She has been labelled an "undesirable" foreigner for what the country's Bureau of Immigration says is "her involvement in partisan political activities."

The 71-year-old Australian nun has 30 days to leave the Philippines.

An immigration spokeswoman said she can still return as a tourist, but not as a missionary.

In a one-page order, immigration bureau head Jaime Morente asked Fox to leave the Philippines after "she was found to have engaged in activities that are not allowed under the terms and conditions of her visa."

Fox said in a statement that she was surprised by the order and that she hoped authorities would change their minds before the 30 days were up.

She told Australia's ABC TV: "For me, it is part of my mission as a Catholic sister to stand beside those whose human rights have been violated, who are asking for help."

"We will file a motion for reconsideration on this order," said Jobert Pahilga, Fox's lawyer. "She has not participated in any partisan activity. She is a nun."

The left-wing activist group Bayan (Nation) condemned the expulsion order of a nun who "has done so much for Philippine farmers in her nearly three decades stay here."

"The Duterte regime is paranoid and afraid of an elderly nun working for human rights and social justice for the poor," Bayan leader Renato Reyes said in a statement.

"The deportation order of Sister Pat is indeed despicable and utterly shameful," said Mr Reyes.

Last week in a speech to soldiers, Philippines President Duterte said he ordered the immigration bureau to look into Sister Patricia's political activities in the country.

Source

• npr.org
• theaustralian.com.au
• abc.net
• Image: Twitter

There is a possibility that she will be deported as an "undesirable alien".

Sister Patricia Fox, Philippine superior of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion, was arrested at her convent in Quezon City on April 16.

Authorities have accused Fox, who has worked in rural communities for 27 years, of being an "undesirable alien" because she took part in protest rallies and visited political prisoners.

Although the prosecutor in charge "found no probable cause" for her arrest and ordered the Australian nun to be released for further investigation, immigration officials insisted on her detention.

They said Fox failed to surrender her passport to the bureau. She said her documents were with a travel agency.

The bureau subsequently released her after her lawyers submitted her passport and other immigration documents showing she had a valid missionary visa.

Fox's counsel, Jobert Pahilga, said she would still have to sit through a preliminary investigation because a formal complaint has been filed by the authorities.

"Our next step is how to get the case dismissed because she's not an undesirable alien.

"Her work is very much desired by farmers and indigenous peoples," said the lawyer.

Evidence presented by authorities include pictures of her taken during a jail visit in the southern Philippines with a banner that reads "Stop Killing Farmers."

She also joined a recent fact-finding and solidarity mission that investigated alleged human rights abuses committed against farmers and tribal people in the southern Philippines.

Fox told ucanews.com that part of her missionary work is "to immerse with the poorest of the poor in any event."

"Our mission includes listening to the narratives of people especially poor farmers and indigenous people," she said. "We go to places where we find them."

Source

• ucanews.com
• ucanews.com
• channelnewsasia.com
• Image: ucanews.com

The Marae is now asking what other groups - including churches - can do to help.

Social worker Olive Hunkin, from the All Nations Aotearoa church, has seen the affect of poverty and homelessness first hand, and wants to do more to help. Continue reading

The Brothers' Melanesia district covers Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Bougainville, and the Pacific district includes New Zealand, Samoa and Kiribati.

Almost 50 Brothers attended a gathering at Marist College Ashgrove, in Brisbane, from January 11-13, to consider the challenges and opportunities facing them in the Oceania region.

Pacific district provincial Br David McDonald said Br Turu, the order's superior general, in raising the need to reach out to the margins, had asked the Brothers: "If not you, then who? And if not now, then when?"

"And I think those are very pertinent questions for the Brothers," Br McDonald said.

"That's uppermost in my mind.

"I keep saying to them, ‘I know the answers to those questions - of course it's you and of course it's now'. "But they need to come to that realisation themselves as well."

"I think the reality for the Brothers is that we have always been very strongly associated with the schools," said Australian provincial Br Peter Carroll

But we're at a point now where we have very fine schools transmitting faith and teaching in the Catholic tradition, and the Brothers have contributed markedly to that in centuries previous but that's not where the need is now, so much."

"It can still be, and we still have Brothers in schools and they have particular gifts in terms of leadership and teaching, and we're not looking necessarily at moving them out of that."

"We're also aware that the need is probably less institutional now and more community-based and hopefully more allied with local parish communities so that there's a witness value which the Brothers give to the place where they minister but also to the local Catholic community."

"And I think it's very likely that we will be looking at more opportunities to move into non-institutional, community-based works."

Source

• catholicleader.com.au
• Image: catholicleader.com.au