One of the iconic churches in the Rewa Delta is the Naililili Parish.
The church was built in 1901 and a festival was organised to fundraise for repair works on the church.
On October 13, 1975 The Fiji Times reported on the opening of the Adi Naililili Festival.
The festival was opened by one Rosi Kado, and he gave $222 towards the festival funds, the report stated.
Other festival goers began giving generously to help in the repairs of the Rewa Roman Catholic
Church.
The chairman of the Naililili Festival Committee was Epeli Mataitini and he said they hoped to raise about $5000.
That money would then go towards a $16,000 major repair scheme.
Mr Mataitini said whenever there was a flood in the village, the foundation of the church was covered in water which seeped through the inner walls and peeled the plastic off the walls.
Mr Mataitini said the repairs to the walls would take a long time because of the expenses involved.
The front outer wall of the church had been repaired, but the work on the roofing was needed to be completed before the problem of the peeling plaster could be tackled.
The first priest to this iconic church was Father Paul Coquereau, who had worked at the Naililili Catholic Mission for 14 years.
He said the beauty of the old church was still very much apparent, even though it was in dire need of repairs.
It was built in 1901 and the church’s first priest to work for the mission was a French Marist priest Father Rougier Emmanuel.
Mr Mataitini said it was the largest Roman Catholic Church in Fiji.
The elders of the village said that before it was built, the people of Wairiki on Taveuni boasted to have the largest church.
This stimulated a competitive interest in the people of Rewa, who immediately sent a man to measure the church, then built a slightly larger one.
