Subject: 'austraLasia' #325

SEMINARY RECTOR IN SERIOUS ACCIDENT

Julian Fox

SUVA: 3rd April --The Rector of the Pacific Regional Seminary, Fr. Doug

Akehurst CM, was badly injured in a car accident at the weekend. He is

presently in intensive care at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva,

with punctured lung, broken ribs and lacerations resulting from a head-on

collision with another vehicle in the city on Saturday evening.

Fr. Doug, an Australian by birth but long-time resident of Fiji, was

appointed Rector by the Bishops of CEPAC this year. His appointment came at

a crucial time of development and restructuring of the seminary education

that is now offered to some 140 students from nearly a dozen island nations

in the South, Central and North Pacific. Doctors and Seminary officials

expect that Fr. Doug will make a good recovery, but will be absent from his

duties for some months. Fr Kolio Kelekolio, a diocesan priest from the

Archdiocese of Apia, Samoa, very recently appointed as the Vice Rector of

the Seminary, will take over as acting Rector.