Marlborough’s Catholic parish has no idea if or when its two new priests will be able to live and serve in New Zealand.
Based at St Mary’s in Blenheim, Star of the Sea parish has gone without a permanent priest for over six months.
Their last priest was Father Michael McCabe who retired in January.
Praying for visas
In a December parish newsletter, McCabe said two missionaries had been appointed to assume pastoral responsibility for Star of the Sea.
He named Father Simione Volavola, originally from Fiji, and his assistant Father Tavita Lemusu, originally from Samoa.
McCabe said that Simione had ministered in the US state of Pennsylvania for 16 years and had American citizenship.
Christmas and New Year came and went without a sign of the pair.
In a January newsletter, McCabe asked his congregation to pray that the visa status situation would “be resolved soon”.
“We are very aware that Star of the Sea parishioners have had to face this issue before, hence the need for prayer” he said.
They hadn’t arrived by the time McCabe’s retirement date had arrived.
Interim arrangements
An interim priest has taken McCabe’s place and in May the Archdiocese of Wellington provided an update about his official replacements.
The parish is part of the Archdiocese of Wellington.
The archdiocesan office told parishioners it has little control over the visa application process “except for checking the credentials of the clergy and the congregations concerned.
“Even having done this, there can be hiccups.
“Sometimes in the countries of origin the detail required for a visa application is not easy to obtain quickly.”
Visa issue
The Archdiocese has been assured that as soon as the visas are issued the two missionary priests would be able to assume pastoral responsibilities.
The archdiocesan office says the matter is in the hands of Immigration NZ.
As Immigration NZ is not permitted to discuss individual cases without privacy waivers, no information is available through that source.
Its website provides the following information:
- Non-residents can apply for a Religious Worker Work Visa if they have an offer of religious work from a religious organisation
- Religious Worker Resident Visas are available to those who had held a Religious Worker Work Visa for three years.
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