BROTHER JOHN BLEWMAN

John Blewman was born in Wellington New Zealand 21 September 1925. His father made a career with the Wellington Harbour Board.

His early schooling was with the Sisters of Mercy in Wellington and the Marist Brothers, in the days of the Proficiency examination. He graduated to secondary in 1939. During his final year in primary he had been persuaded to try his vocation with the Brothers and went on to the Marist Brothers Juniorate, Tuakau for five years.

His vocation blossomed and he became a Postulant at Claremont, Timaru, in January 1943, and made his first vows in 1944, taking the name of Cletus. Then followed teacher training for a year in Auckland, before being sent on a short mission to Greymouth in September 1945.

The next 18 years were spent in secondary schools in New Zealand, including a short spell in the Brothers' Juniorate at Tuakau. Then his talents were recognized with a period of five years in charge of Marist High School Greymouth (1958-1962).

In the meantime he had gained official qualifications, beginning with the New Zealand Public Service Exam (Form Four) 1940, N.Z. Teachers C Certificate 1947, and BA from the University of New Zealand in 1959. As usual with the Brothers in those days, there was very little time or opportunity to attend lectures, and certainly not while in the small town of Greymouth on the West Coast of New Zealand.

Cletus first saw the land of Fiji in January 1963, and had four years to discover the delights of Suva and the complications of Government Grants-in-Aid, before being sent to Fribourg in Switzerland for his "Second Novitiate" in August 1966. His four years as Principal saw a gradually increasing roll and a greater number of lay teachers on the staff, some of whom made names for themselves as educators at a higher level, e.g. Ahmed Ali, Rajesh Chandra and Raymond Pillai.

He returned to the New Zealand scene for a few more years, including being a member of the team investigating a new school at Tauranga. Then Brother Theophane, who had arrived in Fiji in 1970, was instrumental in having him recalled to Fiji, to be the first of several Marist Brothers occupying the office of Director of Catholic Education for the Archdiocese of Suva.

Brother Theophane was asked by Bishop George Pearce SM to nominate a Marist Brother for the post of Director of Catholic Education. At that time the work in the Catholic Education Office was being done by a team, while the Bishop looked for a successor to Father Pat Rafter SM. One of the urgent tasks was to prepare a new syllabus for Religious Education, following the Catechetical Directory newly issued from Rome (1970).

Cletus was happy to answer the call and arrived with a new name, his baptismal one. As the scripture says, "His name is John". Of course this caused a little confusion at first.
On his return to Fiji in January 1971 as Director of Catholic Education, at the height of his energetic career, Brother John soon proved his worth as negotiator, counsellor, and planner. He spent the next four years supervising new Religious Education curricula for both primary and secondary, as well as travelling the "roads" of Fiji by boat and on horseback. He came to know the whole country in a way that few Brothers have been able to emulate.

This was a time when the Fiji Education Commission (1969) recommendations were being implemented. Junior Secondary schools (Forms 1 to 4) were springing up all over the country, and the Catholics were not left behind. Teachers had to be found and trained or re-trained, and funds had to be found. In most cases the setting up of a junior secondary involved "decapitating" a number of primary schools and bringing their senior classes together into one secondary, where they could go on to forms three and four. John was active in all this, on behalf of Corpus Christi Teachers' College and on behalf of the schools. There were also negotiations over salaries for members of religious congregations, and he became well known to all levels of personnel in the Ministry of Education.

The Teachers' College was able to introduce, with the help of the Government, a "conversion course" aimed at producing teachers qualified for the junior secondary schools. Many of those teachers rose to positions of responsibility, not only in Catholic schools, but also in provincial and government schools.

John was following in the footsteps of Brother Cassian Bishop in his negotiations with the Ministry of Education, where his diplomatic but straightforward approach achieved great success in matters of personnel and finance.

After handing over to Brother Joseph McDermott half way through 1974, he became something of a mobile force. He spent a few months at Marist High School, then a few more months at Napuka Junior Secondary before returning to the High School for another eighteen months. Finally he settled down for a spell as Principal of the troubled Cathedral Secondary School. Bishop Foley had founded this school for the Catholic education of boys, since he did not believe this was possible at the multi-religious Marist Brothers High School. It had a troubled history for some years, but was always assisted by the Brothers, beginning with Victor Montague. Majella Sherry had a term as Principal, and others who taught there were Samuel Eathorne and Fergus Garrett.

John answered an emergency call from the superiors and took on the less "brotherly" task of Secretary to the Papal Nuncio in Wellington. What secrets he could share if he wanted to!

He continued his peripatetic ways and went on to Ulimasao College in Palauli, where he spent a few months helping out. The new St Bede's College in Savusavu was his next stop, this time for the more normal three year term of 1980-82. There his administrative skills were put to very good use in helping to set up a managerial structure for the school, which was intended to serve the whole of the northern region – five parishes. From mid 1979 to 1987 he was based in rural schools, at Napuka Junior Secondary for two years, and St Bede's again for a further three years. There he was able to renew and make use of his contacts from his days in the Catholic Education Office.

One of the results of the post-Vatican renewal of religious life was the provision of on-going formation for the mature Brothers. Courses were organized, usually in Rome, for the "Third Age". John spent three months there in 1984. It was not long after his return from Rome that John was chosen by the Brothers as the second District Superior for Fiji, following Eugene Flaherty. The first part of his term was spent in Savusavu, and then he moved to the community at Carew St.