Confirmation of the Catholic agency's involvement comes from Caritas Director Julianne Hickey, and follows Saturday's eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano.

"Together (with Caritas Tonga) we have completed the pre-positioning of emergency supplies at three locations in Tonga so are well prepared for this kind of eventuality", says Caritas Director Julianne Hickey.

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has also offered an immediate Solidarity Grant to Caritas Tonga and is also receiving donations, through its Pacific Relief Fund, to help with the aftermath of the volcanic eruption in Tonga.

Hickey says communications are proving very difficult at the moment but the Catholic agency has been in touch with Caritas Tonga.

Calling them "absolutely terrible, communications difficulties are also highlighted by Fiji-based United Nations co-ordinator Jonathan Veitch.

Veitch says he has worked in a lot of emergencies but in terms of communications this is one of the hardest. He says there are still areas that have not been contacted.

As well as not being able to easily coordinate logistics, Hickey says currently Tonga's biggest concern is clean drinking water.

She says rainwater across Tonga has been contaminated by ashfall.

It is a point echoed by Veitch who is urging New Zealand and Australia to provide bottled drinking water.

He also says with the vast majority of the Tongan population reliant on rainwater there is a need for water testing kits.

As well as inviting people to donate to its Pacific Relief Fund, Caritas is encouraging people to pray for the people in Tonga.

Stocks of Caritas emergency supplies are being prepared in Tonga, prior to Christmas 2021.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Tonga and especially with our partners and the communities with which we have been working for many years," Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand says in a statement.

Donations can be made to Caritas online through the Pacific Relief Fund (www.caritas.org.nz/donate-online) or via Caritas' bank account 03-0518-0211216-00.

Caritas asks bank account donors to please include their first & last name and put Tonga as the code.

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand is a member of the Caritas Internationalis, a network of 165 Catholic justice, peace and development agencies working in over 200 countries and territories around the world.

Sources

• Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
• NZ Herald

Vea turns the camera on her family, and around on herself, to focus on struggling relationships, burning resentments, generational divides and cultural clashes that stretch back decades. Read more

He says reviving the system would require a lot of money.

The church is not financially prepared for the task.

August last year marked 150 years since Fr Lamaze established St Stanislaus College and a primary school at ‘Ahopanilolo in 1865.

From 1865 to 1914 the church established primary schools and colleges.

In the second 50 years from 1864 to 1914, more schools opened in villages and outer islands.

The most important event in that period was the inclusion of the New Zealand education syllabus in the island's Catholic education system.

But the third 50 years began with the closure of schools and the return of children to the government education system.

System review

Cardinal Mafi says the professionals from the Australian Catholic University in Sydney reviewed the Church's educational system on the island in 2013-2014.

He says that review was part of the attempt to get the true picture of the status of Catholic Education.

It was to set up a foundation for the future.

He says Vatican II's Declaration on Christian Education, ‘Gravissimum Educationis', laid out the church's stance on academic education.

It based its centrepiece on the dignity of men and woman and their godly rights as creations of God.

Hence the Church's aim to educate the whole person and not in just an academic way.

Cardinal Mafi says that's why it puts greater emphasis on technical education today.

He says he values the importance of fostering children while they are young.

He says the Church's education aims in Tonga are to make sure it is "heavenly" and "eternal."

Source:

• Loop Tonga
• Image credit: America Magazine

Wilson Waguk, from the Embassy of the Federated States of Micronesia to Fiji, led the team which observed the opening polling and counting on the islands of 'Eua and Tongatapu.

The team said the election, in general, was efficiently and effectively conducted with voters free to cast their votes without intimidation or coercion.

Waguk said even though the Commission had a shorter time to prepare due to the snap elections, they still managed to deliver a free and credible election.

He said there were some minor procedural issues but he didn't believe they were deliberate or affected the results.

The Commonwealth Observer Group to Tonga also expressed satisfaction with the way the election was conducted.

However the group's head, former New Zealand cabinet minister Margaret Wilson, said there was a need for ongoing information about the electoral system.

Wilson said there was also an issue with encouraging youth to participate in the process.

"That will be an ongoing issue, as it is in a lot of other countries, so a lot of our focus was on how in fact we can support youth participation."

Two of the 15 women candidates were elected. 'Akosita Lavulavu was re-elected and she is joined by a new MP, Losaline Ma'asi.

The executive director of the Civil Society Forum of Tonga, 'Emeline Siale 'Ilolahia, said even though the total vote for women was low at 14 percent, it was an improvement on the previous election when only six percent of the vote went to women.

