Brad Barbuto hadn’t been back to Bali since the bombings of 2005, but this time was different, beginning on the sandy beaches close to the Tuka Bali Orphanage where Mr Barbuto often lent a supporting hand.
“In between helping out and taking time off to surf, I saw her there on the beach,” Mr Barbuto said of his future wife. “I met her five or six times before we went out to dinner at Vi Ai Pai, a bar in Bali.”
On October 19, at the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception at Mercedes College, Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey married Brad Barbuto and his bride, Lulu Nuraiman Saleh.
However, it had been a long journey before the couple were joined in holy matrimony.
Mrs Barbuto began accompanying Mr Barbuto up to the orphanage and even helped him secure a motorcycle for the nuns and the children.
“She came out [to Australia] in early 2013,” Mr Barbuto said. “She stayed in Perth for a month and started coming to Mass with me.”
Mrs Barbuto was raised a Muslim but eventually decided to convert to Catholicism.
“I never asked her to convert,” Mr Barbuto said. “It was of her own free will; she was a single mum and I [was] a single dad and I always thought God had a plan. He worked through my life and opened her eyes.”
With the help of close friend James Chua, Mrs Barbuto began to learn about the Catholic faith. “James would come round every week and we did lessons,” Mr Barbuto said. The weekly lessons went for between one and three hours and for the most part Mrs Barbuto found them very easy to grasp.
“A lot of it was easy for her because it’s in the Quran,” Mr Barbuto said. Muslims and Catholics share the Old Testament and Muslims view Christ with the utmost respect.
On October 16, in the crypt of St Mary’s Cathedral, Mrs Barbuto was baptised, confirmed and received Holy Communion.
“Even though you will be married on Saturday this is the most spectacular thing,” Fr Jean Noel Marie said to Mrs Barbuto after she was baptised.
“Not even your wedding will compare to this, welcome to God’s family.”