“That is the first time I have ever seen him washing dishes!” said Mrs. Sai Niukula, indicating her husband Rev. Paula Niukula, a past president of the Methodist Church. This little bit of family politics happened during a two-week course for Methodists and Catholics, Indigenous Fijian and Indo-Fijian, at Pacific Regional Seminary, Suva, in 1991.
This course explored ways to bridge the ethnic gap between indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians and it also explored the faith of Methodists and Catholics. Twenty-six participants from different parts of Fiji lived at the seminary, prayed together, did role plays, shared their beliefs and practices, engaged in a reconciliation ritual and spent time informally getting to know each other. Staff and participants washing the dishes and doing other chores together was part of the program.
Admitting prejudices was difficult. But derogatory sayings and incidents of hurt and discrimination were gradually shared in a safe environment. We were surprised to see indigenous Fijians weep as Indo-Fijians dramatized the situation of near slavery that their ancestors experienced as indentured laborers. The Indo-Fijians discovered the deep emotional identity with the communally owned land that indigenous Fijians have. Seeing through the eyes of the other was a constant theme.
A reconciliation service combined regret for instances of prejudice or discrimination, a shadow play of the Crucifixion and Resurrection, silence and music, darkness and light. This was an emotional high point.
We discovered common inspiration in Jesus’ teaching about the Kingdom of God and in the social teaching of both churches. We learned about the official dialogue between the two Churches. We hit a rough patch when the group attended first a Methodist service and then on another day a Catholic Eucharist. Methodists invite all who believe in Christ to receive Holy Communion at their service. When at the Catholic Eucharist they did not receive a reciprocal invitation some of them felt hurt and angry. Rev. Paula explained gently to them the Catholic point of view.
One of the participants reported, “The workshop was very challenging and helped a lot in the reforming of my behavior, feelings and attitudes about Indians and Fijians and about Methodists and Catholics.” I discovered that ecumenism is fruitful when the partners are committed to a common effort to bring about some dimension of the kingdom of God in the concrete situation of life.
Columban Fr. Frank Hoare lives and works in Fiji.