Source

• RNZ
• RNZ
• RNZ
• Image: ABC

Vaka, who was consecrated and installed on Sunday, is actually the third Anglican bishop to serve in Tonga.

Its first Anglican missionary was Bishop Alfred Willis who arrived in 1902. In the mid-1960s, Bishop Fine Halapua, the father of Archbishop Winston Halapua, lived in Tonga and served there as a suffragan bishop of the Diocese.

Vaka is Tonga's first constitutionally-mandated bishop. His election follows the decision taken by the Diocesan synod in May to establish the Archdeaconry of Tonga as an episcopal unit.

Last Sunday's service of consecration and installation saw a crowd of around 300 people squeezed in and around St Paul's Church in Nuku'alofa.

During the service, Archbishop Halapua outlined the episcopal history of Tonga. He said that for the past 50 years, this distinct entity in the Pacific, with its own language, culture, traditions and fervent love for the monarchy, had been without its own bishop.

At his election, Vaka said having its own bishop puts the Anglican Church in Tonga "on another level."

That new and more visible position will bring recognition - and mean a great deal to faithful Tongan Anglicans who live in the world's only constitutionally-Methodist monarchy.

"For us," he says, "it's like a flower blooming. Or a bird that has begun to fly."

'Afa Vaka comes from a family with deep Anglican roots - four members of the Vaka family have been ordained priest and two more will be soon.

After graduating from St Andrew's High School (Tonga's Anglican college) as head boy in 1970, he immediately returned to help out as a volunteer woodwork teacher and was there for 32 years until he stepped down as principal.

Along the way, he'd picked up formal qualifications in woodwork and industrial arts - he set up an industrial arts department at the school - and a Bachelor of Education from the University of the South Pacific.

Source

• ACNS
• ACNS
• Image: ACNS

"We have been in operation for over a year now, but we have just got our network established legally," says Chairperson Rev Tevita Finau.

"Tongans face many socioeconomic challenges, but we have come together to counter these issues and help our people take ownership and leadership of their future," says Secretary Sione Tu'itahi, representative of the Baha'i Faith to the network.

"We will collaborate with Tongan leaders in other fields such education, health, work and income in order to navigate pathways forward," the secretary adds. "We acknowledge the challenges, but we focus on the strengths and aspirations of our people."

"Tongan denominations or faith-based organisations that are yet to be members are warmly welcome to join. Our aim is to collaborate for our collective good and well-being," the secretary says.

The organisations involved in the network so far include the: Tongan parish of the Methodist Church; Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga; Tongan Catholic Community; Seventh Day Adventist; Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints; Siasi ‘o Tonga Tau'ataina; Siasi Fakatahataha ‘a e Kakai Tonga; Siasi ‘o Tonga; Siasi Konisitutone Tau'ataina ‘o Tonga ‘i Nu'usila; Assemblies of God; Anglican Church; Tongan Wesleyan Church of New Zealand (Upper Room Centre); Baha'i Faith; Amatakiloa Gospel Church; Blessed Hope Christian Centre; and the Pacific Island Evangelical & Missionary Network.

Source

• Scoop
• Image: RNZ

A leaked government report on a rushed reform of Tonga's education system in 2015 reveals confusion and concern within the Ministry and raises questions about the validity of the examination results.

It says because of the sudden changes to examination unit staff along with the repetitive transfer of the Chief Education Officer, the examination preparation operations were affected and the much-needed analysis was not performed.

Consequently, the TNFSC examination papers were not pre-standardised.

The official final examination results were released to heads of non-government schools and principals of government schools on Friday 15 January.

After the official release of the exam results, various flaws in the processing procedures were identified in the TFSC Physics, Visual Art, Geography and Fine Art results.

A total of 321 students from Form 5, 6, 7, have appealed their 2015 results (compared to 118 the previous year).

The report apparently upset the Prime Minister, Hon. ‘Akilisi Pohiva and it has not been officially released.

The report highlighted the involvement of the Prime Minister's son, Siaosi Pohiva and Piveni Piukala in the processing of the end of the year examination results for Tonga School Certificate (TSC), Tonga Form Six Certificate (TFSC) and Tonga National Form Seven Certificate (TNFSC).

Source

• matangitonga.to
• Image: h3.bp.blogspot.com

In an article in the National Catholic Register, Rome correspondent Edward Pentin wrote that Francis's choice of cardinals is among the indicators of his pontificate's direction.

Pentin noted that Francis has chosen not to award "so many red hats to traditional cardinalatial sees, especially in Italy".

Examples Pentin cited include Venice and Turin.

