When Fr Albano Da Costa SVD leaves to take up further studies in Rome next month, he will be looking forward to the challenge of what’s to come, but says he will also miss the parishioners, clergy and lay leaders who brought him so much joy in New Zealand.

Fr Albano, who holds a Masters in Philosophy, has been asked by the SVD AUS Province to move to Rome for two years to study for his Licentiate in Missiology.

Originally from Goa in India, Fr Albano took his final vows and was ordained in 2011. He was assigned to the AUS Province, taking up his first mission appointment in the Archdiocese of Wellington, New Zealand, where he has been part of an innovative new form of collaborative ministry for the last three-and-a-half-years.

“There is so much that I will miss when leaving New Zealand,” he says. “I arrived in this country knowing very little about what was ahead of me, but in a very short time, I felt at home.”

The new collaborative ministry model of which Fr Albano was a part – the Launch Out Programme - was the result of two synod decisions (1988 and 1998) in the Archdiocese of Wellington, which called upon lay people to respond to their baptismal call in a more focused ministry way.

The Launch Out Formation Programme was established to form lay people in leadership in parishes and chaplaincies.

One of the outcomes of the programme has been a move away from the traditional model of having one priest in charge of one parish, to a more collaborative ministry where the priests and lay people form a team to provide the pastoral care to a pastoral area across several parishes.

Fr Albano says that working in this new model of ministry has been an exciting and positive experience for him.

“I have felt very comfortable and very much at ease working in this situation,” he says. “I have appreciated the feeling of strength and security that was present in the togetherness and the sharing. I really valued the advice and the support of those priests and lay people who have worked for many years in the area.

“I live out this ministry by accepting my role as a member of the team and by faithfully fulfilling those tasks that have been allocated to me. Working in a team has also enabled me to reach out in being available to others.”

Fr Albano says that of course there have been challenges along the way, as with any ministry, but he has learnt much from them.

“I have had to come to terms with not only the giftedness of the other people on the pastoral team, but also their shortcomings -and they, mine! At times, I have had to restrain my individualism and accept the decisions of the team. To be a shepherd in one parish was fine, but it was not so easy to work pastorally over the wide variety of the cluster of four parishes.

“The rewards however, far outweighed the challenges. I had the privilege of ministering to congregations that differed somewhat in culture, life-style and socio-economic status. Not only did I minister to people of many cultures, but I am also very aware of just how much I learnt from them too – their strong family bond, their deep, yet simple faith, their generosity, their readiness to share the little they have, the value that they place on togetherness and community and the warmth of their welcome and huge sense of hospitality. I will always remember their love of singing and dance.”

Fr Albano says that working across four parishes presented even simple challenges, such as learning everyone’s name.

“I quickly learned the power of a smile, a hug and a warm handshake,” he says.

Asked what he will miss most about his time of mission in the multicultural suburbs of outer Wellington, Fr Albano says it will be the people.

“I will miss my connectedness with the communities and families across the four parishes,” he says.

“I’ll miss the children’s Masses, visits to the schools and doing ‘bumble bees and jelly beans’ with the children in the classrooms, the work with youth, my visits to the housebound and the sick, and the warmth and love of the parishioners who always welcomed me into their homes.”

He says he hopes his study in Rome will allow him to be better able to respond to the needs of the Province.

“I hope that after the study I will return to the Province and the future will be discussed. The needs of the SVD will always come first.”