From Native Hut to

The Priesthood

(Contributed)

r is a long step from a native hut to the Altar of the Catholic Church, and st how long can be seen from the sent Ordination to the Priesthood of » first two native students of the »cese of Rabaul which comprises New itain, New Ireland and Manus. This ssion was established 75 years ago and administered by His Lordship, Bishop 0 Scharmach, MSC DD. ks the Catholic Church has only one ,ndard for its priests all over the world, 1 seminarians. To Bata of Malagunan J To Paivu of Topo, had to either ike that standard or quit, as many ve done before them. Actually both idents made it comfortably.

Jf the two Father Paivu was longer the road. Now aged 42, he his moling with the Native Sisters at Tapo, years ago. There was nothing nificant about his youth; he was not s son of a chief, a sub-chief, noted cerer or any other VIP. Senior thers of the Mission recall that whilst !y have had more brilliant pupils, none ild equal the youthful To Paivu in his ilication to work and determination to iceed. father Paivu was a student at the ssion Catechists’ School in 1926. By 2 he was back in his own village of [>o, which is a few miles from Kokopo, rking there as a Catechist whilst dying Latin privately under Father Jen. Then he moved on to the tchers School at Kinigunan, which oined Vunapope Mission, and there ■ing 1935 and 1936 he studied Mathe tlcs, History, English and Physics. !ame the war, and the Minor Seminary h all other buildings at Vunapope, was ed to the ground. The Missionaries h their Bishop were imprisoned by the tanese, then removed to the com bative safety of the Ramali Valley ere they eked out an existence until sased at the end of the war. During Japanese occupation, To Paivu re ned to his village of Tapo and there Fed in his former capacity as Catechist, ii 1947, still with the determination to ch the goal of the Priesthood, To vu made application to join the Major ainary which had begun to function Torokina on Bougainville, in the cese of Bishop Wade. ly this time To Paivu was not alone his ambition. A younger man, whose eer had not been so checkered and » had the advantage of continuing his andary studies with the missionaries ing the years of internment in Ramali, > now ready to proceed with him.

Is new student was To Bata of lagunan. he course proper of major studies for priesthood comprises two years of losophy, with the attached subjects of ic. Psychology and Sociology, and with anced lectures in English and Latin.

The course of Philosophy is followed by four years in Theology, which covers the field of Moral, Dogmatic and Pastoral theology, Sacred Scripture, Canon Law, Liturgy and History. Much of these studies and many of the lectures are followed in Latin, the universal tongue of the Catholic priesthood.

In November came the end of all this mental striving for these student seminarians. > Judged sufficiently know ledgeable by the Diocesan Board of Examiners, Fathers Paivu and Bata were ordained to the Priesthood of the Catholic Church, November 15, 1953. Monsignor Vesters, the retired Bishop of Rabaul, who first began the work of the Seminary and who was him

self celegrating the Golden Jubilee of his own ordination, was the ordaining Prelate at Vuvu, and performed the cere mony that made George To Bata a priest.

At Vunapope, the headquarters of the Mission, Bishop L. raised the veteran Scharmach, MSC, DD, student To Paivu to the priesthood.

Immense crowds of natives, Europeans and Chinese attended both ceremonies crowds not measured by the thousand but by the hectare. It was the triumphal ending of a long marathon for two brown, barefoot boys.

tl A new Supervisor of Technical Services for the Fiji Education De partment has been appointed to succeed Mr. R. A. Derrick who re tired from the post last year. He is Mr. Archibald Mac Neill who is at present the Organiser of Techni cal Education on the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Mr. Mac- Neill, who is 51 years of age, has been a teacher of educational hand work and technical subjects since 1924. He is expected to assume duty in the Colony in about April,

Bishop Vesters ordains the Rev. Fr.

G. Bata of Mala gunan.