Tongan Catholics celebrate 50 years of ministry in Australia

Tongan Catholic communities from across Australia gathered in Sydney from October 1 to 4 to celebrate 50 years of organized pastoral ministry. The four-day jubilee included representatives from Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Broken Bay, Maitland-Newcastle, Parramatta, Wollongong, and Perth.

Cardinal Soane Patita Paini Mafi, the bishop of Tonga and Niue, attended as the guest of honor. The celebrations included wreath-laying ceremonies at Villa Maria Cemetery in Hunters Hill to honor Father Cyril Butler SM, who established the Tongan chaplaincy in 1976, and at Rookwood Cemetery to remember Father Penisimani Folaumoetu’i, the first full-time Tongan chaplain in Sydney. The community also honored former chaplain Father Fatu Mulikiha’amea.

During the event at Liverpool’s Whitlam Leisure Centre, participants held traditional Ha’unga and ‘Ilo Kava ceremonies. The Pōhiva Fakafeta’i sacred music festival featured diocesan choirs performing the jubilee hymn, Siupeli Koula, composed by Matafonua Mafi.