BROTHER FERGUS GARRETT

Dugald Fergus Garrett was born on 11 August 1934 to farming parents who lived in Merrivale, Southland. His first school was sole-charge with 22 pupils. His father's death in 1941 necessitated movement to the city of Invercargill and then to Christchurch where he attended a primary school taught by the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions. He attended Xavier College, the diocesan school run by the Marist Brothers, but he was "on scholarship". There was no money for school fees in the family of a widow with six children. Brother Tarcisius Gill (ex-tailor) accepted him into Form Three. The Mckenzie Trust paid for his education.

There were many other memorable staff members in those days (1947-52): Brothers Oswald Wall, Pastor (Paul) Scott, Andrew McDiarmid, Xavier Ryan, Raymond Welsh, Ernan O'Donahue, Terence Costello (boxing coach), Maurice Russell.

Gerard Mullin (later in charge of the Brothers' teacher training program), Brendan Carter (later ordained priest). Of course, surnames were never mentioned in those days, and only occasionally did a Brother's family name become known.

His activities in and out of school were diverse, and included participation in tennis, cricket, soccer, rugby (first XV), boxing (runner up in Xavier College open division), military cadets, debating and drama, Canterbury Sixth Form Mathematics Society, head prefect in 1952, dux of school 1951-52.

His last two years were as the sole member of the "upper sixth", trying vainly to win a scholarship to university, and being awarded, by default, the title of Dux. His prayers for examination success were answered in another way when the Principal invited him to consider a vocation as a Marist Brother. His last activity was to portray St Francis Xavier in the school drama, with his young brother Malcolm as the modern "Xavier".

After a few months thought and prayer he entered the Novitiate in 1953 and emerged as a young Brother on 12 September 1954. In the Novitiate he had his first contact with the Fijian language and cultures through the presence of Brothers Felix Bentley and Gaston Florian in the senior group and Guy Davis in the group following. In addition, a copy of "Fijian as Spoken" written by Brother Maurice Moore in 1904, was available in the library of the novitiate.

Novitiate was followed by a few months teacher training under Brother Gerard Mullin who was supported by "Frère" Paul of the Cross.

During his first year 1955 in the community of St Joseph's College, Masterton, he passed the necessary exams for the Teachers “C” Certificate, and also tackled some university exams. Brother Felix had preceded him to this community.

University studies were not systematic in those days. The Brothers studied whatever was available at a distance, or if they lived in a university city, whatever was available outside school hours. Consequently Fergus was able to study chemistry and physics only to the first year level, and finally graduated in mathematics in 1962, having attended lectures in only three out the eight courses he followed.

Later (1964-70), spare-time correspondence courses from Massey University enabled him to obtain a Diploma in Education, concluding with a research project on "Ethnic Differences in Perceived Employment Status among Sixth Formers in Fiji". His first period of full-time study was at the Ateneo de Manila (Philippines), pursuing a Post-Graduate Diploma in Religious Education (1975-76).

A taste for languages, perhaps beginning from school Latin courses (1947-49) had led him to pursue German and Russian while in New Zealand, and later he spent some time on the Fijian and Hindi languages. French was of course compulsory for the Brothers, but most found little use for it in New Zealand.

The necessity of teaching Bookkeeping was a spur to study accounting in 1969. Other courses, in counselling and spiritual direction, stemmed from the need to extend his counselling and accompaniment skills in formation work. Later he was a foundational member and a president of the Pacific Community for Pastoral Care and Counselling (1987-93).

VATICAN COUNCIL AND ITS AFTERMATH

The story that follows could very well illustrate the life of many a Marist Brother growing to maturity during the period of upheaval begun by he Vatican Council. The Brothers' General Chapter of 1968 took up the challenge. The Council's impact on the Catholic Church in Fiji was no less challenging.

For Fergus, the years 1955 to 1965 were spent in the “all-boys" schools run by the New Zealand Marist Brothers. This was a good training for some aspects of life, but the absence of the feminine influence meant a whole segment of human relationships remained underdeveloped. This absence was partly compensated in later years by occasional work with youth of both sexes in Hamilton, and involvement with adults at Massey University courses. Only in Fiji, from 1970 onwards, was this gap filled, and the adolescent persona allowed to mature.

Actual contact with women began through involvement in several aspects of curriculum development involving both Church and Government bodies: mathematics, science, religious education both Catholic and ecumenical: the secondary Religion Education Syllabus Committee of the Archdiocese and the Fiji Council for Christian Education.

Brother Fergus 1971 with Form 3 boarders

This was the time of state educational reform, the rise of the junior secondary schools, and the consolidation of the University of the South Pacific. It was in this context that the Suva Institute for Educational Research began, with Fergus as a founding member.

The early seventies were also the years of the rise of the Student Christian Movement in Fiji, as a secondary and tertiary "non-church" student movement, and he became a member, with Guy Davis, then on the staff of the High School. Akuila Yabaki was a leader in the movement and Josefata Kamikamica was on the governing board.

These years also saw efforts to stem the flow of abortions in Fiji through the Pro-Life Society of which he became a founding member. A prominent Catholic doctor, later Senator, was a vigorous promoter of liberalization of the abortion law.

In his years as Novicemaster, contact with the feminine was augmented more and more through the inter-novitiate days with the Sisters' congregations and also through involvement in the charismatic renewal. He became a member of the Core Group of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in 1973, and a member of the National Service Committee from 1982, and also ICHTHUS (an ecumenical charismatic group) from 1972. His ecumenical involvement continued as a Catholic Church representative on the Fiji Council of Churches (1976-77). Later there was further involvement in adult education through Corpus Christi Teachers' College and the Pacific Regional Seminary.

In his days at Marist High, the challenge of the cultures had to be met head-on when it was a matter of sporting fixtures, especially the Secondary Schools Football Association. He spent two years as Chairman of the Suva Schools Football Association and had to exercise a peace-making role on more than one occasion.

After spending a few years (1970-75) at Marist Brothers High School Suva, he went off for renewal to the East Asian Pastoral Institute, under Alfonso Nebreda, Pepe Calle, and Tessie Nitorreda. He was then appointed to the Novitiate as Novicemaster.

In those days there was no specific preparation for novitiate work and he and Des Howard (Melbourne Province) had a hard time sorting out those with a vocation to the Marist brotherhood. Only a handful of those postulants survive today as Brothers with final vows.
After completing five years in the Novitiate, he continued in formation work as recruiter and then in the Post-novitiate community with the first Brothers who had come through the new system of separating postulancy from novitiate. These were days of many new developments in education and formation in Fiji.

In 1969 a word from Brother Romuald about writing down one's ideas sparked off a new activity – writing. From that time we find a spate of articles for Fiji's Catholic quarterly magazine Outpost, now defunct, editorials for the weekly Bulletin of the Sacred Heart Cathedral, as well as mathematics, science and family life booklets for the new Government curriculum. Later there was material for the Brothers' formation programs, for the Archbishop and for the diocesan scripture programs, booklets and study papers for the Synod of 1990, assistance with publication of Fijian language translations of Jean Vanier and Juan Mateos, and finally Body Mind Spirit, an introduction to Christian Psychology was published by the Paulines of Kenya in 1994.

Earlier he had been a member of the Advisory Committee of Publications Division of Pacific Conference of Churches (1975-1977), and of the Advisory Committee of the Suva Christian Bookshop (1977-80).