Bishop's Death

A Legacy Of The

Pacific War

The Rt. Rev. Thomas Wade, who as Bishop of Bougainville

successfully evaded Japanese

capture during World War 11,

died in Boston on June 12, aged 75. This warm tribute to him comes from Honiara: Before deciding to become a priest, Rhode Island-born Thomas Wade was a league baseball player and appren tice jeweller, and he was 23 when he commenced his studies for the priest hood. The Solomons, where his life’s work was done, has cause to thank him for that decision on his vocation.

In 1925, after being ordained, he was appointed to the North Solomons Mission, which at that time comprised Bougainville, Buka, Shortlands and Choiseul. His achievements were impressive, and in 1930 when the North Solomons mission was raised to the status of a Mission Vicariate (diocese) he was named as its first bishop. He was consecrated at St.

Patrick’s Sydney, on October, 1930.

He returned to the mission in February, 1931, and established his seat at Kieta, Bougainville.

Interior work

His main concern in the years up to the war was the extension of mission work among the tribes of the interior of Bougainville, few of whom had had any previous Euro pean contact. He concentrated on training schools for village teachers and on efficient medical work in which he received devoted service from volunteer doctors and nurses from Australia.

In February and March, 1942, his vicariate was occupied by the Japanese. All the missionaries were instructed to remain at their posts if at all possible, but by August, 1942, the events of Guadalcanal aroused in the invaders a temper of savage reprisal.

Those of the missionaries who were sufficiently alerted to their danger took to the villages of their people in the mountains, but others were arrested, some were sent to concen tration camps in Rabaul, some were executed, others died of wounds or sickness.

The bishop himself received an eight-hour warning of his impending arrest from an old acquaintance, now

in the Japanese Navy, and escaped to the hills. The groups in the hills kept in contact with the coast watchers and in early 1943 a hazardous night rendezvous was arranged with a US submarine and all the sisters and some elderly priests and brothers were suecessfully taken off the island to the safety of Guadalcanal.

The bishop and eight others remamed for another five months on Bougainville, but lack of food, sickness and the mounting intensity of the Japanese search for them persuaded departure P by°submarin^ B was succet r 1 j l’.l •_1 p 1 1 ful and the bishop arrived on Ciuadal* ranal in limp 1041 ’ '

With US forces

From there he went to Noumea and after two months in hospital he was appointed Military Vicar (bishop) for all the US forces operating in the South Pacific sector.

This was an active post of responsibility which served to distract his mind from the constant anxiety of his people and missionaries still in the hands of the Japanese.

He returned to Bougainville at the end of 1945. His mission had to be completely rebuilt and almost completely re-staffed. An appeal for aid was well heard and a larger group of young priests and sisters and lay helpers worked enthusiastically to rebuild the old places and found new ones. The new spirit of development in the islands was very much in their line of thinking and the bishop gave them full reign.

His own aims for his people had always been a free-ranging search

for opportunities of social develop ment, and of involving the islanders in the responsibility for that develop ment.

But his health had never recovered f u n y f rom the sufferings in the Bougainville bush in 1942 and 1943. j n 1945 he had sent all the other old missionaries for an extended furlough to restore their health, but he felt t h a t he should always be at hand to fc eep an eye on the reconstruction anc i new development In 1955 he finally had to give in

fo w£

cover. In 1956, in consultation with n;t a • r t * n o i Bishop Aubm of the South Solomons, he arranged for the creation of a mission district which should com prise the islands of the Western District and the British Solomons which each of them had held up to that time. This district is now the Diocese of Gizo.

Resigns, 1959

He continued his work m Bougam ville, but the strain of travel and the increase of responsibilities with the rapid expansion of work in the vicariate was becoming too much for him and in 1959 his resignation was accepted by the Holy See.

His departure from Bougainville evoked an open expression of loss from all sections of the community, especially among older planters and traders who were losing their friend and adviser of many years. He re turned to a house of the Marist Fathers in Boston, where his health improved and for the last nine years he led a moderately active life.