The report notes that Africa, Asia and South America lag behind in creating these structures due to a lack of resources.

It stresses the urgent need for "increasing solidarity among episcopal conferences, to mobilise resources for a universal standard in safeguarding".

The report

In 2022 Pope Francis asked the Commission to draft a report offering "a reliable account on what is presently being done and what needs to change, so that the competent authorities can act".

The report would be a step toward "transparency and accountability" for lay people who are losing trust because of the clerical abuse crisis, Francis said.

The Commission then undertook the first global assessment of the Church's efforts to address its sexual abuse crisis. After having a close look at a dozen countries, two religious orders and two Vatican offices, the Commission analysed its findings and recommendations.

Its subsequent annual report offers "mechanisms for change in the short-term" and guidelines for Church leaders at all levels for implementing safeguarding measures, says Maud de Boer-Buquicchio (pictured) who oversaw the report's drafting.

While progress is being made in some respects, "regrettably much of the Church remains without robust data collection practices or capacities" she adds.

The Church must commit to investing in its data collection infrastructure and resources" she says.

Journey of change

It is ten years since Pope Francis set up the Commission.

The report's analyses offer a "snapshot of the journey of conversion that we have been on" says the Commission president Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston (pictured second from left).

"It is a journey towards a transparent and accountable ministry of safeguarding, towards greater outreach, welcome and support for victims and survivors in their pursuit of justice and healing."

Commission member and sex abuse survivor Juan Carlos Cruz says the report represents a significant step forward and gives him hope for further progress.

"We're using words that we didn't use before. Truth, justice, reparation and a guarantee of non-recurrence...'' he says.

Improvement sought

The report made use of focus groups with clerical abuse survivors who pointed to the main ways the Church has mishandled abuse concerns.

Better access for victims to information about their individual cases is needed, the report says.

It was particularly concerning that victims are often not informed of the outcomes of canonical trials.

In its most critical note, the report called for greater transparency from the Vatican's sex abuse office (the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith) which oversees the Pontifical Commission for Minors.

The Dicastery's "slow processing of cases and secrecy were re-traumatising to victims, and its refusal to publish statistics and its own jurisprudence continues to foment distrust among the faithful, especially the victim/survivor community" the report says.

Source

• AP News
• RNS

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".

Registrations for the "Oceania Speaks" conference included representatives from the Holy See diplomatic corps, religious communities and charitable organisations.

The June 23 event aimed to raise awareness of the impact of climate change in the Asia Pacific region.

The Australian Embassy to the Holy See-organised event incorporated an impassioned plea from Fiji's Archbishop Peter Loy Chong.

Listen to Oceania

In a video message, Loy Chong said "The world has yet to really listen deeply to the voices, particularly to the ‘tagi' [cries] of Oceania people".

We are vulnerable to the immediate and enduring impacts of climate change, he told those at the conference.

"We have to educate, empower and allow the regional voices of peoples of the Pacific to be heard, and not to be dominated and framed by politicians and funders who dominate these climate narratives."

Pacific is forgotten

A United Nations Development Programme report found about three quarters of Pacific Island nations' populations are affected by natural disasters.

The impact of climate change in the region is "largely overlooked" the report says.

It poses a serious threat, particularly to young people and future generations.

The report says that, as a result of rising sea levels, they will face the potential loss of their homelands, their cultural identity and work opportunities.

The report estimates that sea levels will rise between 25.5 centimetres to 61 centimetres by 2050.

Laudato Si'

Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has stressed our responsibility to care for creation.

This includes everyone's "integral human development", particularly that of the poor and vulnerable.

He has written the encyclical Laudato Si' (2015) and the apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum (2023) on the topic.

Francis also discussed these issues at the UN General Assembly in 2015 and at COP - the annual UN climate change conference.

Global response needed

At "Oceania Speaks," the Vatican's Archbishop Paul Gallagher said there is an "urgent need for a unified global response" to the crisis.

"In the context of Oceania, the impending threat posed by rising sea levels to many small Pacific islands states is deeply alarming, reaching beyond mere geographical boundaries.

"Entire villages [are] on the brink of destruction, forcing local communities — particularly families — into perpetual displacement that erodes their distinct identities and cultural heritage … [and their] natural heritage."

Logging and mining devastate

Foreign mining and logging in Papua New Guinea are causing devastating ecological and social problems, the conference heard.

Sister Philomena Waira of the Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea said local people are paying a cost.

