Newly Ordained Columbans

Newly Ordained Columbans

On 10th April 2024, I travelled to Suva for Fr Iowane Naio’s ordination at the Sacred Heart Cathedral. The night before, Columban priests gathered with Iowane’s relatives at our Columban Mission Office for the traditional kava ceremony. Iowane entered the room,...
Fr Iowane Has Many Strings to his Bow

Fr Iowane Has Many Strings to his Bow

Our newest Columban missionary priest has already lived many different lives, writes Fr Frank Hoare.   Fr Iowane Naio speaks five languages and has lived in five different cultures and will soon add to that. But his roots are in Namau Settlement about 10 km from Ba...
Fr Iowane Naio ordained a Columban missionary priest

Fr Iowane Naio ordained a Columban missionary priest

On 10th April 2024 Fr Iowane Ilaidoko Naio was ordained a Columban missionary priest in the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Suva, Fiji. Fr Iowane has been appointed to the Pakistan Mission Unit, and is due to arrive there on 1st December 2024. He is the third of ten...
“Christ is the Life of the Rejected”

“Christ is the Life of the Rejected”

Twelve months ago, the Far East magazine had a striking picture of a young man, stripped down and tied to a cross in Fiji, while soldiers in mock cardboard uniforms alternately derided and worshipped him. It came from a Good Friday liturgy I had led. I commented then:...
“No Cross, No Crown”

“No Cross, No Crown”

As Easter approaches, Fr John McEvoy recalls his years spent in the Gold Mines Parish of Vatukoula which he has “always considered as the happiest years of my missionary life in Fiji”.   Back in 1981, as Easter approached, dark clouds of industrial strife also loomed...