The Most Rev. Anthony Randazzo of Broken Bay, Australia (pictured left), who is President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conference of Oceania, (New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific Islands) says thousands of networks will be developed.

They will be used to provide pastoral and practical assistance, and better employment and healthcare to thousands of migrants and refugees.

After making the initial announcement last month in Rome where he had been attending the Synod on Synodality, Randazzo said the Migrant and Refugee Oceania Network will serve as a unifying voice offering much-needed support for the region's unique challenges.

"This is what a Synodal Church looks like - where words are supported by actions that foster and generate real human relationships, a region not on the periphery but a region in which we live and work together in solidarity, making sure no-one is forgotten" he said.

The region

Oceania's four episcopal conferences are based in New Zealand, Australia, Florida (the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific) and in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands (located in PNG).

The region covers a vast area of the Pacific. Of the 41-million people living in Oceania, international migrants make up almost 22 percent of the population.

Over a million of those originating in Oceania stay within the region.

Oceania faces unique and increasing challenges as a result of climate change, rising sea levels, floods, cyclones, droughts and disease.

What the support network will do

The Network will identify urgent problems and build programmes to respond to and protect the needs of people displaced within and across Oceania.

This will require cooperation and advocacy for the region at international levels.

The four episcopal conferences have committed to sharing information, skills, resources and practices.

The conferences will also connect smaller Pacific Island countries and dioceses through the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) and the Dicastery for Integral Human Development at the Holy See.

"The key focus of this Synod is one of listening, dialogue and discernment, and that is very much the essential part of our shared journey in Oceania where every voice matters" Randazzo says.

"To counter the dominant voice from the North that forgets the vulnerable people and region from Oceania, we need to lead by example" he says.

"We can do this by calling others back to the Christian faith, not because we are dominant or powerful, but because we are walking with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

"Labelling us in Oceania as the periphery is unhelpful when we are proclaiming the Christian Gospel as one people in Christ.

"Together we can offer direct practical support as well as bringing our needs to the attention of the global community.

"This will lead to renewal, unity and a future filled with hope" Randazzo says.

Source

• BB Catholic

The significance of his address cannot be overstated, as it sheds light on key issues that demand our attention not only around his two niche issues but also around the framework of episcopal thinking that goes with niche thinking.

The two niche issues of governance in the church and women's ordination are handled very cleverly rhetorically, especially with his summation of women's issues in the Church, where he presents false alternatives.

Correctly, in Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand, women have all the rights and opportunities for women, both in public and private life, which is surely a good thing.

Because some people take it upon themselves to advocate for certain things, it becomes clear that there is a question here that is important and needs to be considered. The false alternatives are obfuscated by rapping them in the false clothing of exceptionalism and colonialism.

Australia and the Oceania perspective

From a political and cultural perspective, Australia and New Zealand are associated with the Oceania region, which includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

Oceania is a broad and diverse expanse of islands and cultures across the Pacific Ocean. However, where it is politically expedient, New Zealand and Australia do not belong to Oceania, and the Church has historically shown this preference.

Contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand would consider itself more linked to Polynesia through the cultural and linguistic relationships between the Maori of Aotearoa than the bishop seems to understand.

The concern here is that the Church is again too clumsily speaking about regions of the world, cultures, peoples, traditions, histories and geo-political masters that, when oversimplified, become used as a means of secondary colonisation, which is what the bishop later does in his address, when he addresses his ‘niche issues'.

In describing countries in Oceania that he describes as "ecologically fragile," Papua New Guinea is given as the example of a country rich in minerals and natural resources that ‘many nations look hungrily at' to mine for their wealth and companies that offer ‘sweet packages' to nations are ‘economically poor and vulnerable'.

This is true, and the Australian government and companies are in their "boots and all" alongside governments and companies from New Zealand, China, and the United States, to name a few.

People not ecology?

Turning attention to the care of the planet's people and not just its ecology, the bishop asks us not to care for the planet at the ‘expense of the people who live on the planet'.

This is where his real agenda comes to the fore.