"In the past, people had no problem with food and water.

"[People] were able to grow crops without fertilisers.

"As the years went by the governments are allowing foreign investors into our countries.

"After the mining is done, it has affected climate change, peoples' fishing, and animals have also run away."

Source

• CNA

"It has been a great joy for the bishops to gather this week to pray for and consider their shared mission as the Chief Shepherds of the region," the concluding statement from the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO) says.

Federation members meet every four years. They come from bishops conferences in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea/Solomon Islands and many other islands of the south-west Pacific.

This year, they were invited to imagine a "theology of the Pacific", that would allow the Church in the region to speak with a voice and a faith that is "distinctive".

That discernment was supported by theological input from Oceania-based theologians on the Assembly's themes: Care for the Oceans; Formation for Mission; and Becoming a More Synodal Church.

Finding the Pacific voices

Commenting on the Assembly, Brisbane's Archbishop Mark Coleridge noted there is a slowly emerging "distinctively Pacific voice or symphony of voices".

"You don't get one voice in the Pacific; you get many voices," he said.

"But we are looking for and waiting for a distinctively Pacific symphony of theological voices, because the theology in this part of the world is based upon a different set of facts than in other parts of the world. It's not just Western theology that has been exported."

Finding that symphony of voices was part of this year's Assembly's aims.

It involved "listening to each other so that together we can speak with a distinctive voice and speak to the whole Church right around the world," Coleridge said.

"But at the heart of that, there is the theological enterprise, applying reason to faith in a way that does justice to the experience of the peoples of the Pacific."

Caring for the oceans

The bishops say their discussions on the ocean ranged from the impact of rising sea levels and extractive industries, to proper care for oceans.

"In our region, the ecological crisis is an existential threat for our people and communities," and it is manifested in different ways, including rising sea levels, the acidification of the oceans, droughts, floods and "more frequent and more extreme weather events".

For this reason, they said a so-called "ecological conversion (is) an urgent mission priority not only for us, but also for the whole Church".

Synodality

Becoming a more synodal Church and formation for mission were important concerns in all the Oceania Conferences.

In this respect the Assembly's concluding statement notes:

"Oceania is home to some of the world's youngest local churches and also the oldest continuing culture in the world.

"We appreciate the complexity of the contemporary world ... While being young may entail vulnerabilities, it also offers freshness and vitality."

The statement also acknowledges, "the youngest churches in our region have lessons to teach the more established churches about synodality and about maintaining the freshness of the encounter of the Gospel with local cultures and societies."

The next FCBCO assembly will be in Australia in 2027.

Source

• CruxNow
• Australian Catholic Bishops Conference
• FCBCO Assembly
• NZ Catholic Bishops Conference

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

"If we don't feel it here [in the heart], it doesn't matter how much, how little we have in our pocket. We're not going to change," said Father Pedro Walpole of Ecojesuit, a global ecology network.

"The change, as we keep hearing from the youth today, must be now, not 30 years from now. We need change now."

The Philippines-based priest spoke during last week's UN "Save Our Ocean, Protect Our Future" conference. Its focus was on science-driven and innovative solutions to protect the oceans.

The global Catholic Laudati Si Movement's "Oceania Talanoa: Faith, Indigenous, and Nature's Moana Shaping and Safeguarding Innovations of the Sea," was also held last week.

Walpole explained the health of oceans is critical to the health of all species, especially humans, therefore all must care for it.

Referring to UN data, he said oceans generate 50 percent of the oxygen we breathe.

However, survey reports suggest oceans have been suffering due to pollution. At the same time, climate change-induced global warming is causing sea levels to rise.

Conservationists estimate humans dump about eight million metric tons of plastic into the ocean every year.

"We need new relationships, but unless consumers connect with that reality, we're sunk," Walpole said.

Archbishop Peter Loy Chong from Fiji warned participants about the urgency of understanding an "ecological conversion".

He reminded everyone of Laudato Si' and Pope Francis's invitation for everyone to undergo an 'ecological conversion' becoming Jesus Christ in their relationship with the world.

The event also featured emotional testimonies from Catholic environmentalists whose lives were shaped by oceans.

A Research Indigenous Liaison Officer at the Australian Catholic University, said she grew up in an Aboriginal fishing community.

"It's actually quite beautiful to still have that strong connection with the ocean, and I'm very proud. It's very much in my heart," she said.

Another, from Tonga, described what it's like to have a personal relationship with God's creation.

