FINAL JOURNEY OF FR JOHN SONGADAN ANEO MSC

Fr John died on Monday, 23rd September 2019 around 6.15pm. His death came as a shock and was unexpected, but we hope and trust and find our consolation in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Let us pray that the Lord will receive Fr John into his kingdom and grant him the reward of everlasting life.

We will celebrate Fr John’s life and final journey as a community. The program is as follows:

REGUREGU AND VIGIL MASS (Thursday, 3rd September)

1. Reguregu will begin on Thursday 3rd October 2019 at 3.00 p.m. at St Agnes Parish Church, Nabua. The Vigil Mass will be celebrated at

Novitiate 2018 - 2019

NOVICE MASTER: Fr John Aneo MSC

Fr John Aneo MSC belongs to the Province of PNG. He responded to the need of the Pacific Union and took the role of novice master after Fr Lomano's assignment as novice master came to an end. Fr Aneo accompanied the novices of 2018 and 2019 and sadly passed away on 23rd Sept, 2019.

St Agnes Parish Church, Nabua. The Vigil Mass will be celebrated at 7.00pm at St Agnes Parish Church. His body will be brought to the Church at 5.00 pm and will be taken back to the morgue at 9.00 p.m.

3. His body will be repatriated to PNG on Friday morning and his funeral will take place on Monday 7th October.

We thank the MSC PNG Province for sending Fr John to Fiji to work in formation. We also thank his family for sharing Fr John with us and the Congregation.

He came to Fiji in 2018 to serve as Novice Master. We thank everyone for your prayers and support following the untimely death of Fr John. Memories of him will remain with us always.

Rest In Peace Brother!


Novice Master for 3 months

In December 2017, the Novice Master bade us farewell for his new assignment in Nauru. Unfortunately, his replacement, Fr. John Aneo, MSC of Papua New Guinea, was delayed because of a sudden illness. As a result, Brother Warren Perrotto, MSC, temporarily assumed the responsibilities as Novice Master for about three months. Brother was already familiar with the program, as he held English and Theology classes for novices each day. Fr. Aneo arrived towards the end of February 2018.

Fr Lomano Kauvaetupu MSC

Br Tebweao Antonio MSC

Pre-Novitiate Director

Novitiate 2009 - 2017

NOVICE MASTER: FR LOMANO KAUVAETUPU MSC

The novitiate is a time of special grace for deepening our prayer life and nourishing our souls with a common life of prayer and meditation, work and study. This newsletter introduces our 7 Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) novices for 2009 coming from 5 island nations in the Pacific: Samoa, Futuna, Kiribati, Wallis and Fiji, and our 8 Pre-novices from Samoa, Fiji and Kiribati.

To provide moral and prayerful support for our novices and pre-novices during this time of their formation, allow me to introduce the staff accompanying them on their journey.

Fr Lomano Kauvaetupu from the Island of Futuna is the Novice Master while Br Tebweao is the Director of Pre-novices. Br Gerard Shanley is the Bursar/Cook and English teacher. Br Laisenia Ralake works at nearby Chevalier Farm Training Center as sports teacher, choir master, and agriculture and Religion teacher.

The Novitiate is nestled at the foot of lush green hills and cool tropical forests at Wainadoi. A crystal-clear stream flows alongside our property providing fresh life-giving water for the community, as well as for our food garden and farm animals. It is a serene setting of silence and prayer, of new discoveries and of God’s wonderful creation.

The daily program begins with prayer and Mass in the morning and ends with prayer and spiritual reading in the evenings. During the day time is spent on studying English, Scripture and the MSC Constitutions, life and mission. The afternoons are dedicated to manual work such as gardening. This is followed by private study. After dinner the community gathers for an hour of recreation.

Each Wednesday the novices attend the inter-novitiate program. This program is for all novices of the religious orders around Suva. Their Formators organize talks for them which include anger management, Mariology, and human development.

We grow a fair bit of our food. This includes root crops and vegetables. We also have some layers that provide us with fresh eggs of a morning. We also have some ducks for our own consumption and some for sale.

The novices and pre-novices are very hardworking and dedicated to the program. Thus, we enjoy a happy and stable community where “no one is a stranger, no one a foreigner, but all are brothers in the Heart of Christ.”