The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter O’Neill called for a revitalized partnership between government and Churches when he addressed the Catholic Bishops of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands at their Annual General Meeting in Alexishafen, Madang last Thursday. He said common concerns between government and Churches include education, health, public security, fight against corruption, Read more
Social Media, create a new environment and a new life style that not only requires Church presence and “use” of mass media, but “witnessing” of the Gospel in the new environment where people live. The Catholic Bishops of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands tackled the issue of new media and social networks on the Read more
Father Martin is the parish priest on the Island of Abaiang, which is about two hours by boat from Tarawa, in Kiribati. Of the island’s population of about 5,000, some 4,000 are Catholics. Described as, “an intense man who wears thick black glasses,” he was until recently a climate-sceptic and feared that the message of activists Read more
A New Zealand born Catholic priest, Philip Gibbs, has been actively involved in trying to halt sorcery deaths in Papua New Guinea. Based in Mt Hagen, Gibbs, 65, said it was hard to work out what to say to congregations which included people who would have taken part in burning alleged witches. “If as an Read more
An anonymous commentator on the blog Fiji Today says the heavy beating the reputations of John Samy and Archbishop Mataca, the authors of the People’s Charter, have taken from prodemocracy advocates is unjustified. He says the accusation that they have remained silent, in the face of the abandonment by the interim government of the People’s Charter principles, is untrue. The Read more
PNG’s The National newspaper has reported that six women and a man, who were accused of sorcery, were tortured as Easter “sacrifices” in a village in the Southern Highlands on March 28. In Lae last Wednesday Komape Lap, 54, claimed that he fought with their torturers and escaped to the Morobean capital to reveal what happened. Although Read more
Fijians are weighing up a controversial new draft constitution aimed at restoring democracy next year. There are concerns that the document could be used by the current military ruler Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama to maintain his hold on power. Critics say that what Bainimarama is doing amounts to a “constitutional coup”. In an interview on El Read more
On Tuesday 2 April Fiji’s Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, held an open dialogue and briefing session on the draft Fiji Constitution with the Catholic Women’s Forum. The Catholic Women’s Forum said that it organised the “Dialogue Forum” to “raise awareness of the 2013 Draft Constitution for interested members of the community and representatives of Catholic Women’s League branches Read more
A study conducted by Sr. Gabriella Burgos from the National Family Life Apostolate and Br. Martin Tnines from the Melanesian Institute has identified unemployment, feelings of exclusion and a decline in parental influence as the driving forces behind alcohol and drug abuse. The research was conducted in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea. Catholic HIV and AIDS Services Incorporated (CHASI), Read more
People in Fiji have a fortnight to give their views on the regime’s draft constitution. Having scrapped its commitment to form an expert group to prepare a new constitution, Fiji’s interim government has instead given the people of Fiji a fortnight to provide feedback on the draft document. The draft document has been released and Read more