She said the ocean is the last thing she hears before bed and the first thing she hears in the morning.

Yet another from the Columban Mission Society in Fiji compared the ocean to a mother caring for her children.

"Whatever we need is from the ocean," he said. "It can really speak to you if you will learn to listen."

Sister Dr Robyn Reynolds, OLSH, Senior Lecturer at Yarra Theological Union in Australia, quoted Genesis 1:2.

"I just like to remember that and think that, in cooperation with the divine spirit breathing over the waters, that's our task, our privilege, our opportunity," she said.

"Not only in a contemplative way, to breathe over the waters; but in a practical, daily way to find ways with our families, our communities, our churches, to bring new life to our oceans."

Source

• UCA News

The webinar featured speakers from across Oceania including Tonga, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Aotearoa New Zealand, and will be hosted by the Global Catholic Climate Movement.

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has published the Caritas State of the Environment for Oceania Report since 2014, on behalf of Caritas Oceania and the peoples of Oceania.

The report monitors and discusses the impact of and the response to five key issues: coastal erosion and sea-level rise; food and water; extreme weather; offshore mining and drilling; and access to climate finance. It is released around the Feast of St Francis of Assisi (4 October) each year.

Read the report

He made the call while in Rome for the Amazon synod.

"The Amazon and its forests are important, but we must not forget how significant the ocean is in the web of life," Chong told Caritas' Harriet Paterson and Alejandra Pero.

Chong says there is a lot of political speak in Fiji about the importance of preserving the Fiji environment and marine life.

He says words do not translate that well into actions.

"In Fiji, while we talk about climate change, we are not very good at caring for the environment".

With the future of indigenous communities in Oceania under threat, our Government speaks a lot about climate change, but it allows companies to carry on business, damaging our environment, he said.

Chong observes the land earthworks are destroying people's natural source of food and livelihoods.

"When there is a flood, the mud and silt from the land flow into the sea meaning fish, prawns and sea creatures can no longer live there".

"Marine life is the largest ecosystem on earth," he points out.

As well as a source of food, 70% of our oxygen comes from the water and marine life must form part of our discussion on integral ecology, he said.

Threats to the Pacific are detailed in the newly-published Caritas report Seeds of Hope on the state of the environment in Oceania in 2019.

"Waters of life have been turned into rivers of death," Caritas Fiji warns in the report.

The report highlights short and long term threats to food and water supplies due to mineral extraction in Fiji.

Chong, president of the Oceania Federation of Catholic Bishops' Conference has written a song, "Climate Change Lament", calling on Island people to cry out to the world with a view to disturb the big countries for causing CO2 emissions that will eventually drown small islands of people.

Sources

• Zenit
• Caritas
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Image: Caritas

The area was still troubled by the political instability that followed the Revolution. That, plus the need to help on the farm, meant his primary schooling was rather fragmented.

In his early teens the parish priest helped him with special lessons in the presbytery, so that in 1819, aged 16, he was ready to begin his four years of secondary education at the minor seminary at Meximieux.

He progressed to the major seminary at Brou in 1824, to be ordained on 15 July 1827, at the age of 24, as a priest for the Belley diocese. For his first year of priesthood he was assistant in a medium sized town, already thinking seriously about applying for an apostolate in the foreign missions.

Then followed three years as parish priest in a small country town where the Church was still in disarray a generation after the Revolution. With quiet zeal, tact and compassion he transformed it. Underlying his approach was his personal motto, ‘To love Mary and bring others to love her.'

In 1831, at 28, with his bishop's agreement, he joined the small group of diocesan priests in the dioceses of Belley and Lyons, who had hopes of starting a Society of Mary.

Its most prominent members were Jean-Claude Colin and Marcellin Champagnat, who was responsible for establishing a branch of teaching brothers.

There were also sisters, founded by Jeanne-Marie Chavoin, and groups of laypeople. Among the Marists' declared aims was to undertake foreign missions.

At this stage, however, the priests were occupied in giving parish missions and in running the minor seminary in Belley, which also doubled as a college for boys who had no thought of a priestly vocation. Peter joined the staff of this college, where, in 1832, he became its spiritual director. Continue reading

Sources

• Article by Fr Justin Taylor sm in the Marist Messenger
• Image: Notre Dame Marist Academy

He used his address at the commemoration of the 50 anniversary of the Synod of Bishops last month to praise the "rich variety" of Catholic life that the Synods have brought, and the way they have ended the eurocentric imaging of the Church.

