Fr Iowane (centre) at his Anniversary Mass. Fr Donal McIlraith ssc (left) and Fr. Alan Finn CM (right).
On Saturday the 21st of December 2019, more than 200 guests and friends joined Fr Iowane Gukibau’s family to celebrate his 25th Silver Jubilee as a Columban missionary priest. At his anniversary Mass, he gave thanks to God for the grace and love which he has been blessed with, through those who have supported him, accompanied him and prayed for him during his 25 years of service in the priesthood, which was mostly spent abroad, as well as some time in Fiji. He was the first Columban to start in our formation program in 1985 and successfully continued on until he got ordained on October the 10th, 1994 at the Immaculate Conception Parish in Lami.
His first mission assignment (FMA) prior to his ordination was in Bahia, Brazil. Here, he learnt to speak Portuguese, and discovered the relevant missionary gifts he had which enabled him suitable to be a missionary priest. After ordination, he served in Lomary Parish as an assistant to Fr Gerard Hurley (RIP) for 8 months. He was then assigned to Peru in September 1995.
While there, he served in one of the poorest Parish (el Monton) in the outskirt of Lima, a densely populated area of about 30,000 people where he was challenged to show God’s love in solidarity with the poor. In the year 2000, he was appointed as formation director in the Region of Peru and returned to Fiji in 2006 for vocation promotion work. He was then, sent for further studies in 2010 to Gregorian University in Rome, where he obtained a licentiate (Magna Cum laude) in Mission theology, and upon his return, taught theology and church history at Pacific Regional Seminary for five years.
Fr Iowane extends his sincere gratitude and blessings to all those who have been part of his faith journey as a missionary priest: to his family, the Columbans, friends and relatives, and all those people of good will who have moulded and contributed generously to making him become the person he is today.
While in Columban formation at Nasese and lecturing at PRS, he surprisingly took on the responsibility as Parish Priest of St. Pius X Raiwaqa from 2013 to 2015. He ran pastoral care and evangelization programs in alignment with the vision of our new Archbishop Peter Loy Chong.
Fr Iowane with the Columban family and friends
Fr Iowane was also privileged and happy to have been part of the organizing committee in 2015 to celebrate the 1400th Anniversary of the death of St Columban (615). In 2018, he also played an important role for the Centennial celebrations of the founding of Columbans (1918), which was a historical, significant and unforgettable moment of joy for him and the Columban family throughout the world.
Our Columban Formation Program was disrupted in 2016 when our students were sent to the Philippines with Fr Felisiano, but Fr Iowane remained in Fiji as Rector for the remaining students until he was reassigned to Peru in April 2019.
Fr Iowane extends his sincere gratitude and blessings to all those who have been part of his faith journey as a missionary priest: to his family, the Columbans, friends and relatives, and all those people of good will who have moulded and contributed generously to making him become the person he is today.
Vitalina Vukinagauna
Columban Mission Office
Suva, Fiji
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