Fr Fredy Permentilla has recently taken over as St Patrick’s parish priest.
As part of his work, he is hoping to restart celebrating Mass in the native language of many of Oamaru’s Filipino residents.
He said it had been a decade since the last Tagalog Mass in Waitaki.
Fr Permentilla’s pastoral care for the Filipino community includes visiting, cultural activities and religious practices.
He has been in Oamaru for a month and only visited the town once before taking up the role.
He was grateful for the large number of people at his installation on March 12 and the warm welcome he received.
"[There are] good people here, which I’ve already experienced, and a sense of community."
Fr Permentilla is also chaplain for St Kevin’s College and St Joseph’s School.
Before he was in Oamaru, he had not worked with high school pupils.
However, he had worked with two primary schools in Dunedin.
Fr Permentilla noted that younger children had fewer reservations and were more accepting than older pupils.
"I like the way I can talk to the children about faith, about church and about Jesus," he said.
He said working with the high school students was quite challenging.
Fr Permentilla wants to share his strong faith and encourage people back to the church.
"My mission is to share the gift of faith, share my joy to the people and accompany those on their journey, especially those in need," he said.
"I bring the joy of gospel and share the faith that I experience."
This will be Fr Permentilla’s 13th year as a priest and his 12th year in New Zealand.
Fr Permentilla is a missionary priest from the Mission Society of the Philippines.
He has no family in this country — they still reside in the Philippines.
Since moving to New Zealand, he has been stationed in Te Anau, Gore, Dunedin and, now, Oamaru.
When Fr Permentilla was living in Gore, he visited Glenavy about three times to celebrate Mass with the Filipino community.
In Dunedin, he was assigned the Hills Suburb pastoral area, where he looked after four parishes.
By Arrow Koelher
