About 100 Chinese and locals gathered at Suva’s Sacred Heart Cathedral to celebrate the Chinese new year with a mass last Saturday. The mass was led by Archbishop Peter Loy Chong. In his sermon, Chong said the Chinese new year, which was also known as the spring festival, was a time of reflection and to Read more
Archbishop Peter Chong recently attended the inauguration of the Universal Meditation Centre in Nadi, Fiji. In his address he said there needs to be room for inter-religious dialogue so that religious faiths and traditions are shared and learning takes place. Chong said God was universal and meditation was a universal practice among the different faiths. Read more
Archbishop Peter Chong encouraged graduates of Montfort Boys Town last weekend to continue with the hard work when they join the career world. He told the 45 graduates in carpentry, cabinet-making and automotive that the life story of Thomas Edison, inventor of batteries, electric lights and power, set a challenge for everyone to do better in Read more
Suva’s Archbishop Peter Chong has condemned the practice of tourists celebrating their weddings in Fiji on beaches boats and in hotels. He says weddings should be celebrated in a sacred space like of a church or a chapel. Chong said that the problem was not caused by local people, but by tourists. “For our local people, Read more
Archbishop Peter Loy Chong continues to maintain that as a theologian, he could not compromise on his belief that religion was a public matter. He made a distinction between the idea of a secular state and the idea that religion is private. “We do not have a problem with Fiji being called a secular state,” Read more
The Archbishop of Suva, Fiji, Peter Loy Chong says that Christians and non-Christians should challenge the Constitution because faith is not supposed to be private. The Constitution protects the right of every person either individually or in community with others, in private or in public, to manifest and practise their religion or belief in worship, Read more
The recently elected president of the Methodist Church in Fiji, Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu, has a number of connections with the Catholic church according to an article by Netani Rika, a former Editor of the Fiji Times, which appeared in a recent edition of Islands Business. Rika says Waqairatu may well have been installed as Archbishop of Suva rather than Read more
Catholic priests are not allowed to get involved in party politics, which means they cannot support a party, stand for a party or promote or tell the congregation about which particular party they should support. According to Archbishop Peter Chong, the head of the Catholic Church in Fiji, this is a non-negotiable principle and forms Read more
Fiji’s Prime Minister, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, has told religious leaders that they have a special responsibility not to spread misinformation and must uphold that responsibility. He was reacting to a comment made by the Catholic Archbishop of Suva, Peter Chong, which, he said, “clearly had the potential to inflame public opinion.” Bainimarama said that it Read more
Fiji’s system of patron-client politics must end if the nation is to resolve its coup culture and facilitate a path towards democracy, says the Archbishop of Suva, Peter Chong. He says the present system is divisive and breeds a culture of coups and silence. Chong said interim Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has used the patron-client Read more