This week the Marist Sports Club in Apia is celebrating its 45th anniversary. The Club came into existence when the two Marist clubs, namely Marist Rugby Club and St Joseph’s Rugby Club, decided to merge in 1970. Following its merger, the Club has contributed to the development of rugby in Sāmoa through the many players Read more
The Samoan national team, Manu Samoa, are in Brighton for the Rugby World Cup. Last Sunday they went to mass at St Mary Magdalen’s Church. A video of the team singing was shared on the team’s Facebook page and has so far been viewed more than 80,000 times. Clare Bowskill, choir director at the church, praised Read more
“Misereor”, the German Catholic Bishops’ Organization for Development Co-operation, has helped to fund a People’s Community Network (PCN) project that will provide a home for people who have been living in informal settlements in the Jittu Estate in Raiwaqa near Suva Fiji. The Lagilagi Housing Project is a partnership between families and PCN, where the families Read more
Australia has agreed to take 12,000 refugees living on the borders of Syria and northern Iraq. It continues however to refuse entry to refugees on boats from Indonesia. The head of Australia’s Refugee Council says he expects Australia will soon ask New Zealand to help get it out of trouble with the Nauru asylum seekers’ Read more
As the extreme weather conditions in Papua New Guinea continue, church leaders in Papua New Guinea are asking the Catholic people to come to the aid of those in need. “This is a time to draw upon our traditional Melanesian values of sharing and hospitality, and particularly on the Christian virtues of charity, honesty and Read more
A tapa cloth depicting traditional Tongan figures of divinity within a contemporary Christian context has won this year’s Wallace Arts Trust Paramount Award. The New Zealand Herald desceribes Visesio Poasi Siasau’s work as tapa cloth measures 4.4m by 18m. “But these words hardly capture the ambition and strangeness of the artist’s work,” says Scott Hamilton. Read more
The Catholic Professionals’ Society in Papua New Guinea has announced it will mount a court challenge against Theo Zurenuoc’s ongoing reform and modernisation agenda. As part of his agenda, the speaker plans to replace all of Parliament House’s cultural objects with christian symbols such as the King James bible. Mr Zurenuoc, who has already removed Read more
The Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma says it does not condone any form of violence. Church general secretary, Reverend Dr Epineri Vakadewavosa, made the call in light of the latest figures revealed by the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) showing 756 cases of domestic violence from January to July. “Ever since the church began, Read more
Fiji’s Immigration Director, Nemani Vuniwaqa, has confirmed that the prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama had banned Fiji-born (Mere)oni Kirwin from entering the country. Oni Kirwin is a controversial figure who lives in Australia. According to some commentators she has little credibility and little support. Vuniwaqi told the Fiji Sun that Kirwin was “in attempts to form a so-called Read more
Archbishop Emeritus of Suva, George H. Pearce, SM died on Sunday, August 30. He was 94. Pearce was a member of the Society of Mary. He was ordained a priest in 1947 by Archbishop Richard J. Cushing at Our Lady of Victories Church in Boston, Massachusetts. He taught at the Marist Fathers’ Preparatory Seminary in Read more