Rather, the Pope has gone to the global peripheries for new cardinals, reflecting the universality of the Church.

Pentin described the elevation to cardinal of Cardinal Soane Patita Paini Mafi of Tonga as "unprecedented".

The writer noted Tonga's population was little more than 100,000 and that Protestants outnumber Catholics significantly.

Another such appointment from a small state was that of Cardinal Arlindo Gomes Furtado of Cape Verde, Pentin noted.

"Despite [such appointments of cardinals] being a widely welcomed innovation that focuses on parts of the world where the Church is growing fastest, not all are happy with the move," Pentin added.

"One senior Church official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Register that emphasis on the peripheries may sound worthy, but it omits the fact that being a member of the College of Cardinals involves ‘some very weighty responsibilities, in terms of advising the Pope, electing a Roman pontiff'.

"For this reason, he believes, ‘a certain respect for the very large sees is logical'.

"In any case, the Church official said, the bishop of a large diocese is already ‘involved in a big way in the peripheries of his own diocese'.

"Others believe new cardinals from the peripheries will also be taken less seriously," Pentin wrote, "and have comparably less influence than those from the traditionally-cardinalatial metropolitan sees."

In April last year, Pope Francis named Cardinal Mafi to be a member of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, which promotes and coordinates Catholic charitable giving

In 2011, there were 15,441 Catholics in Tonga, making up 15 per cent of the population.

Catholics were the third largest denomination in Tonga, behind Methodists (54 per cent) and Mormons (18 per cent).

Sources

• National Catholic Register
• Catholic News Service
• Matangitonga
• Image: Catholic News Service

We managed to motivate over 3,000 people (from a total population of 4,500) to clean up the coastline and shipped 50 tonnes of rubbish to a location with a proper landfill to make an example of how a waste management system could work.

In order to get such large numbers of people involved, we tapped into every network we could.

The most effective was schools, followed by the traditional village meetings (which largely follow tribal customs) and after that it was getting the priests on board, who instructed their followers to get involved.

It struck me that since such large numbers of people have some sort of faith (in 2010, over 84 per cent of the world's population identified with a religious group), perhaps this would be an effective way of getting important messages - such as not letting plastic get into the ocean - across to people.

Religion is, of course, a very powerful means of achieving behavioural change.

Throughout history, religion has been able to march vast numbers of people to their death, been used as an excuse to enslave, colonise and brutalise people and it has provided help to a great number of people who need charity or hope in times of difficulty.

Pope Francis has made a huge impact with his encyclical letter 'On Care For Our Common Home' and religious and environmental Muslims have called on the people of Islamic faith to end fossil fuel use by 2050.

Will this help to influence the 2.2 billion Christians and 1.6 billion Muslims to save the environment as it helped in Tonga?

Of course plenty of the religious right in the United States, (the country that has the most Christians in the world), don't find this too comfortable. Continue reading

• Sam Judd is co-founder and CEO of Sustainable Coastlines, and a columnist for New Zealand Herald Online.

The chief executive officer for the 2019 Tonga Pacific Games Organising committee, and former Prime Minister Lord Savele said, "we have decided we'd go back to the traditional way we've been running the Pacific Games and for Sunday we'll allow everybody to rest or go to the beach but there will be no sport played on Sundays when you're in Tonga."

He said the Tongan Government is committed to delivering the games, hosting it and looking forward to seeing all the nations in Tonga in July of 2019.

Tonga will host 26 sports and the organising committee is thinking of including women's weightlifting, boxing and rugby 7s.

However, Tonga's Prime Minister says the country's finances are not up to scratch in order to handle the requirements to host the Pacific Games in 2019.

'Akilisi Pohiva says although he is still uncertain on whether Tonga will be able to host the meet, his Government is committed to raising its financial standards, as donors are starting to pledge help."

Source

• fijitimes.com
• fbc.com
• Image: abc.net.au

Lau teau ne nau ‘i he fakatu'uta hala e Siasi Katolika

The ceremony took place to honour Cardinal Soane Patita Paini Mafi, the first Tongan to be appointed to the College of Cardinals.

The cardinal was accompanied into the Palace Grounds by vicar-general, Monsignor Lutoviko Finau and former prime minister Lord Sevele of Vailahi.

Students from Catholic high schools and colleges and youth groups from Australia and New Zealand also joined the march.

The presentation was followed by a family presentation and entertainment to the Cardinal at his residence, Kaingafo'ou in Fanga ‘o Pilolevu.

On Saturday there was a celebratory feast in the grounds of ‘Apifo'ou College.

Organised by the Catholic Diocese of Tonga, the celebration included feasting and traditional dances by various parishes.

