Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II.
I was appointed to the Ba parish in December 1977 following language studies. Most of my first two years in the parish was spent working in the rural area, in what was called “na yasana taudaku”. This included at least 12 villages. The parish also had two leadership bodies or parish councils, one for the town and the other for the rural area.
Part of my responsibility was to keep in touch with the schools and to support school events. There were three parish primary schools – St Theresa’s in Ba town, and two schools in the villages of Navala and Votua. These schools relied on the financial support of the parents and parishioners. Annually each of the schools would have a bazaar to raise money for the running and maintenance of the school.
Early August I attended my first three-day school bazaar in the village of Navala. It was called the Adi Qualiyalatina. This is with reference to the name of the tribal province or area. There were stalls set up by each of the seven “mataqali” or clans. Each of the clans had a queen or “adi” and the one which made the most had their queen crowned “adi qualiyalatina”. There were other events, the most popular of which was the local rugby competition.
On the last day of the bazaar, Sunday August 6, when we were coming towards the end and the final counting of the money, I received word that Pope Paul VI had died. I quickly asked for the microphone and informed people that the Holy Father had died. We then had a moment of silence and a prayer.
In the meantime, a new pope, John Paul I, was elected. Late September I made my way down to the main village, which is located down towards the mouth of the Ba River. The name of this village is Votua. Their school bazaar was called Adi Qusinituba. The structure and process of the fundraising was very similar to that of Navala. People supported their clan stall, and each clan had its own queen. They competed for the crown.
This school bazaar was held on weekdays. I suspect it may have been school holidays. 28 September was a Thursday, and it was the day Pope John Paul I died. As happened in Navala, when I heard this sad and unexpected news, I asked people to stop for a moment, announced the news that the Holy Father had died, asked for a moment of silence and then said a prayer.
St Theresa's School Ba
Later that evening, as we were completing the counting of the money, three or four elders came into the school office and asked for my attention. I was quickly aware that this was serious business. So, I dropped what I was doing, sat down on the floor and prepared to receive the traditional gift of yaqona or kava they had brought with them.
As I listened to the purpose of the gift, I tried to maintain a serious demeanour. In presenting the gift, this is roughly what they said, “We are aware that a pope has died each time you attend a school bazaar. So, we are thinking that, for the sake of the health of the next pope, you do not attend any further school bazaars!”
I am not sure whether they were serious. Nevertheless, we, did have a chuckle later on that evening. I still attended school bazaars over the next few years of my time in the parish…. and Pope John Paul II lived through it all!
Fr Tom Rouse - Regional Councillor of Oceania, lives and works in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
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