One of the most exhilarating "synodal" moments for him, he recalled, was during the 1998 Special Assembly of the Synod for Oceania.

"Mass was celebrated in the St Peter's Basilica to the sound of conch shell horns and enriched processions and great garlands of flowers evoking the space, beauty and freshness of remote Pacific islands where Christianity was still in its first generation of disciples."

Source

• thetablet.co.uk
• Image: media02.radiovaticana.va

"At United Nations level we certainly need for there to be a commitment from the countries that are causing the environmental challenges for the people in the Pacific."

"But we also need to make sure the finance for climate change actually gets to those communities around the Pacific because at this stage we're not seeing on the ground much evidence of that."

Hickey said it was a surprise to discover the extent of environmental changes affecting people right across the Pacific.

"Rising sea levels and water, issues with their food supply and food security, challenges with fishing, concerns over mining and new things like deep sea mining, and problems with things that have happened in the past like nuclear testing."

She said it makes daily life more difficult and unpredictable.

"Whether it's where they get their food from or the water that they drink, or cyclones and El Nino events, it's just more that they have to cope with."

Caritas has prepared a Pacific environment report, Small yet strong - Voices from Oceania on the environment which was launched at St Peter Chanel Catholic Church in Auckland on 4 October 2014.

See more on Facebook

Source

• Radio New Zealand
• Image: Facebook

But for Bishop of Papua New Guinea's Kimbe province Capuchin Bill Fey such events are not especially unusual.

"On that instance, I was part of a procession carrying a relic of Blessed Peter To Rot, martyred by the Japanese during World War Two for opposing their planned legalisation of polygamy," he said.

"We were carrying the relic throughout parishes in my diocese which is on the western side of the island of New Britain.

"The occasion was the one hundredth anniversary of his birth.

"The tradition in the villages is that important people have to step over a pig which is then speared to death to make a welcoming banquet for the guest.

"So the relic of Blessed Peter was lifted over the waiting pig."

Bishop Fey wanted to diffuse any tendency to superstition that the arrival of the saint's relic might create.

"So I would joke that this guy's a hundred years old but can still jump over pigs," he said with his typical quiet chuckle. Continue reading.

Source: Catholic Leader

Image: Catholic Leader

But it would be no surprise if anyone attending the opening Mass thought they had been carried off to the Pacific Islands, with the vibrant contribution of the Samoan and Tokelauan communities.

It was one of those moments when I realised how deep is the communio, the life of the Trinity we share at baptism that binds us together as the Catholic Church in Oceania.

When you look at a map or, better still, a globe of Oceania, you realise how huge it is, covering more than one-third of the earth's surface. What a responsibility comes with this beautiful gift of God's creation and the people who live here.

As bishops we were aware of this, especially when, on the opening day, Bishop Eugene Hurley of Darwin addressed the question of Australian immigration policy, detention centres and the treatment of asylum seekers who are currently detained on Manus Island, Nauru, Christmas Island and several camps in Australia.

These places are located in three of the four FCBCO areas, but it also challenges us as New Zealanders - are we doing all we can to respond with gospel hospitality towards those who approach our shores? Continue reading.

John Dew is Archbishop of Wellington, and outgoing President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops of Oceania.

Source: WelCom

Image: WelCom

Pope John Paul II wrote his apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Oceania in 2001 specifically for the church in this part of the world under the protection of the Southern Cross.

The Lord has called the Church in Oceania to himself. As always the call involves a sending forth on mission. The purpose of being with Jesus is to go forth from Jesus, in his power and with his grace. Christ is now calling the church to share his mission with new energy and creativity [EIO #3].

Almost three years before Pope John Paul wrote those words, the bishops of Oceania had gathered in Rome in the presence of the now St John Paul II, to participate in the Synod for Oceania which had as its theme: Jesus Christ and the Peoples of Oceania: Walking his way, telling his truth, living his life.

We were joined by some clergy, religious and laity from the Oceania region. From New Zealand there was Sr Catherine Hannan DOLC, Mrs Ruth Smithies, Mr Manuka Henare, Fr Peter Ewart SM, Fr Henare Tate and Fr Neil Vaney SM.

While the bishops came from the four separate bishops' conferences of Australia, Papua New Guinea-Solomon Islands, CEPAC (the Pacific Islands) and New Zealand, we were also the bishops of the Federation of Bishops Conferences of Oceania.

This was one of my earlier experiences of the Vatican and Rome.

