austraLasia #1734

"Don Bosco's spirituality in the Continent of Oceania"

VATICAN CITY: 12th January 2007 -- Thursday's L'Osservatore Romano ran a substantial enough article under the headline indicated above, but under a much larger "...high points of ecclesiastical history"!  In fact the Vatican journalist, unnamed, had taken a number of points from a November austraLasia, subsequently reported in ANS, jumbled a few of the names and places (and I mean 'jumbled': Bishop Prowse came out as a somewhat Polish 'Pwrose', and Don Bosco House seemed to be located in a Japanese town called Nasaki), and threw in a quick overview of ecclesiastical history in the region, with some suspect geography as well.
    A valiant effort nonetheless! Substantially the article dealt with the ordination to the diaconate of Aleki Piula (Tonga) and Taisali Leuluai (Samoa), though it considered that they were 'originally from the Fiji Islands', which fact would be much to the chagrin of both ordinands, one suspects.  What is more to the point is that they were ordained in Suva, in fact at the Pacific Regional Seminary in Suva.  Other details concerning the Salesian presence in Fiji, Samoa and Australia were substantially accurate.  It would seem the article was actually put together more than a month ago, since there is reference to a 'war of words' between the then Prime Minister of Fiji and the Army Commander.  That 'war of words', as people would realise, has since resulted in a military coup, and the Army Commander is now the Prime Minister!
    The article goes on to give some general information as background - the Marist beginnings of the Catholic Church in the islands (Peter Channel, proto-martyr of Oceania).  The background includes reference to the 40th anniversary of the setting up of the Archdiocese of Suva and the 20th anniversary of the visit by Pope John Paul II to the city.  There is special reference to Catholic schools (yes, there are many) and a 'hospital at Makogai', but the writer is clearly unaware that this is ancient history.  Makogai's 8 sq miles of territory is neatly tucked away in the Lomaiviti (literally, the 'middle of Fiji') island group and was a leprosarium from 1911 till 1969 when it was closed down.  It was the archetypal leprosarium of times when these sufferers were truly hidden from all of humanity in the most inaccessible parts of the globe.  Since its closure it has been declared a marine reserve.
    Still, we have to be grateful for the mention, for the obvious effort to give due prominence to an event that is indeed a high moment of history, certainly for the Australian Province, and for the fact that the Vatican, ever since the term 'Oceania' came into common parlance thanks to a French explorer in the early 19th Century, is one of the few who consistently and correctly identify Oceania as a continent!
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