The Sisters of the Good Samaritan will be forging a new partnership early next year when educator and experienced lay missionary Brenda Keenan becomes the first person to take up a two-year placement with the Sisters in Kiribati. Brenda, who is currently serving as Director of Catholic Education in the Port Pirie Diocese, has a Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Kiribati’
Fiji shows courage and compassion
Tuesday, December 15th, 2015
No other country in the world has the courage or compassion like Fiji to come forward and help the people of Kiribati and Tuvalu. Kiribati President Anote Tong publicly thanked the nation of Fiji in a speech at the Paris climate summit for agreeing to take in his people should the worst come to pass. “It’s Read more
Two Kiribati women join Good Samaritans
Friday, June 19th, 2015
Two Kiribati women, Tuata Terawete and Juniko Toaua, were professed as Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict during a ceremony earlier this month. The Rite of First Profession took place during Eucharist at St Thomas Aquinas Church in Springwood, NSW, Australia. Both women were born and raised in the Republic Read more
Kiribati Govt pays Anglican Church $15.3 million for land in Fiji
Friday, October 17th, 2014
The government of Kiribati has paid the Anglican church Fiji $15.3 million [US$8 million] for 5400 acres of land located on Vanua Levu in Fiji. It is part of a 5700 acre piece of land given to the church by a Mr Campbell. The Anglican Archbishop of Polynesia, Winston Halapua, said the church has kept Read more
Kiribati: Churches oppose death penalty
Friday, September 12th, 2014
Bishop Paul Mea says his church will not support introducing the death penalty. He says there are other measures that can be taken to try to reduce violence in the community. The Kiribati parliament has passed the first reading of the bill and leaders are supposed to hold consultations with their electorate before the second Read more
Tuvalu family wins NZ residency appeal because of climate change
Tuesday, August 5th, 2014A Tuvalu family has won an appeal to stay in New Zealand after they claimed they would be affected by climate change if they went home. This is the first successful application for residency on humanitarian grounds in New Zealand that has featured climate change. The Immigration and Protection Tribunal said the family has strong Read more
Kiribati Church in deep water
Friday, June 13th, 2014
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 power of storytelling
Friday, May 23rd, 2014
I’ve recently returned from a visit to Kiribati. For those who don’t know, the Republic of Kiribati is a remote island nation straddling the equator in the Pacific Ocean. It’s also where a small group of Good Samaritan Sisters have been ministering since 1991. I was there to witness the perpetual profession of Kakare Biita as Read more
Anglicans deny huge land sale in Fiji
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014
For some time there has been speculation that a Trust associated with the Anglican Church is selling a large block of land at Natoavatu near Savusavu on Vanua Levu, Fiji to the Government of Kiribati. But an Anglican Church spokesman Jason Rhodes, speaking in Auckland said “The best I can establish is that there has Read more
Kiribati priest changes sides on climate change debate
Tuesday, April 16th, 2013
Father Martin is the parish priest on the Island of Abaiang, which is about two hours by boat from Tarawa, in Kiribati. Of the island’s population of about 5,000, some 4,000 are Catholics. Described as, “an intense man who wears thick black glasses,” he was until recently a climate-sceptic and feared that the message of activists Read more