King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau'u were among the guests.

Crown Princess Sinaitakala was the vahenga [the centre position, the highest position in the dance] in a lakalaka [a metaphorical danced speech] by Ma'ufanga, while a ma'ulu'ulu [a traditional dance performed by a group of seated men and women] was performed by Nuku'alofa, a group tau'olunga [girls' dance] from Australia, a lakalaka by Takuilau College and a kailao [war dance] by Houma.

The Queen Mother Halaevalu Mata'aho, Crown Prince Tupouto'a ‘Ulukalala and other members of the Royal Family along with the Prime Minister Hon ‘Akilisi Pohiva also attended.

Source

• Matangitonga.to
• Tonga Daily News
• Image: Matangitonga.to

The Tongan cardinal was given his red hat by Pope Francis at the Vatican on February 14.

On his arrival back in Tonga, Cardinal Mafi said he had not been given any permanent role in a Vatican department yet.

But he said he will travel once a year to Rome to fulfil official duties as a cardinal.

"In the meantime, I am very happy to be home," he said, adding that he would continue his normal duties as Bishop of Tonga and Niue.

Cardinal Mafi said he was deeply moved at the number of Tongan pilgrims who were at the Vatican last month to show their support and happiness.

At least 300 Tongans are believed to have been there to support him.

"It was a very humbling and amazing experience, especially coming from a small island like Tonga and being one of only two selected from Oceania to be appointed as cardinals, a position that has normally been selected from Europe as they are closer to the Vatican," Cardinal Mafi said.

"It is a calling for Tonga."

The cardinal was also deeply touched with the presence of Queen Nanasipau'u at the consistory.

"For Their Majesties to be in Rome at this same time was amazing.

"On the day as I walked down St Peter's Square and heard that the Queen would be attending and saw Tongan flags waving, I was deeply moved and overwhelmed with feelings to have the Queen there," he said.

The cardinal celebrated a thanksgiving Mass at Ma'ufanga on March 1, which was attended by Queen Mother and Crown Prince Tupouto'a ‘Ulukalala.

The Tongan government declared March 2 a national public holiday in recognition of Tonga's first Catholic cardinal.

Sources

• Matangi Tonga
• Tonga Daily News
• Radio New Zealand
• Image: Tonga Daily News

When he gets back to Tonga the good times will roll, Tongan-style, Cardinal Mafi told CruxNow.

"Many pigs will be killed!" he told John Allen, quickly adding "I'll try to save as many as I can".

Tens of thousands of Tongans from all walks of life sent Mafi notes of congratulations and best wishes, including the country's King, Topou VI and his wife Queen Nanasipau'u.

King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau'u travelled to Rome for Saturday's consistory ceremony.

Mafi says he had no idea he was going to be named a Cardinal and was in bed at 4am when woken with the news by a phone call from his brother who lives in San Francisco.

Mafi said he had only met Pope Francis once, at last year's Synod, and that was to explain where Tonga was.

"That's far, far away!" replied the Holy Father.

Commenting on the vexed issue of the 2014 Synod, Mafi said he liked the openness, and reinforced his comment by saying that his earlier experience in 2012 seemed "tighter" and "more controlled".

"There was true friendliness and plenty of free discussion," he said.

"But there was also something deeper. I sensed the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, working through that openness."

Admitting the enormity of the responsibility has not yet sunk in, Mafi says he is still new to the Vatican scene but hopes the spirit will continue into the 2015 Synod.

Having already beaten the odds to become a bishop and a cardinal, Mafi knows there's still one job left in Catholicism — one that's also never had a Tongan. He regards the idea of a Tongan pope, however, as fairly implausible.

"That would really be the end of time!" he laughed.

Cardinal Mafi studied at Loyola University in Maryland, and at aged 53 is the world's youngest cardinal.

Source:

• Cruxnow
• Image: Cruxnow (per Pacific Bishops' Conference)

Mormons now outnumber Catholics and the number of followers is continuing to grow Listen to interview on Radio Australia

They have gathered on Fiji's fourth largest island, Taveuni, to remember the victory by Ratu Golea's forces against invading Tongans in the 1860s.

According to local history, before Ratu Golea went to battle against Ma'afu and his people, he spoke to Catholic priests at a mission station.

One of the priests, Fr Favre, gave the paramount chief a small cross.

The priest told the chief that the cross would be his weapon.

The Taveuni warriors, fighting from their war canoes, went on to defeat the invading forces.

The battle lasted a week and left only 46 Tongan survivors.

After his victory, Ratu Golea asked if he and his men could be received into the Catholic Church.

