Author, blogger and Pacific female advocate, Lani Wendt Young, has published a blog post criticising Deacon Kasiano Le’aupepe comments about sexual violence, which has fuelled support from Pacific females around the world. Le’aupepe, who Chairman of Samoa’s National Council of Churches, has urged girls and women to bite men who sexually assault them. “In fact”, he said “they Read more
When Diwali was celebrated in Rarotonga, on 3 November, hundreds of people turned up to enjoy Indian food, music dancing and cultural display. New Zealand’s High Commissioner to the Cook Islands Joanna Kempkers and Principal of Tereora College (the National College of the Cook Islands) Bali Haque addressed the Diwali gathering as well as various Read more
The Solomon Islands Law Reform Commission (SILRC) conducted a one day sorcery consultation for church leaders around Honiara at the St Barnabas Cathedral last week. The sorcery offence workshop is part of the on-going review of the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code. The aim of the consultation was to have church leaders have their Read more
An Islamic Centre has been opened in in Suva. “This centre is purposely for those iTaukei people that want to learn the basics of the Islam faith in the iTaukei language,” says Mohammed Ismail, who is a teacher at the new centre “Another reason we opened this centre is because it is easily accessible to Read more
A Samoan academic who is a Professor of Law at Otago University, New Zealand, Professor Rex Tauati Ahdar says Samoa is not and cannot be a Christian nation when people here do a “patchy” job of practicing what they preach. In a paper published this year titled “Samoa and the Christian State Ideal,” Professor Ahdar explored the Read more
A petition has been circulated at the World Council of Churches (WCC) 10th Assembly calling for West Papua to be included on the United Nations list of territories to be decolonised. Pacific church leaders from 12 countries have signed the petition which also calls on the WCC to send a fact-finding mission to the Indonesian-controlled Read more
From January 2012 to October 2013, Fr. Shanthi Chacko Puthussery, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands Secretary for Catholic Youth and Laity conducted 17 parish youth leaders’ leadership trainings in 17 of 22 dioceses in the two countries. An essential part of the training was actual personal accompaniment of the participants in which they felt Read more
In Guam there have been 17 priests ordained in the past nine years. Last Saturday, Deacon Luis Venancio Benavente Camacho became the first Chamorro from the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary of Guam to be ordained priest. Deacon Michael Vincent Jucutan, of Hawaii was ordained at the same time. Fr Luis is the second Chamorro to Read more
On Thursday a requiem mass was celebrated at the village Vaivase Tai, just inland of Apia, Samoa for Rugby legend Peter Fatialofa, Eulogies were delivered at a service at the Catholic Church at Vaivase-Tai at 11am before the mass which was was held at 2pm. The Head of State, Ministers of Cabinet, members of the Read more
The Second General Assembly of the Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands began in Madang on Wednesday 5 November. This is the first time Papua New Guinea and Solomon islands have held a conjunct General Assembly. The theme of the Assembly is “Give me some water that I amy never be thirsty Read more