Hawaii Catholic Herald
A trailblazing church leader from American Samoa received a warm welcome last month as he spent several days with Hawaii’s Samoan Catholic Community, filling a week with fellowship, conversation and a final Mass and celebration.
Bishop Kolio Etuale Tumanuvao of the Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago visited the Diocese of Honolulu July 8-14 and met the faithful through a number of events at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Wahiawa. In addition to celebrating the community’s Samoan-language Mass on July 13, Bishop Tumanuvao also participated in a welcome kava ritual, a meet-and-greet and a faith seminar.
Bishop Tumanuvao, the first Samoan native to lead the Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago, was ordained coadjutor bishop of the Samoa-Pago Pago diocese in 2023 and fully assumed the role of bishop last year.
Accompanying Bishop Tumanuvao to Hawaii was Father Pio Afu, chancellor of the Samoa-Pago Pago diocese.
The rectory of Our Lady of Sorrows was their home during their visit, according to parish administrator Father Octavius Moo.
Throughout the week, Father Moo observed a “very high sense of community and love for the church and her ministers” within the Samoan Catholic culture, he said.
“They demonstrated a very high sense of hospitality and generosity,” he added.
The week’s events largely were conducted in Samoan, but Father Moo said that “even though I did not understand the language, I could and feel love being expressed among the members.
“Together we gave thanks to God.”
Elizabeth Emanuele, secretary of the Samoan Catholic Community, described Bishop Tumanuvao and Father Afu’s visit as a way to “gather the Samoan people together in the Catholic faith … and to keep the culture going strong.”
Indeed, the Mass was a joyous celebration of God, culture and community. Joining Bishop Tumanuvao were Father Afu and Father Falaniko “Niko” Atonio, former pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows, as well as Deacon Francis Leasiolagi from the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu.
In one moving gesture, Ricky Faasu, president of the Samoan Catholic Community, knelt beneath an “ie toga” — a finely woven mat used in important or solemn ceremonies — in front of the altar as Bishop Tumanuvao prayed over him and then blessed him.
It is “the cultural way of asking God for forgiveness,” Emanuele explained.
The Mass was “all about (the) Samoan way of Catholic faith and belief,” she said.
After the liturgy, the community gathered in Our Lady of Sorrows’ parish hall for a joyful celebration.
“I never thought it was going to be the way it happened, but it did with God’s love,” Emanuele said. “It was a successful event and I’m grateful (for) how it ended. Everything was perfect.”