He describes those who cross untamed oceans to Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand to settle as what one might describe as "climatic refugees" or "economic migrants", without a single reference to Australia's immigration detention facilities on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, and other facilities in Papua New Guinea, Nauru, and Manus Island.

There are also other processing and detention centres around Australia. These centres are used to detain people under the mandatory immigration detention policy for those who arrive illegally "in boats from across the seas" under the "Operation of Sovereign Borders".

While the situation of illegal economic migrants and climate refugees are not similar in Aotearoa, New Zealand, to those in Australia, these are both "migrant" nations that profited from those who travelled across the world to come to these countries.

Nevertheless, all non-Aboriginal Australians and Manuhiri New Zealanders need to speak carefully about such issues, given our histories of colonialism and our treatment of our respective indigenous peoples, not to mention our respective colonial histories, geopolitical ambitions, and use of the Island nations of Oceania to our geo-political ends.

The bishop then uses reverse colonialism and Oceanian exceptionalism to defend his rejection of the "niche issues" of the wealthy and powerful Europeans and North American churches with access to money and technology: (1) the use of the language and thinking of business governance and management when describing the governance of the Church; and (2) the ordination of women when women in other parts of the world are not being respected as women.

Niche issues

"Niche issues" emerge ‘out of churches that have great wealth' with ‘access to technology and resources' and become an all-consuming ‘imposition on people who sometimes struggle to feed their families, to be able to survive the rising sea levels or the dangerous journeys across wild oceans trying to resettle in new lands;' and they take the synod away from its presumably authentic trajectory into ‘a new form of colonialism' that oppresses the most vulnerable people.'

This argument is used to justify detaining and killing gay and trans people in Africa because these issues are not "African" but "European".

Exceptionalism and Colonialism

Hearing this, one needs to ask what a synod is for if not to listen to all the church and, in that process, reject an "Oceanian exceptionalism" that places the people of Oceania in a non-synodal place.

As a person of Oceania, I reject the bishop's position as naïve and patronising. I know of plenty of women in Aotearoa New Zealand, and in Australia who advocate both for women's ordination and for women in poverty.

The bishop's understanding of colonialisation linked to ecclesial exceptionalism reflects that of the African bishop's exceptionalism in their rejection of Fiducia supplicans, because it is a "niche issue" for the amoral West and a place of exception for the African bishops.

This creates and sustains a false understanding of ecclesial communion that ironically relies on a "secularised" and limited understanding of colonialism to justify itself.

Church Governance

Restructuring the Church's management and governance along more "secular lines" according to the "secular world" is another niche issue to be rejected, for which I offer four considerations.

Firstly, being offended when individuals describe restructuring ecclesial offices and structures using "secular" language is often the default position of hierarchs who do not want to give up power.

It is often linked to an inability to see that the presumptions of church governance are essentially exclusionary and lack transparency. It tends to forget that the processes of selecting a bishop, which use the current ecclesial processes, are not foolproof or transparent.

Secondly, it creates and maintains a dualistic understanding of language as "secular" and opposed to the "sacred", which is arguably not the language of the Christian Scriptures or the Councils of the Early Church, where the secular and the sacred are put aside in the Incarnational.

Generally, when a church cleric condemns modern business management and leadership tools, processes, and languages, they display their central confusion regarding the difference between management and governance.

To decry the word "networking" in favour of ‘communion, fellowship and community' is ok as far as it goes but let us not be naïve to think that networking is not also a means used by the Holy Spirit to attain the ends of God.

In this regard, perhaps the Spirit is more sophisticated in the administration of the Church than we would like to think.

Thirdly, this division, which argues for a unique sacred culture that is immutable, has been revealed as an abject failure in the numerous investigations and Royal Commissions into the abuse of minors and vulnerable people.

Indeed, understanding that the structures of culture, governance, management, and leadership that have led the Church to this place are part of the scandal!

Finally, it is worthwhile to consider that many of the "secular" goals of governance and management have Christian roots and that many—though not all—seek to work for the good of the employee, except in places where people are exploited for their labour, it is worth remembering that if the Church used modern management and leadership practices and processes, albeit using our lexicon, we might have avoided or dealt with the scandal of abuse more quickly and emphatically.

Women's Ordination… But don't mention the Diaconate!

