Auckland's Samoan Catholic community celebrates three decades of faith and culture

Auckland's Samoan Catholic community celebrated the 30th anniversary of Malaeola, a centre that has hosted their monthly mass services and other gatherings for over three decades.

Malaeola was officially opened on 12 August 1995.

Samoan cultural expert Leulua'iali'i Satuala Tofaeono Tanuvasa said the idea of Malaeola was years in the making as far back towards the late 1970s.

Prior to Malaeola, the Auckland Samoan Catholic community from 24 parishes would gather at St Clare's parish in Ponsonby.

Leulua'iali'i's late grandfather Tofaeono Tanuvasa Tavale, a prominent Samoan educator was one of the pioneers who co-led the project guided by Bishop Emeritus Peter Brown, who was the spiritual director for the Auckland Samoan Catholic community at the time.

Due to the growing number of members and the insufficient space at Ponsonby, Leulua'iali'i said his grandfather and other Samoan Catholic leaders felt there was a need to create their own space.

"Malaeola was built for various reasons," he said.

"One thing in particular that Malaeola was chosen it was designed as a space for the Catholic Samoan culture to thrive and especially to promote vocations to the priesthood and married life."

Leulua'iali'i said the leaders had their work cut out for them particularly when it came to looking for a site.

In 1993, seven hectares of old farmland in Mangere was purchased.

While it was a costly assignment, Leulua'iali'i said everyone was on board. To meet the financial obligations of the land and construction of the hall, the Samoan Catholic community held regular fundraising events.

"It's quite a historic feat because all these leaders and all these families joined together under one mission and goal is to build this hall and they were able to pay off the loan in less than five years."

Today, the Auckland Diocese Samoan Catholic community is reportedly made up of 9000 members belonging to 25 parishes and most have come through Malaeola for not only Mass but various other activities.

Jorina Taumaoe, who is the youth president at St Pius X Church in Glen Innes, has attended Malaeola since childhood.

She said while the centre has helped shaped her identity, she's noticed a growing decrease of youth participation due to language barriers.

"Having our masses in Samoan, it's definitely that disconnection with not all youth, but some of our youth, and so hopefully, maybe we could do more classes around Samoan mass and maybe that could be a way we could connect young youth to our Samoan cultural masses."

Auckland Bishop Stephen Lowe who led the Mass said he wants to see Malaeola continue on through the next generation adding that the 30th anniversary is significant for not only the Samoan community but for the region as well.

"It's changing with the generation so I think a lot of the community that this was built for the people who wanna keep their Samoan culture strong and the young people have got different interests and different values and that's gonna be the next challenge."

Leulua'iali'i said he remains committed to Malaeola because he wants to honour his late grandfather's sacrifice.

"The story of Malaeola is a story of resiliency. I get emotional because so many times we were told to go away chased away from buildings being told we were making too much noise, and it was decided for us to find our own space our own land and to build what we have now."