Death of Cardinal Pio Taufinu'u, Archbishop
emeritus of Samoa-Tokelau, who invited the Salesians into his
archdiocese
APIA: 23rd January 2006 -- Cardinal Pio
Taofinu'u SM, first ever Polynesian-born bishop and Cardinal, died on
19th January in the Samoan capital, Apia, and was laid to rest on 21st
in the Cathedral there. Cardinal Pio invited the Salesians to
Polynesia, and specifically to Samoa, just 26 years ago. As a bishop he
believed strongly in the value of consecrated life and sought to
encourage and nurture its many different forms in his archdiocese,
which extended beyond the islands of Samoa itself to take in the tiny
nation of Tokelau, and other scattered islands of the Pacific at
various times. He strongly supported Catholic education,
especially for the poorest of his flock and it was in this context that
he sought the direct intervention of the Rector Major of the time, Fr
Viganò, to have the Salesians in his Archdiocese. The Rector
Major approached the Australian provincial, and the 'Salesian map' in
Oceania began to be re-drawn, since at precisely the same time there
were requests to begin Salesian work in Papua New Guinea.
Political reasons made it impossible for Australia to move in that
direction (Australia was relinquishing its semi-colonial role there at
the time), so Samoa was taken up. Cardianl Pio also encouraged
missionary activity and was amongst the first of the Pacific Island
dioceses to encourage his priests in particular to consider preaching
the Good News well beyond their own confines. Samoan priests
today serve in a number of missionary situations.
As a young priest, Pio Taofinu'u joined the
Marists. He soon came to the notice of his own Religious and
ecclesiastical superiors, and found himself in Rome helping his Bishop
at the time of the Vatican Council. This obviously also brought
him to the attention of Pope Paul VI who appointed him bishop in 1968
for the Apia diocese, which then became an Archdiocese with Tokelau
attached in 1975. Soon after his appointment as Bishop he had the
joy of welcoming Pope Paul VI to his diocese. He always spoke
fondly of Paul VI as a father to him. Three years after that
visit, Paul VI created him a cardinal, the first ever indigenous
Pacifican to receive that honour and until today, the only one.
The Salesians owe a great debt of gratitude to
Cardinal Pio, but it is one they have also paid with diligence, effort
and by giving the Samoan Church many fine young priests and religious
in the first instance, and an educational institution second to none in
the South Pacific, the Don Bosco Technical Centre in Apia, not to
mention two flourishing parishes, the preparation of the nation's lay
catechists over a twenty year period and the management of the minor
seminary (both now handed back to the archdiocese).
Cardinal Pio was an imaginative 'dreamer' for his
people. It is fitting that he be buried at the foot of Mount Vaea
which directly overlooks the Cathedral, for on that mountain's summit
lies the last resting place of a man the Samoans call 'Tusitala', the
teller of tales, Robert Louis Stevenson (of Treasure Island fame,
amongst many other literary works). Always arguing against
realism, Stevenson would underline what he called 'the nameless
longings' of the reader. He and the Cardinal shared something
there. But Stevenson died at 44, Pio at 82. He could, and
did add the realism of a long life's experiences to his dreams.
One of Stevenson's prayers may be an appropriate
prayer to conclude with, a prayer of Grace:
'Deliver us from fear and favour, from mean hopes
and cheap pleasures. Have mercy on each in his deficiency; let
him be not cast down; support the stumbling on the way, and give at
last rest to the weary' Amen.
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