The second "niche issue" concerns women's ordination but avoids the elephant in the room, the female diaconate.

This issue seems to vex the bishop, even when he admits they are essential, but not for women in non-European and non-North American contexts. We aren't told where Australia and New Zealand stand on this, but the presumption is that women in Oceania stand with the bishop.

Women's ordination is a "hot button" topic that has been going ‘going on for years' perhaps like a weeping sore with a scab that just will not heal.

In this, he avoids the issue of women's ordination to the Diaconate, the tangible element that breaks open the question or rips the scab off the sore.

Thus, the medical analogy is not to be discounted. Most wounds need sunlight to heal, and this one will not be ignored or bandaged with the "mummy" or "womb" adoration of celibate men, which is so often the default position of those who are caught in a concretisation of the theology of the Church as a woman to her Lord Jesus.

The concretisation of this theology may account for the question coming back repeatedly.

A more worrying example of exceptionalism is used to reject the needs of wealthy, technological women as colonialism and to place the women in economic and technological poverty as a new class of colonised people.

The use of exceptionalism in this way, when linked to colonialism and economic, social and ecological power on the one hand and poverty on the other, pits women against women.

If this is true, then it is insidious that women are doing this to each other. Therefore, such a claim must be supported with empirical evidence because it is the abuse of women by women through the medium of synodal structures.

If this is true and the bishop can support it with empirical evidence, he is right to call it out. If not, he should apologise and resign.

Women, the Church

It sounds patronising to say that women have been at the heart of the Church since its inception.

Indeed, one can easily turn to Mary of Nazareth and to the first proclamation of the resurrection—a diaconal event—in the person of Mary of Magdala, but is it enough in the twenty-first century to state this as if it answers all questions?

Similarly, it is reasonable to state that the voice of strident, wealthy, educated, literate, well-fed women in North America, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Central and South America, Asia, Africa and not to forget Oceania may be the ones who know why, if or how the management and leadership structures of the Church need to change?

Similarly, is it potentially true that these same women, rather than being "exceptionalised" and "colonialised" might be the best ones to meet in synod and discuss the question of women's ordination, if that's not a blatant patriarchal suggestion?

• Dr Joe Grayland is an Assistant Lecturer, Department of Liturgy at Wuerburg University, Germany. He is the author of "Catholics. Prayer, Belief and Diversity in a Secular Context: A New Zealand Perspective" and of "Liturgical Lockdown: Covid and the Absence of the Laity. A New Zealand Perspective".

A world first, the conference is driven by the Australian Catholic University with support from the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

New Zealanders, however, are still invited to register and listen in over Zoom.

Sources in New Zealand expressed surprise there were no New Zealand representatives on the conference's list of experts, particularly given indigenous people are a significant part of the conference focus.

"The omission of Maori is puzzling," a Church official told CathNews.

The ACU and Vatican Dicastery's invitation to participate describes the process as "Synodal".

"Experience a synodal process of storytelling, reflection, practical theology and dialogue in preparation for the 2023 Federation of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of Oceania General Assembly," reads the invitation.

However, Secreariat Advisor Kaupapa Maori to the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, Deacon Danny Karatea-Goddard, Ngati Maniapoto, Ngapuhi, Te Kapotai, Te Honihoni, Ngati Whatua, Ngati Hine, is disappointed that Maori have been ignored.

"Given our whakapapa connection to Te Moananui a Kiwa, o Hawaikinui (the great Ocean of Kiwa and South East Asia) there is always an opportunity for the Maori voice to be present and to offer our indigenous perspective," he told CathNews.

Karatea-Goddard says the ability of Maori to understand, record and forecast weather and climate has been an important factor in responding to weather and climate change in Aotearoa New Zealand.

He says responding to weather and climate change is essential not only for our survival but for all life around us.

"In our creation narrative, all-natural elements around us are senior to humanity and we are able to name the genealogical names that connect us," he said.

"Like our Oceanic northern kin, with whom we have never lost whakapapa connections to, it is through, over the centuries, interacting with the local environments that Maori have developed a wealth of environmental knowledge, with the lessons being learned having become incorporated into traditional and modern practices of agriculture, fishing, medicine, education and conservation.

