Churches challenged to do more to prevent sorcery

Thursday, November 30th, 2017

The general secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands (CBC-PNGSI) has called on all churches to do more to create greater awareness of sorcery in their communities and congregations, and preach more about Bible teachings on sorcery.

Father Victor Roche made this call, after reports from many parts of the country of torture and killings that have resulted from sorcery or sanguma.

“Churches have failed in their part to stop this, even though 96 percent of the people of Papua New Guinea are Christians,” he said.

“Why we are not able to translate the Bible into our lives – and this is not a Christian value, so this has to stop.

Jesus did remove evil spirits from these people and we have the power to do that so pastors, layman, priests and others should preach more against sangomas and sorcery-related killings,” he said.

Roche said the Government is not capable of effectively addressing the issue.

“Though it is funding and hosting a lot of seminars, conferences, workshops and others, these things are still happening.

“So, now it is the Churches’ responsibility and I call upon the Church Partnership Programme that in the next forum, this should be the main topic,” he said.

When asked if Catholic Church had programmes in place to address this issue, Roche said the Catholic Church has preached against sorcery in some parts of the country including Kundiawa, Mendi and Mount Hagen.

“There is also a centre in Mt Hagen where women who have been tortured and accused are rescued and are safely kept there and later returned to their communities and families.

“Catholic Church is taking efforts to prevent things happening at the same time, there are centres run by Catholic Sisters where women can seek refuge,” he said.

Source