beliefs and cultures. All the old valued tomes disappeared and with them the appellation "pagan" and "heretic". We were now encouraged to dialogue with those other religious traditions and seek out a common ground and shared religious values.
The phrase "outside the church there is no salvation" and the sin of "participating in non-Catholic religious activity of any kind" were expurgated from our theological vocabulary. Tentatively at first and then with gradually growing confidence we began to join in prayer in certain circumstances and on certain occasions with our separated brothers and sisters and to join the local and regional councils of churches. Somewhat more tardily and more cautiously we even tried entering into dialogue with the great non-Christian religions, Hinduism and Islam. A giant step forward indeed!
We were encouraged to engage the lay people of the Church in collaborative ministry. This was quite a change for our Fijian people who were culturally attuned to saying "Yes sir" and "No sir" and "It's up to you, Father". They were now called upon to form parish councils and committees; to advise and assist their pastors in running the affairs of the parish; and to lead worship and prayer services for their communities. All this of course was made easier by the post Vatican II introduction of Fijian and Hindustani languages to the liturgy. The ministry of the priests was no longer confined to traveling by boat to the small islands, or by horseback or on foot in larger ones, to celebrate Mass in distant villages and administer the sacraments to their widely scattered flocks.
The plight of those suffering from poverty and injustice became the preoccupation of some missionaries. One member of our Columban group, among his many diverse activities, got very much involved in providing affordable housing for low-income workers. He was the key figure in the setting up of a Housing Authority that would continue this work on a permanent legal footing. When this was accomplished, he turned his attention, under the auspices of the Fiji Council of Churches, to providing basic simple housing for the destitute, the elderly and the widowed. This undertaking still survives under the title HART (Housing and Relief Trust) even though its principal initiator, Fr Dermot Hurley has gone to his reward.
From the very beginning we were involved in education at all levels. We established, administered and taught in parish and diocesan Catholic schools. Some Columbans were involved in the Catholic Teachers' Training College, which opened in 1957. One of our great interests was to promote the self-sufficiency of the Fijian Church through the fostering and formation of local clergy. We also encouraged the missionary dimension of the Church.
And so after half a century of ministry and missionary work here, we come to celebrate our Golden Jubilee. We remember with thanks and look forward in hope. We thank the Lord for the missionary vocation that has brought us to these beautiful South Sea Islands; we thank Him for the challenging and rewarding mission we were able to carry out. We thank Him too for the kindly courteous people who received us and with whom we worked and we thank Him for the Marist missionaries who planted the seeds of faith here and with whom it was a pleasure to work for the past 50 years. Deo gratias.