"Online forums enable all indigenous to share their genius, reclaim our commonalities always in the spirit of care of creation and our unique indigenous place in that narrative and all its good works."

The conference is being held in preparation for the General Assembly of the Federation of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO).

The conference format will be framed by processes of storytelling, reflection and theological dialogue, akin to cultural experiences of Talanoa or yarning-circle style conversations.

Practical theologians from within Oceania will share their deep understanding of the gifts Oceania has received.

According to the conference outline, the conference's purpose is to listen to diverse voices of creation and cultures of people in Oceania.

It seeks to offer a platform to share stories and amplify vulnerable voices, which can be heard by decision-makers at local, regional and global levels both in and outside the church and encourage a synodal dialogue generating commitment from the FCBCO member countries.

The ACU told CathNews Monday that First Nation voices of Pacific islands are deliberately being held up at the conference, and there will be more focus on Maori in four years time when the FCBCO conference is held in Australia.

FCBCO member countries include American Samoa, Cook Islands, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Marian Island, Papua New Guinea, Western Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, and expert contributors to the conference from Fiji, Tonga, Niue and Australia.

The FCBCO meets every four years. Their next assembly will be held in the Archdiocese of Suva, Fiji, from February 5-10, 2023.

Sources

• Media Release ACU
• ACU
• GC Catholic

Entitled "Enlarge the space of your tent," the document was compiled from Synod submissions from throughout the world: bishops' conferences, the Eastern Catholic Churches, religious orders, Vatican dicasteries and other Catholic organisations.

Cardinal John Dew says this stage in the Synod process is a deeper contemplation of the issues raised in the various national local phases and summarised into the working document. Countries and regions all over the world, including New Zealand, will be considering it for further examination.

"National and diocesan groups will now be invited to take part in this reflection and discernment of the working document," Dew says.

The work of reflecting on 'Enlarge the space of your tent' needs to take place between now and 5 December, so that the New Zealand response can be ready by 22 December.

The Oceania region's bishops' conferences will be having a joint meeting in Fiji in February 2023.

Oceania involves the countries and territories covered by the bishops' conferences of New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands and the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific.

When launching this, the next stage of the Synod on Synodality, Vatican prelates acknowledged the first reports from the faithful are calling for inclusion - for women, for LGBTQ individuals and for the poor.

"Let us just look to each person as a person loved by God and called into being by God," said Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich on Thursday.

"Christ died for this person on the cross. If I am not able to give the space to the table to this person, than I am against Christ."

"Who is invited to the tent? All the people, created and loved by God," Hollerich said. "Our behaviour is sometimes a bit more fragmented, and our love is not as big as the love of God."

The Church must "establish new balances, otherwise, the tent will collapse," he added.

The Catholic LGBTQ advocacy network New Ways Ministry praised the openness of the "Document for the Continental Phase".

They lauded it as "evidence that we are in a new moment of conversation about LGBTQ issues in the Catholic Church".

Others fear the document may be stretching the Catholic tent too far.

Early last month Cardinal Gerhard Müller, described the synod as part of a "hostile takeover of the Church" more intent on transforming it into a political party than about spreading the gospel.

Cardinal Mario Grech, (pictured middle) however, who is the general secretary of the Vatican's Synod office, said the "Document for the Continental Phase" does not represent any decisions made by church leaders.

It is a channel for the many points of view that emerged at the parish level as they were summarised by national bishops' conferences, he clarified.

Source

• Religion News Service
• New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference

He will be at the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania(FCBCO) Plenary Assembly in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, in April.

"We are delighted that Cardinal Parolin, the Secretary of State at the Vatican, will be with us," said FCBCO Executive Member, Bishop Charles Drennan.

"His voice will echo Pope Francis' voice and gestures for justice and care of our planet home."

The Federation is made up of Bishops from Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, New Zealand and other Pacific nations.

They hold a plenary assembly every four years.

The assembly's theme this year is ‘Care of our common home of Oceania: a sea of possibilities'.

Human rights and environmental care and protection will underlie the Assembly's discussions.

