Fr David Arms (sitting, middle) and from the left Fr Pat O'Shea, Denise Rouse (Fr Tom's sister) Fr Tom Rouse, and Fr Don Hornsey enjoying a recent luncheon at The Columban House, Lower Hutt
Hello everyone,
Thank you for taking the time to read our e-bulletins and visit our website. It is always a useful way to keep you in touch with what is happening here at Columban Mission, Lower Hutt, and indeed among Columbans around the world.
A major concern over the past few weeks has been the health of one of our brother priests here in the Hutt, Fr David Arms. For over a year Dave has been undergoing immunotherapy in the effort to stop the spread of melanoma, skin cancer. It has been quite a battle. Despite loosing a lot of weight, Dave continued to join the office staff for daily morning tea and our community for lunch each day.
On February 10, Dave was suddenly admitted to the Hutt hospital with internal bleeding. From there he was transferred to Wellington hospital where he underwent two operations in the same night. His sister, Judith, and I were allowed into the Intensive Care Unit to see Dave shortly after he came out of surgery. For one who had just undergone almost 5 hours of surgery, he was in remarkably good spirits. The bleeding was cancer-related.
The next day I sent a message on our NZ Columbans Facebook page asking for prayers. I was amazed at and touched by the response. It eventually reached over 4, 000 people and about 100 people sent personal messages, assuring Dave of their prayers.
After two days in ICU, Dave was transferred to a ward. The care and support shown by his sister and his nephew and nieces and other members of his wider family was remarkable. Dave was also very grateful to the hospital staff for their care and to the social worker and our Columban Health care coordinator for arranging his present respite care. Yesterday he was transferred from Wellington hospital to Woburn Enliven home where he will enjoy respite care for two weeks before returning here to his house in Francis Douglas Way.
For those of you who may not know Fr David, he has spent most of his life in Fiji. He has a doctorate in linguistics and has spent most of his life involved in the work of translation. He translated the Catholic missal and lectionary into Fijian and is presently working on an English-Fijian dictionary. He would dearly love to complete his work on this latest project.
So, I would ask you all to please keep Fr Dave in your prayers. We pray that God still needs him to complete his latest project and continue to be an encouraging presence among the staff and fellow Columbans here at Columban Mission, Lower Hutt.
May you, our friends, supporters and donors enjoy good health as we struggle to cope with the spread of omicron here in Aotearoa-New Zealand. Keep safe and stay well and may God bless you all.
Tom Rouse - Lower Hutt
February 24, 2022
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