WHILE Australia is finding it harder to attract vocations to the priesthood, Pacific nations are producing a steady supply of priests.
Where once it was Catholic missionaries from Western countries, including Australia, converting souls in the Pacific, the tide is turning, according to a number of seminary rectors who attended a week-long gathering in Brisbane from July 17-22.
About 40 seminary formation staff from 18 seminaries across Oceania attended the conference, which focused on Pope John Paul II’s encyclical, Ecclesia De Eucharistia (‘The Eucharist Builds the Church’).
Seminaries in the Oceania region have been experiencing a steady supply of vocations in recent years, similar to what is happening in developing countries in South-East Asia, Africa and South America.
The Pacific Regional Seminary in Fiji, currently has 127 seminarians studying for the priesthood and averages 20-25 applications each year.
The retention rate for students is about 75 per cent.
In PNG and the Solomon Islands, similar application numbers and retention rates are being recorded.
Rector of Holy Name of Mary Seminary in the Solomon Islands, Vincentian Father Frank Vargas, said more vocations were coming from the developing countries and the number of priests was declining in countries like Australia.
However, he said, seminaries are forming seminarians to be priests of the Catholic Church, and it may be possible, with further formation, for some of them to minister in Australia in future.
Pacific Regional Seminary rector Fr Veremo Dovarua said he still faced a challenge to attract and keep vocations, especially as the secular world encroached more into island society.
Fr Gabriel Tovo, who is rector at Sacred Heart College, Kopoko in PNG, said it was the simplistic life of people in these countries that helped drive more vocations.
Fr Dominic Maka, who is rector of Chanel College, Ulapia in PNG agreed but said even if the seminary lost some students, ‘then at least the Church has contributed something to their formation in lay life, thus contributing to the progress of the country’.
Fr Peter Artiken, rector of Holy Spirit Seminary, Port Moresby in PNG, said he came away from the conference with a confirmation about what he was doing at Holy Spirit and it helped him see the rich experience of what others can offer.
