austraLasia #2000
(Note the '#2000': it has taken 10 years to get there! Anyway, on we plod...and it is good to be able to dedicate this 2000 milestone to a news item which is a milestone in its own right. Read on...)

Kingdom of Tonga gives Salesians a precious gift - a priestly ordination

NUKU'ALOFA (Tonga): 6th December 2007 -- The Australia-Pacific Province, comprising the continent of Australia (including the Island of Tasmania), the Fiji Islands, and Samoa, today welcomes a Tongan amongst its ranks as an ordained Salesian priest.  'Aleki Piula (yes, the ' in front of Aleki is part of the name) is to be ordained at Malia Tupu 'I Makulata Cathedral in Nuku'alofa, Ma'ufanga Tongatapu, by Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi today, at 6 pm.
    Fr 'Aleki's vocational story is an interesting one.  He places the beginnings of his Salesian vocation in 1995 when he was already a teacher at the Nukunuku Campus of Tupou High School in Tonga.  There he met a Mrs Dolores Hoare, an Australian volunteer teacher of English who was also a good friend of Bro Peter Swain of the Australian Province.  'Aleki was teaching science from Forms 1-4 and his laboratory stood beside the library where Dolores taught.  Each morning they swapped stories, and 'Aleki told her how he really wanted to work for young people and have a system for teaching them that did not rely on the stick (a common enough approach in 'Aleki's context at the time).  Dolores led 'Aleki to understand a little of the Preventive System, which she had learned about from Bro Peter Swain when he taught her in Teachers' College. Peter kept up a correspondence with 'Aleki for a number of years. 'Aleki did not know that the Salesians were already in nearby Samoa, but by 1997 he had been directed to the prenovitiate there, where he had to learn a new language, and deal with a culture that, though similar at one level, was distinctly different at others.
    It went on from there.  'Aleki transferred after his novitiate to Fiji for his post-novitiate, continued with Practical Training in Papua New Guinea (Gabutu), then returned to Fiji to complete his Theological studies.
    He is the only Tongan member of the Salesian Congregation, but there is little doubt that his ordination today amongst his own people will stir up vocational interest in a Kingdom which has given many religious and priestly vocations to the Church and continues to do so.
    Fr 'Aleki will celebrate his first Mass at Malia Fa'e'o e Ha'a Tangata Church 'Utulau on the 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate.  After a short break with the family he will take up his appointment in the Island State of Tasmania, Australia, as assistant priest at St John's Glenorchy in Hobart.
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