According to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, it was the arrival of missionaries in Taveuni in the 1840s that eventually put an end to the practice of cannibalism.

The cross given to Ratu Golea is still in the parish church at the Catholic mission in Wairiki.

The commemorations began with a Mass last weekend.

Vunikura Village elder Mika Tuitoga told the Fiji Times it would be a "special moment for us and it will be a time of reflecting our faith and walk with God".

"If our French priest depended on the cross for strength and a high chief accepted it trusting in God, then that should be an inspiration for us," said one local.

Archbishop Peter Loy Chong of Suva will close the ceremony next weekend.

Sources

• Fiji Times (commemoration)
• Fiji Travel
• Fiji Times (history)
• Sydney Morning Herald
• Image: Sydney Morning Herald

It is estimated that 75 per cent of buildings in Ha'apai have been destroyed or have major damage.

Crops, infrastructure and water supplies also having sustained significant damage.

Amelia Ma'afu, Caritas Tonga programmes coordinator, says providing a safe water supply is the top priority.

"Drinking water is a major problem. Cyclone damage to the water supply has resulted in contamination, so people are advised not to drink piped water. Rainwater tanks which many people use have also been damaged."

Caritas Tonga is providing clean drinking water for 1,500 people in Ha'apai.

Source:

• Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
• Image: Radio New Zealand

Some people - especially women and children mostly affected by the water shortage - from the more remote communities are needing to travel long distances to get water from churches and schools who have a more secure water supply. This is putting extra strain on those other sources.

Caritas, in response to residents' concerns, is urgently providing a mix of traditional water collection systems and commercial water tanks to ensure drinkable water for more than 2400 people in five acutely affected villages.

Source

• Pacific Scoop
• Image: Islandvulnerability.org

For Funaki Vehekite, 53, the sweet potato is all the sweeter because it allows him to support his family and keep his five children in school.

At his farm in Tongatapu, Tonga's largest island, he also produces food crops such as kape, taro, yam, cassava and squash.

Funaki is the secretary of a farming collective called the St Anthony of Padua group, which is part of Caritas Tonga's sustainable livelihoods programme.

With funding from Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, the programme aims to boost the income of over 400 families in Tongatapu and Vava'u by providing small loans which farmers can use to set up micro-enterprises.

Community members are trained in business management, produce development and marketing so that the income they gain will allow them to become financially independent.

"Caritas Tonga's Sustainable Livelihoods programme is our way of helping poverty stricken families in Tonga," says Sr Senolita Vakata, director of Caritas Tonga.

"We support poor farmers who cannot afford any collateral for their loans and otherwise would have no other way of acquiring financial support either from a bank or other private institution." Continue reading.

Today, 10 December 2013, the Caritas International federation launches its One human family, food for all campaign, supported by Pope Francis, aiming to end food hunger by 2025

Source: Caritas International

Image: Hunger Campaign

These 200 sets of second-hand desks and chairs were generously donated by Whangaparaoa College.

Takuilau College is situated in the Eastern District of the main island of Tongatapu. The college has approximately 450 to 500 students starting at Form 1 following on to Form 5; the College was originally founded by the Marist Brothers more than 30 years ago.

If you would like more information on the "Assist a School Project" please email Auckland@stvinnies.co.nz

Source

• Vinnies News
• Image:Vinnies News

Cardinal Dolan presided at the Mass of Religious Profession at St. Ann's Novitiate, Queens Village, New York.

He was keeping a promise he had made to one of them - Sister Elizabeth Mary de la Croix - when he met her in St. Patrick's Cathedral shortly before her entrance into the Congregation. When he learned that she was originally from his home parish in Baldwin, MO, and had gone to Holy Infant Grade School, just as he did, he vowed to be present if and when she made first vows.

Sister Mary Richard Morris, who is responsible for formation at St. Ann's, reported that the Little Sisters believe this was the first time that the Archbishop of New York has presided at one of their professions "since 1901," when it was Archbishop Michael A. Corrigan.

The Pontifical Year Book, published May 13 and contains data from 2011, reveals a 21 percent drop in the number of religious sisters in Oceania over the last 10 years.

While the number of religious sisters rose in Africa and Asia over the past decade, Europe registering a 22 percent decline, and the Americas were down 17 percent.

World-wide the number of nuns has fallen from a million in 1973 to 710,000 today.

In the picture Sister Cecilia is standing at the far left and sister Makalita at the far right.

Source

• littlesistersofthepoorindianapolis.org
• aleteia.org
• Washington Post
• Image: littlesistersofthepoorindianapolis.org