AT the age of 91, Catholic priest Father Alan Finn can still tell you how he used to cross four rivers through rough terrains of the Wainibuka forest for the sake of spreading the Gospel.
The frisky slim built Australian man, who can also ‘talanoa’ in our mother tongue, shows no sign of old age as he walks around the presbytery in Natovi greeting those who visit the parish.
His journey to Fiji started in 1964 when he was at a Catholic parish in Melbourne.
“I was promised to spend just six months in Fiji and return home to Melbourne. But I didn’t want to come, I didn’t know what Fiji was like because it would have been my first time to Fiji,” he said.
“The heads of the Catholic Church in Australia told me to come and do some mission work as a priest and they would take me back to Melbourne.
“But I’m still waiting for that promise to come true. It’s been 60 years since I was brought to Fiji and have never returned as they promised.”
Fr Finn or the Great Finn, as commonly known among Catholics is from Canowindra in New South Wales, worked with Fr Arthur Bridgewater in building and restoring the parish which had its church built in 1910.
“Fr Bridgewater was a different kind of man of God because he worked with soldiers who went for war and one story about him speaks of his bravery,” he said.
“There were soldiers, all lying wounded on the deck and the captain of the boat called out to Fr Bridgewater, ‘hey Bridgewater, get out of the line of fire but he only saluted the captain and continued anointing the wounded on the deck so he was commended for VC medal and passed away in his 80s.
“He was the first Vincentian priest in Natovi and we must consider ourselves blessed because he brought this parish to what it is today. He started from whatever little Natovi had and the villagers and myself came by to help him.
“Today, we have 3000 members and is a very big parish with parishioners right up to some parts of Ra and Wainibuka growing and growing and the church is packed every Sunday.”
Missionary work in Wainibuka
In his younger days of missionary work, Fr Finn remembered how he used to cross four rivers to get to Nalidi Village where church members gathered for mass.
“Sometimes we leave the parish in the morning and get cross through forests and rivers and one time I almost drowned while trying to cross a river,” he said.
“But I was blessed that one catechist I was going with saved my life. I am very grateful to the villagers who have always helped me and walked with me to Wainibuka, sometimes to as far as Ra province.
“It was not easy because we’d spend days, sometimes a week out in the villages but we enjoyed it because we wanted to lead people to Christ.”
Fr Finn also visited villages by the coast of northern Tailevu so one day he decided to ask for help back home in Australia.
“A few kind donors gave the money and we bought a small boat to take us to the villages instead of walking we travelled by sea.
Learning to speak the iTaukei language
After spending a few years in Fiji, Fr Finn was told to learn how to speak the iTaukei language.
“It was a bit hard in the beginning but I had a strict teacher and he is the late Father Pelasio Vakarorogo who was a school teacher first before becoming the first Fijian Vincentian priest,” he said.
“So every afternoon he’d give me books written in the Fijian language and I had to read through the sentences.
“Everytime, I got it wrong or couldn’t pronounce a Fijian word properly, he would make me repeat the sentence or the word until I got it right.
“He was tough but it helped me a lot because I got to speak the litaukei language well and very fluently too.”
When he first arrived from Australia, Fr Finn had to get used to the local food because as a priest who didn’t receive any income, he couldn’t afford to buy his Australian type of food.
“It was a challenge but I had to eat the local food, there was no money to buy my ‘kaivalagi’ food and over the years I fell in love with the food in villages and still do,” he said.
St Vincent’s College
While in Natovi, Fr Finn thought of establishing a secondary school for the children in nearby villages. So he worked with government officials to for the construction of the St Vincent’s College which started in 1973.
“With no proper roads at that time, the parishioners used horses to take building materials to from Korovou town to the parish,” he said.
“There was also a small boat we used and no one saw it as a burden because we wanted our children from this area to get educated.
“So in 1979, we opened the school and it has grown with increasing number of students over the years.”
Initial work in preparing the school, he said included a bulldozer, given by government officials to level the school area where it sits today.
“The government officials in Korovou that time were very helpful and they supported us a lot when it came to development projects,” Fr Finn said.
Retirement
Fr Finn also served in Nausori as parish priest where he conducted more than 100 weddings and baptisms for the parishioners.
Fr Finn celebrated his last mass last year at Natovi before retiring from his duties as clergy. His contribution to the nation was recognised last year by Government and the President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere awarded him with an Honorary Companion of the Order of Fiji (CF) medal.
Before he retired, he travelled to Australia and arranged funds for the construction of the Vincentian Home in Wailoku.
“I have done my part in serving the Lord and Fiji as a Catholic priest and I have enjoyed my stay here and I call Fiji my home.
