DOMINICAN VOCATIONS
PROVINCE OF THE ASSUMPTION
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DOMINICAN VOCATIONS PROVINCE OF THE ASSUMPTION |
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Excerpts
from a reflection on pastoral semester (2004) |
Br Mannes Tellis, O.P. |
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News -------------------------- Welcome Benedict XVI Master -------------------------- History Introduction St Dominic's gift Australia --------------------------- Order Discernment Formation Dominican habit Novitiate Studentate --------------------------- Life Introduction Four pillars Apostolate --------------------------- People Dominican saints Our brethren --------------------------- Resources Lectio Divina Links Prayer Reading --------------------------- Site dedication |
The Order of Friars Preachers, from the start champions of truth and preachers of the word, are an institute of religious life especially suited to the the work of the missions. Our holy father Dominic had always dreamed of going to convert the Cuman Tartars in Eastern Europe. He never received that opportunity. Nevertheless many of his sons in later years did enter the missionary push especially to the Orient and the New World of the Americas. With all of these thoughts in my mind, I set off to help in our mission territory. I entered with some trepidation as I was leaving the comfort of an industrialised nation for the challenges of a country just emerging from civil unrest, endowed with much natural beauty yet lacking infrastructure and contending with poverty and sickness. Choiseul-Sirovanga-Moli Fr Simon Suvenava, O.P. is the parish priest of Sirovanga. This parish is probably the most difficult to attend to pastorally as it is quite large and generally arduous to visit. The parish can be roughly divided into coastal areas and hinterland villages. The terrain of Choiseul is in some parts quite mountainous and thus not readily accessible. This environment demands the parish priest to have a reasonable level of fitness since there is a considerable amoung of climbing to be done. The locals are quite adept at running through the dank rainforests and up wet and muddy hillsides. I spent two days at Sirovanga. After I had been at Sirovanga for the weekend 6/7 March, I headed for the other Catholic station called Moli. Moli is a separate parish and it is headed by the only priest of the Gizo diocese, Monsignor Michael Lomiri. Assisting in the parish are a community of Dominican sisters. At the moment there is only one Dominican sister at the convent there, Sr Rita. Rita runs the catechetical centre with the help of a layman, Jerome Kuibatu. The aim of the centre is to assist in the faith formation of the local catechists. The week I was to spend at Moli was mainly helping out in a catechists' workshop on empowerment of the laity. While at Sirovanga I preached on vocations at the Sunday Mass and spent some time chatting to the parishoners after the Mass. Sirovanga is pretty empty during the week but on the Sunday it is abuzz with people. Mass is celebrated at 10am, if the priest is there, and people travel large distances to get there. Some parishoners told me that it is still common for people to paddle up to two hours to get to Mass on the Sunday, and this happens whether it be raining or not. Once again, examples such as this display how much the people are involved in their faith. It puts us to shame especially when it is wet and we see few people in Church, yet we have the luxury of reliable (and covered!) transport. Noro-Canaan Another part of the Solomon's experience was accompanying our Dominican brother, Bishop Chris Cardone, O.P. (Auxiliary Bishop for the Diocese of Gizo) to the parish of Noro-Canaan for the Easter Triduum. Holy Thursday was spent at the Gilbertese village of Canaan. Canaan could be summed up in three words: mud, mosquitoes and doughnuts! Our host at Canaan was Sr Veronica, who makes very good doughnuts! The liturgy at Canaan was quite simple and we sang the Tantum Ergo in the procession of the Lord to the Altar of Repose. Many kept vigil with the Lord, either saying the Rosary or reciting other prayers in their native tongue. On Good Friday the whole village turned up for the Stations of the Cross followed by confessions. The Good Friday service was held at Noro which is just across from Canaan. The church is made of local materials, however plans are afoot to build a more permanent edifice. Holy Saturday was a disaster: a tropical cyclone whipped through the town and brought down power lines, hence we had no electricity to carry out the liturgy at night. We recited the Rosary instead. The blessing of the Paschal candle was reserved to the Resurrection Mass the next day. I was disappointed that the Easter Vigil was not celebrated but that is the way of things in the missions you are at the mercy of the elements much of the time. My time in the Solomon Islands was, I believe, beneficial to my growth as a Friar Preacher. The work I was engaged in really set the scene for the work I hope to do as a Dominican priest. The constant talks, workshops, retreats, teaching and preaching all gave me a glimpse at my future life in the Order. I was happy to do all of these things and I found that whenever I did participate in the ministry God's presence was always there, both in myself and in those whom I was ministering to or with. |
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