This Day You Will Be with Me in Paradise

The road from the wharf up to St. Dominic's Rural Training Centre, viewed from the veranda of the Marist Brothers' House.

June 21: St. Dominic's Rural Training Centre at Vanga Point on the island of Kolumbangara was the beautiful setting for our retreat. Imagine if Fr. Philip had designed and constructed a vocational school on a volcanic island in the South Pacific, and you'll have some concept of this remarkable place. Founded by Marist Brothers (FMS) from Australia forty years ago, St. Dominic's pioneered a method of education that the Brothers called "education for life." The two year course at Vanga focuses on the skills and ideas necessary for the life lived by the typical man of the Solomon Islands who wants to support his family and build up his community. Vanga students study agriculture, carpentry, and mechanics along with developing literacy, basic bookkeeping, and business principles. The courses are entirely practical and the school is self-supporting. Not only do the students grow all the food that they eat, the surplus is sent to market in Gizo to support other projects. During our stay we met and slept in buildings designed and constructed by the students from timber that they had cut down and milled themselves. While some students are harvesting trees, others are planting new ones. At dinner, we sat at tables and chairs made by the students and dined on the 100% organic fruits, vegetables, eggs and poultry raised by the boys of Vanga-- a kind of Trader Joe's fantasy come to life. The school has become a model for similar programs throughout the Pacific, and the Vanga "campus" also includes a Teachers' College where men and women are trained to teach in rural training centers throughout the Solomon Islands.


Mr. Ian Millet and the volunteer students from St. Gregory's College, Campbelltown, a Marist Brothers school outside Sydney with Bishop Chris.

Marist education at St. Dominic's mirrors Marianist education in other ways, as well. Many of the teachers are graduates of the program who have stayed on to pass on the tradition to new generations of young men. The principal, Philimon Ruia came to Vanga as a student in 1991 and has never left. Hospitality is central to the spirit of St. Dominic's. Philimon and his family moved out their house to make room for the Americans among the group, while the Brothers gave up their rooms for the bishops. Most of the students were off on holiday, but those who remained to assist with retreat and look after the animals and fields showed a wonderful spirit of friendship and cooperation that made Fr. Tom and I feel like we were back at home in Mineola or Uniondale.

Although there are no longer any Australian Marists at Vanga, the Brothers' high schools in Australia maintain a close bond with St. Dominic's. During the week a group arrived from St. Gregory's outside Sydney. The boys were spending their "winter" break as volunteers at Vanga, and they had come with all the supplies needed to repair boats and build a green house. Another link in a chain between the Marists and the Marianists that goes all the way back to the days when Fr. Chaminade and Fr. Champagnat, the founder of the Marist Brothers were both working in post-revolutionary France.

Vanga Point. Your heart would have to be very hard indeed if you did not find peace and prayer here amidst this panorama of sky and water: "How wonderful are your works, O Lord, in wisdom you have made them all."