In many places in the Pacific, especially when there is a multiplicity of local languages, English is used in the liturgy as well as the local language. The introduction of the new translation in such places provides a number of challenges. The new translation has already been introduced Fiji but in Papua New Guinea some Read more
The government of Nauru has indicated there will be no change in its support of the Coalition’s plan to reopen the Howard-era refugee processing centre, despite the sudden resignation of President Marcus Stephen. Nauru’s new President, Frederick Pitcher, told Nauru media there would be no change in the government’s course, despite the departure of his Read more
Seven rugby players and a trainer from New Zealand ITM Cup and Super rugby teams arrived in Tonga on Monday for a week-long tour visiting schools and community groups. The players are in Tonga to assist the Pacific Prevention of Domestic Violence Programme (PPDVP) a New Zealand Aid funded programme, and the Tonga Police Head Read more
The prime minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter O’Neill, wants more foreign missionaries in the country. He said a government/church partnership in service delivery would deliver a lot of benefits to the people. O’Neill told the Vatican’s Nuncio to PNG that churches have contributed enormously to the country by delivering services to remote areas that Read more
Bullets will not restore peace, says the Evangelical Lutheran church’s Bishop Giegere Wenge. He was referring to the shooting of five men by police at Bumayong. For background to riots in Lae click on the link to the Washington Post. Wenge was addressing a meeting in Lae attended by women and youth groups from churches and ethnic communities Read more
Dozens of faith leaders from around the Pacific offered an interfaith, island-style challenge to APEC at St. Augustine’s Catholic Church in Waikiki. Hundreds of community leaders were expected to attend this event, representing a dozen denominations and Pacific Island nations. Rev. Kekapa Lee says “Our island culture requires that we welcome all visitors with Aloha, Read more
Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama says the military respects the church and traditional leaders, and meant no disrespect when it took over leadership of the country in 2006. “Sega ni kena i naki ya me kalawaci na lotu, se na vanua se na turaga ni vanua (The purpose was not to overstep the church, the Read more
Sister Lorraine Garasu who runs Chabai Nazareth, the only rehabilitation centre in Bougainville, has called on the PNG government to do more to help disadvantaged youth in Bougainville. The centre opens its doors to the ‘Lost Generation’ – people who have lost parents in the Bougainville crisis of the 1990s. She says these people have turned Read more
The ongoing bloodshed in West Papua indicates long-standing, fundamental problems that have remained unresolved, says Dr Neles Tebay, a Catholic priest, who teaches at the Fajar Timur School of Philosophy and Theology in Abepura, Papua. He says that in order to identify and settle these deep-seated problems and prevent acts of violence from recurring, a Read more
The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, has questioned the cost benefits of financing action to curb climate change, such as funding clean, renewable energy. Speaking at the annual lecture of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), a climate sceptic think tank he said “The cost of attempts to make global warming go away Read more