There will be a particular focus on:

• Displacement
• Social unrest
• Climate change
• Harmful environmental practices such as deep-seabed mining
• Over-fishing

Drennan said "We discuss these matters from the perspective of faith, which sees all creation and human life as a gift from God to be respected and treasured.

"We are very mindful of ongoing unrest and questionable military presence in West Papua as well as the growing influence of unsavoury business and political interests buying influence in the Pacific.

"I am hopeful of a renewed resolve for integrity in governance and sustainable and participatory economic development to arise from our discussions together and with local leaders."

Keynote speakers at the Assembly include:
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who has been Secretary of State since 2013 and has worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See for thirty years.

The cardinal will speak on Pope Francis' encyclical, Laudato Si' , which underlies the theme of the Assembly.

Governor Powes Parkop, a representative of the Government's Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry.

He will deliver a keynote on the ongoing conflict between the Indonesian government and portions of the indigenous populations in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua.

Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, one of the world's leading experts on climate change policy and environmental and energy policy, speaking to the Assembly on Catholic Social Teachings.

Father Clement Taulam of PNG, who will discuss the current situation about Manus Refugees and his work in this area.

Last year, Father Clement and retired army major Michael Kuweh made headlines in defying the PNG and Australian governments in calling for assistance for the refugees and asylum seekers on Manus, and for a peaceable solution to the standoff inside the condemned Australian-run detention centre.

Other sessions during the Assembly include an update on progress about the region preparing for Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment.

New Zealand priest, Monsignor Gerard Burns, President of Caritas Oceania will update the bishops on the important work the NZCBC agency is undertaking across the region and their work with communities, government and aid agencies on climate change, sustainability, education and advocacy.

New Zealand also will report on its national youth festival in December last year, its survey of young people and its participation in the Pre-Synodal Meeting to take place in Rome from 19 to 24 March 2018.

Towards to end of the assembly, attendees will take part in a mass with local communities and a formal dinner with the PNG Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill.

Source

• Supplied: Amanda Gregan Communications Advisor - NZ Catholic Bishops/ Te Huinga o nga Pihopa Katorika o Aotearoa
• Image: catholicismpure.wordpress.com

The primates and general secretaries of the Anglican Church in Australia, the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea, the Anglican Church of Melanesia, and the Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand, and Polynesia made the commitments in a communiqué following their recent regional meeting in Fiji.

As part of its commitment to tackling climate change, the church leaders:

• Encourage investment into sustainable energy as a valid option for investment funds
• Encourage their various trust boards "to consider restructuring their investments to maximise returns from such innovative ideas
• Ask Anglican schools in the region's four provinces to integrate "climate change topics into the current curricula."

On gender-based violence they:

• Welcomed the work of The House of Sarah - an initiative of the Diocese of Polynesia, which works to end violence against women and children
• Encouraged and supported the zero tolerance for violence policy as promoted by the House of Sarah
• Encouraged all provinces to adopt and implement the Anglican Consultative Council's (ACC) Safe Church Charter
• Committed themselves to review and respond to the guidelines coming from the International Safe Church Commission,

This is the second time in two years that the Anglican leaders in the Oceania region have met in this way.

They will meet again in Melanesia next year, and in Papua New Guinea in 2020.

They were joined at this year's meeting by an Anglican Communion delegation led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

Source

• anglicannews.org
• Image: anglicannews.org

Ribat said the appointment came as a surprise as he never thought nor dreamt of it.

"If it is the will of God, then may he give me his grace and strength to fulfil this course and carry out this responsibility."

"I am grateful to accept this call and this appointment may come as personal but it is really for the Church and for our people of PNG."

"It is a great witness to the call of God to all of us Christians and it is a blessing for the Church and for our nation," said Ribat.

New Zealand's Cardinal John Dew said, "I, and I'm sure my brother bishops here in New Zealand and throughout Oceania will be, am delighted to have heard the news overnight of Archbishop Ribat's appointment.

"It's wonderful for the people of Papua New Guinea, their first ever Cardinal, within which there is a significant Catholic population, but it is also great news for the Pacific, and for the Church."