It was my first experience of magnificent liturgies in St Peters, in particular those influenced by the cultural expressions of the Pacific Islands.

It was the first time I had sat in the same room as the Pope, day after day and met bishops from other continents and heads of dicasteries [departments] of the Roman Curia.

It was all very different for me - sometimes bewildering and, at other times, totally fascinating. Overall, for me as a bishop of only three years, it was a time of blessing, learning and grace. Continue reading.

John Dew is the Archbishop of Wellington, President of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference, and President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of Oceania.

Source: WelCom

Image: Archdiocese of Wellington

The Mass that followed incorporated some aspects of the pasifika cultures that are part of the local Catholic community.

During the Mass the Papal Nuncio to New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, Archbishop Martin Krebs, read a message sent by the Vatican's Secretary of State on behalf of Pope Francis.

In the message he offering his prayerful support and his hope that during their time together the Bishops would find inspiration and strength for their common mission in the service of God's people.

At the dinner, on that same evening, New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister, the Honourable Bill English, welcomed the Bishops to New Zealand.

The Bishops have visited the Home of Compassion and met with the sisters there.

They heard about Suzanne Aubert, the foundress of the Compassion Sisters; her work for social justice in the wider community, the way she was embraced by the Maori community and her study of Maori herbal medicine and of Te Reo (the Maori language).

Aubert's cause for sainthood is underway and should she be beatified she would be New Zealand's first saint.

In workshop sessions, they have discussed with those working in Catholic schools and tertiary chaplaincy, the engaging of young people, and how those young people live their Catholic faith amid secularity.

The Bishops are gathered for the Assembly of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania which takes place in a different part of Oceania every four years.

It is 20 years since this Assembly was held in New Zealand when the inaugural Assembly was held in 1994 in Auckland.

It is a first for the Archdiocese of Wellington.

Media release and photographs supplied by Simone Olsen NZCBC

"What we have in common is the Pacific, the ocean. I think it is great that we can share a little bit of the vision and future of the seminaries in the area," said Fr. Pius Sammut OCD, itinerant catechist responsible for the Neo-Catechumenal Way for the Pacific. He stated, "It is an enriching experience to see what is happening in Fiji, Solomon Islands, Australia, and other areas, to see the rectors come together sharing their ideas and knowledge on how to run the seminary, identify common problems and views, and be in communion with many priests, rectors, and formators who serve the Church and the seminaries."

In the course of the meeting the seminary rectors had several sessions on topics relating to priestly formation; new evangelisation, multi-cultural and anthropological issues, moral and faith formation challenges.

The principal speaker was Fr. Denis Vincent Twomey SVD, Emeritus Professor of Moral Theology at St. Patrick's College in Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.

On Thursday, the seminary rectors concelebrated a special Eucharist with the Most. Rev. Anthony Sablan Apuron, OFM, Cap. D.D., at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica.

Source

• Umatuna.org
• Image: Umatuna.org

The Committee members

• Expressed their solidarity and that of their Conferences with Bishop Jones and the people of Christchurch. All the bishops have experienced disasters in their home countries and were heartfelt in expressing their prayerful support as the people work to recover, and the Church repairs damage and rebuilds.
• Discussed the health of priests in the countries of Oceania. The average age at which priests die in the Pacific and in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands is much lower than in Australia and New Zealand.
• Discussed the need for qualified people to teach in the region's seminaries and the possibility of sharing personnel.
• Shared information about the introduction of the Roman Missal in Australia and New Zealand and considered the needs of other parts of Oceania where English is one of the languages.
• Archbishop Michele Calvet provided information about progress on the French translation of the Mass which is some way behind the English translation.
• Made progress on planning for the next Assembly of all the bishops of Oceania, which will be held in New Zealand in 2014.

The bishops visited the Port Moresby Cathedral and the Catholic Theological Institute at Bomana, which trains many of Papua New Guinea's priests, both diocesan and religious. A new seminary has been developed in Solomon Islands and its first group of priests were ordained last year.

On the last night the Bishops concelebrated Mass with a number of priests in the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians, which is in the grounds of the Don Bosco Technical Institute. Archbishop John Dew was the main celebrant, and the music was provided by the students from the Technical Institute and other schools nearby. It was an uplifting and joyful occasion, especially as so many young people were present and took part with devotion and enthusiasm.

The next meeting of the FCBCO Executive Committee will be held in New Caledonia in May 2012.