Church leaders attending a workshop, Rethinking the Household of God, which was held in the Solomon Islands at the beginning of June have agreed to actively support the struggle for political independence of the people of West Papua. The call comes a week before Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono attends the Pacific Islands Development Forum Read more
The Salvation Army has attacked the Abbott government and its independent report on the Manus Island violence, maintaining the innocence of a worker accused of delivering the final blow to Reza Barati’s skull. Salvation Army’s chief executive Sharon Callister then attacked the government, claiming the organisation had been misrepresented by Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, and Read more
Sister Malia Losalia Mulipola knows this much. In her 20 years of teaching, the greatest satisfaction is seeing how she has had an impact on so many young lives, simply by sharing what she knows. Last week when the Missionary Sisters of the Society Mary (SMSM) celebrated its 150th Jubilee Anniversary, it was an opportunity Read more
A resurgence in the number of cases of leprosy throughout the Pacific has experts saying the disease is far from eradicated there. The number of new cases has been growing during the past four years. Recently there has been an outbreak of leprosy affecting 24 people living in displaced people’s centres in Honiara. Over the Read more
There is a church in Kiribati which is sitting out in the middle of the ocean. President of Kiribati Anote Tong says there used to be a village around it. “And why it remains there is because I’ve asked the village to build a seawall so it doesn’t go, so it can bear testimony to Read more
The Kiribati Ministry of Health is warning about the country’s soaring population. It has set up a group called HOPE to take its message about the impact of population growth to local communities. The Catholic Church in Kiribati has several times voiced its opposition to family planning programmes. Kiribati is a country that has a Read more
The Prime Minister of Samoa, Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Dr. Sa’ilele Malielegaoi has promised that the government look at the long overdue proposal from church schools to have their teachers paid for by the government. He made this promise while delivering the keynote address at the celebration marking 150 years of work by the Missionary Sisters of the Read more
“We need to reclaim the prophetic voice of the Church to actively carry out its contribution in helping stem the tide of apathy and hopeless in our country’s political sphere,” says Anglican Church of Melanesia Archbishop David Vunagi . He was speaking at the opening of a three day church conference on Rethinking the Household Read more
A mass to officially open the 150th jubilee of the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary (SMSM) in Samoa was held at the newly opened Mulivai Cathedral on Sunday Bishop Peter Brown from American Samoa was the principal celebrant. Head of State, His Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi addressed the crowd. “On Tuesday Read more
The National Gallery of Australia in Canberra Australia, is hosting an exhibition exploring Polynesian spirituality and the concept of atua encompassing gods, the ongoing influence of ancestors and ancestral beliefs. For its exhibition Atua: sacred gods from Polynesia, the National Gallery of Australia has negotiated loans from more than 30 museum collections around the world. The Vatican Read more