"He is currently serving as the President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops of Oceania, and his elevation is cause for celebration across all of Oceania," said Cardinal John."

"This news again shows Pope Francis' continued commitment to the Church throughout the world including the smaller nations in the geographical peripheries," he said.

"This is much more than a choice of geography though, Archbishop Sir John Ribat is a humble, pastoral and committed leader in his country and the wider Oceania region, and this is acknowledgment of that and a call to further serve the global Church."

"I believe the global Church will benefit from the contribution of the Church in Oceania, despite our geographical distance from the rest of the world."

Ribat joined the Congregation of the Sacred Heart Missionaries and was ordained 1 December 1985.

He was appointed as the auxiliary Bishop of Bereina in PNG in 2000 and became the bishop there in 2002.

In 2007 he was made coadjutor bishop of Port Moresby and in 2008 and became Archbishop on the retirement of Archbishop Brian Barnes in 2008.

Earlier this year Ribat was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2014 The Archdiocese of Port Moresby had a Catholic population of 205,354, 32.6% of the total population.

There were 19 parishes, 65 priests (7 diocesan, 58 religious), 324 lay religious (223 brothers, 101 sisters), 2 seminarians.

Source

• Supplied NZCBC
• looptonga.com
• Image: images.bistum-hildesheim.de

'This painting is a wonderful depiction of the youthful Suzanne Aubert as she would have been at the height of her ministry,' says congregational leader Sr Margaret Anne Mills

"Many of the photos we have of her are of an older sister. This painting captures the warmth and energy which were hallmarks of her extraordinarily productive and selfless life."

"It also places her in the setting of Jerusalem on the Whanganui River where her work with Maori flourished and her care for infants and young children began."

The painting was created by The Auckland-based Studio of St John the Baptist which specialises in sacred art and iconography.

Source

• Welcom
• Image: Welcom

There were 82 Bishops from Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, the countries of the Pacific, and Australia and New Zealand in Wellington last week for the assembly of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania

The Assembly takes place every four years in a different part of Oceania and the next assembly will be held in Papua New Guinea in 2018.

During the Assembly

• Bishop Eugene Hurley spoke about the situation of detainees in Australian detention centres.
• Bishops from Papua New Guinea and the Bishop of Tarawa in Nauru spoke of the detention centres within their countries and the effects of these on local populations of Manus Island and Nauru.
• Bishop Barry Jones and Mike Stopforth presented a session on the earthquakes and their impact on the Christchurch city and the Diocese. They spoke of the ongoing effects on the people of Christchurch, together with the rebuilding being undertaken by the Church and throughout the city.
• Archbishop Peter Loy Chong of Suva spoke on reading the signs of the Fiji times, and the pastoral implications of the political changes that have occurred in Fiji over the last fifteen years.

The Bishops also discussed topics that will be considered at the Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to be held in Rome in October this year. In workshop sessions, the bishops heard presentations and engaged in discussion with presenters on young people and the Catholicism.

Source

• NZ Catholic Bishops' Conference
• Image: PNGEdge

The Bishops looked at ways to prepare the different Catholic communities in Oceania for the Year of Faith (11 October 2012 - 24 November 2013), bringing attention to the challenges of the "new evangelization," according to Pope Benedict XVI's recommendations.

Rochus Tatamai, Bishop of Berlina, Papua New Guinea, said "In Australia and New Zealand Churches struggle to cope with the influence of secularism. But with the development of technology and communication information, even in other Pacific countries, such as Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, one realizes that the challenge is the same: reaching with the Gospel the verandas of our humble homes in rural areas."

The meeting was also a follow-up on the recommendations passed in the 2010 Sydney Federation Assembly. It was noted that a lot of the initiatives had been implemented, such as the call for more cooperation and sharing of lecturers for our seminaries especially in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. The call for possible insurance cover for the priests working in the dioceses and their personal health care was also assessed.

The Federation of Oceania Bishops consists of four Episcopal Conferences: Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea-Solomon Islands, and CEPAC, which includes all other nations and small islands in the Pacific, such as Fiji, Tonga, Guam, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Vanuatu.

SOURCE

• Fides
• Voice of ToRot
• Image: Voice of ToRot