Joe Lee, a faithful Columban friend of seventy years, with Fr. Tim Mulroy inside Holy Family Parish Church, Labasa
It had also been in Chicago that I first met Fr. Willie Lee almost twenty years ago when he had come as a seminarian from Fiji to continue his preparations for Columban missionary priesthood. Since he had grown up in Holy Family Parish, he knew many Columban missionaries. As a seminarian, he had spoken frequently about them, as well as about their close friendship with his family. What a pleasant surprise, then, for me to meet his father, Joe Lee, during my stay in Holy Family Parish.
Now in his mid-eighties and widowed, Joe shared with me stories about the first group of Columbans who arrived in that district seventy years ago. As an adventurous teenager, he had accompanied them through a maze of dirt tracks and had ferried them by boat from one mission station to another. He recalled jovially their individual gifts and eccentricities, as well as their creativity and commitment to his own people.
Despite the limitations of age, Joe remains deeply committed to supporting Columban missionaries. During our initial meeting, he told me, “Since I first heard some weeks ago about your visit to Fiji, I have prayed every day for you”. Then, on the day before I left Holy Family Parish, he visited the rectory to say goodbye and to reassure me that he would continue to include me in his prayers.
Even though my stay in Holy Family Parish in Labasa had been just four days, I felt blessed to meet Fr. Carlo in his mission field; to share memories of Fr. Charlie Duster with his former parishioners; and to have the assurance of being prayed for by a faithful Columban friend of seventy years, Joe Lee. In some mysterious way, those three experiences made my first visit to Fiji feel like a homecoming!
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