Stations of the Cross Through Eroded Shores Reflects a Creation in Crisis, writes Br Chris Poppelwell

Last week on Good Friday, Lomary Parish in Fiji marked the Stations of the Cross with a powerful reflection on the urgent issue of sea erosion and the fragility of the local ecosystem. Br Chris Popplewell shares how challenging it was to walk through areas dramatically altered by rising tides and environmental degradation. His account captures the stark reality of ecological changes that are reshaping the landscape and impacting the community.

On this Good Friday, the Stations of the Cross were laid out along the foreshore, now severely eroded by sea level rise. Fifty years ago, there was a settlement near where we started, and access was along the beach to Lomary for school and the road.

Today the settlement is abandoned, as access is possible only at low tides, and the two stream crossings have to be made about 50 metres out to sea, as silt deposits have made the stream mouths too deep in mud to cross there. Several sand bars mark the old beachfront and these are exposed enough at low tide to cross in no more than knee deep water.

The stations started in the next bay along from Galoa Village, timed to be at the low of the Easter Spring tide. In places there was sand, but near the stream mouths there was mud deposited by the streams in floods, coming from land degradation in farming and especially forestry, which is a major industry here.

The sight of everyone wading out to sea to cross the stream was reminiscent of the Red Sea crossing by the Israelites, complete with sand bars making the depth visible, but Moses only had one crossing to complete, and we had two, plus a third to get to the starting point!

The difficulties experienced in this trek reminded us not only of Jesus’ suffering, but also of the harm done, and still being done, to this part of our environment. The seabed of many of our beaches has become as much mud as sand, and the discolouration of the sea during storms extends well out towards the horizon. Tourist resorts can only be built clear of stream mouths, and they can provide sandy beaches, whereas other beaches are no longer easily useable, because of the mud.

The village of Galoa adjoins the Lomary mission compound, so both have the sea level rise problem. Parts of the village were already moved back from the sea some 30 years ago, and the further encroachment of the sea has led to another move being started, so that in another 30 years or so the sea will have swallowed up most of the village and Mission, like it has already done for some 20 Fijian villages, with another 60, like Galoa, having to move soon.

So, we thank Fr Mika, our Parish priest, for organising this re-enactment of Jesus’ journey to the Cross in association with our own sorrowful journey to recognise the damage being done to our environment, largely by human action and also inaction.

We had the opportunity to experience the changes that have occurred in our little part of the world, but each part of the world can tell us the same story. Just as we recollect Jesus’ story that led to our redemption and promise of eternal life, so may our story of environmental damage inspire us to reflect on what is currently happening to our world, with the hope that we will try to act to reduce the damage that is occurring, and leave behind us for our children and grandchildren the best world that we can.

By Br Chris Poppelwell, Fiji