NZ bishop recalled at Solomon Islands ordination

Bishop Jacob Aba SM was ordained and installed at St Augustine Cathedral in Fasitoro, Auki, Malaita Province on January 24. He is the second locally-born Catholic bishop in the Solomon Islands.

At the ordination Mass, principal consecrator Honiara Archbishop Christopher Cardone OP paid tribute to the previous Bishops of Auki.

He recalled with gratitude the late Bishop Gerald Loft SM, of New Zealand, the first Bishop of Auki, who served Malaita for 46 years and led the Diocese from 1984 to 2004. He is remembered for laying strong foundations for Catholic family life and vocations.

Today, Malaita has the highest number of diocesan priests within the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. 

Archbishop Cardone reflected on the words of St John Paul II, written to the Universal Church at the beginning of the new millennium, calling the Church to remember the past with gratitude, live the present with enthusiasm and look forward to the future with hope. 

He invited the faithful to give thanks for the history of the Catholic Church in Malaita, recalling how the faith was first planted in Malaita by the Society of Mary, which courageously began the mission, planting the seeds of faith with strong determination, deep trust in God and the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Bishop Loft died in Auckland in 2007. According to the Fides news agency, in his ministry in the Solomon Islands, he spent much of his time in a boat sailing from island to island. He was renowned for getting sick people to hospital, pregnant mothers to a clinic, at his own expense, and often in terrible weather. He would also bring the terminally ill home to their village to die and bring the dead home to be buried.

Bishop Loft told the story of sitting all night with a grieving widow beside the grave of her husband so her husband’s enemies would not come and dig him up. He challenged the cultural taboos against women and childbirth; he supported programmes for the development of women and helped to establish Marriage Encounter on Malaita.

The Catholic community in the Solomon Islands will always remember him for his “down to earth spirituality and commitment. Bishop Gerard was a man of prayer and fidelity. He did what had to be done and he did it for God and his people. He was by turn a teacher, linguist, builder, farmer, mechanic, and above all, a fisherman of people”, Fides wrote.

FULL STORY

Jacob Aba Ordained, Installed as Diocese of Auki’s Fourth Bishop – Solomon Star News (Solomon Star News)

OCEANIA/SOLOMON ISLANDS – Catholics mourn Marist missionary Bishop Gerard Francis Loft who died a month ago in his native New Zealand (Fides)