The Government of Papua New Guinea has nationalised the Ok Tedi mine and its owner, the PNG Sustainable Development Program (PNGSDP). The Catholic Bishops of Papua New Guinea have expressed disappointment with what the Government has done because it could result in the cancellation of PNG Sustainable Development Program. In their statement the Bishops say the Read more
The death of a baby in Samoa recently has sparked calls for a law to force men to take responsibility for any child they father, whether or not they maintain a relationship with the mother. Reverend Mauga Motu, General Secretary Samoa National Council of Churches says the church believes men shouldn’t take their responsibility as Read more
Some Children in Samoa have been missing school because they have been on the streets of Apia trying to get a bit of money to buy food for White Sunday. The Samoa Observer reports that in among the shoppers on Friday, there were sellers – some only of primary school age – selling things such Read more
A Trust Fund created to help men who have been deported to Samoa has adopted the Mapuifagalele home for the aged at Vailele near Apia. Last week, members of Samoa Returnees Charitable Trust Fund, all deported former prisoners, returned from overseas, launched its community project at Vailele to help the Little Sisters of the Poor. 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
The PNG Government has agreed to donate $1.6 million toward a new medical ship which Townsville arm of Youth With A Mission is planning to buy The new ship will be much larger and more modern than the current 37m vessel, Pacific Link and YWAM plans to dramatically expand its operations once it gets the Read more
Perry Langston trained as an agronomist and went out to the Solomon Islands in the twilight years of Empire to work in a technical capacity for a Catholic mission and he never went home. Perry went to Christmas Island – an isolated coral atoll in the middle of the Pacific – in 1966, just a Read more
Work initiated by the Clean Pacific campaign has provided further impetus for ongoing work Catholic Women’s League in Fiji is doing on waste management in Lami. The CWL have been conducting a waste management survey and taught 35 women the skills to convert trash into usable items. “Our Memorandum of Understanding with the Catholic Women’s League is strengthening Read more
Memorial services have been held to commemorate the 29 September 2009 tsunami which ripped through villages, homes and businesses, killing 143 people in Samoa, 34 in American Samoa and 9 in Tonga. Radio New Zealand International reports that memorial church services were held, in the coastal villages of Upolu and people marched in black and Read more
Pacific churches hope to formulate a joint stand on same sex marriages by mid 2015. A Pacific Council of Churches Secretariat team is expected to begin a data gathering process early in 2014, visiting clergy and lay people in churches around the region. This process will ensure that as many views as possible are gathered Read more