The Father Pat Story

On Tuesday, 27 April 2010 the MS Volendam arrived at Apia capital of Samoa at approximately 7.30am on an already very warm and humid day. when I got off the ship at 8:45 AM it was already 41°C at the relative humidity was 95% so it was already very hot and sweaty.

Hoards of taxi drivers were yelling to attract the passengers to their cab and making special offers to tour the various attractions. I got into one bloke's air-conditioned and he told  me he would show me all the sights and then there would give me a price at the end of the day. I informed him I only wanted an hours drive for $15  around the city and for him to let me off at the markets and I would walk back to the ship. (The going price was $8 per hour.)  After we drove off he said not to worry about the price as he would give me a good tour and we will discuss it at the end of the trip.

I was feeling very uneasy with him so I told him to stop the cab and let me out.When he saw I was serious, he agreed to my terms and actually gave me a very good tour of the city, pointing out the various points of interest, including the large Catholic cathedral. He told me the majority of Samoan people including himself were Catholic.

After 45 minutes he started heading off on an isolated dirt track, this caused my gut feeling alarm bells to start ringing.

 I asked him where he was taking me. He replied he was going to take me to some lovely Samoan ladies and they would make me very happy and I would give him a big tip like all the sailors do after he has taken them to visit.

I said to him ‘Mate, we better get a few things straight, as I am a Catholic priest, you will not be taking me to a brothel’.

‘You a farder? Of the church?’ He asked in shock as if I had hit him over the head.

I said I was and on a holiday cruise. ‘Oh sorry farder.’ He said blessing himself.

The cab did a quick U turn and we headed back to town. He must of thought he was going to go to hell for this sin. He went white.

When he dropped me off he only charged me $5 and said ‘sorry farder.’

Big brave me now out of his cab told him to never do that again to anyone and that I was going to report him to the police. He made a very quick exit.

That night I learnt that on 2 occasions two older women alone in cabs were taken out into the bush and had to pay big bucks to get back to the ship.

My story spread like wildfire around the ship and that is how Fr Pat started.

 The Rev Bev a Chaplin from the Uniting Church in Queensland on the ship thought if was great how I thought of the priest story so quickly. But she wasn't going to start calling me Fr, and still refers to me as Mate.

 The Indonesian crew called me ‘Iya Pat.’ (Iya being Fr in their language.)

Fr Pat, sitting at Sir Pat's bar in Cairns