Historic Columban ‘Come and See’ programs

Participants listening during Columban Come and See in Suva - Photo: Fr Frank Hoare

A couple of years ago the Columban seminarians in Fiji and their formator held two ‘Come and See’ programs. One was a day-long face-to-face program conducted at the Columban Formation House in Suva and was attended by 16 young men interested in discerning a vocation to be Columban missionaries.

Two of these men had come all the way from Labasa, on the north island of Vanua Levu. The other was a two-hour Zoom meeting that reached out to nine young men on Tarawa Island in Kiribati and at least four young men in Ba on the west coast of Fiji’s southern island, Viti Levu.

It was possible to hold these programs simultaneously because we had the participation of four Fijian Columban seminarians - two studying at the Pacific Regional Seminary in Suva and two living in the Columban Formation House in Manila - as well as three Columban seminarians finishing their holidays in Fiji before going to Manila for their formation. Fr Martin Koroiciri, visiting from Chile, also made himself available to speak.

Saula Seeto and Iowane Naio at Come and See Event. Photo: Fr Frank Hoare

We received much support and encouragement in preparing and conducting the ‘Come and See’ programs. Mr Birati, the president of the Kiribati Columban Companions in Mission, invited the participants in Kiribati to the Ministry of Education offices in Tarawa to join the program held on Zoom. Two female parishioners from the Raiwaqa Parish branch of the Columban Companions in Mission catered for the large group who participated in the face-to-face program in Suva.

Columban Fr Carlo Jung, the parish priest of Holy Family Parish, Labasa, encouraged the two students from the parish to take the long journey to Suva to join the program. Columban Fr Pat Colgan, the parish priest of Christ the King Parish, Ba, arranged for three of the Ba students to use the parish presbytery to participate in the Zoom program.  

Everyone was very happy with the two programs of prayer, sharing, videos, and information, held on a beautiful Suva day. We here in Suva miss the Columban seminarians who left for Manila after the ‘Come and See’ programs. In bidding them farewell, we wished them every blessing in their studies and the remainder of their Columban formation in Manila. 

Columban Fr Frank Hoare lives and works in Fiji.