The Fiji Police Force has been looking to faith-based organisations which it believes could help address domestic crime. The Director of Operations, Maretino Qiolevu, raised the issue when he addressed the Interfaith Search Fiji panel discussion, to which the Force was invited in Suva last week. “We have been reaching out to religious organisations. We Read more
South Asia’s Catholic Church is responding to the Roghingya crisis with humanitarian assistance and advocacy. Hundreds of thousands of members of the Muslim minority have fled principally Buddhist Myanmar, where the military is conducting a “clearance operation.” The head of the Catholic Church in Myanmar, Archbishop of Yangon Cardinal Charles Bo, said he expects more Read more
The Pacific Conference of Churches says it is unimpressed by comments made by Indonesian officials about a protest over West Papua at the recent Pacific Island Forum Leaders’ Summit in Apia. Indonesia’s Ambassador to Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand, Tantowi Yahya, says protesters supporting West Papua independence should have sought a government permit before they Read more
The Catholic church has a big role in developing education in Papua New Guinea and it plans to provide more and better education services. The National Catholic Education Commission has launched its five-year strategic plan, covering the period from 2017 to 2021. Representatives from the Education Department and development partners joined the Church for the Read more
For the first time in the 50-year history of Tongan migration to New Zealand, fifteen religious leaders have collaborated to established a network to promote the well-being and progress of all Tongans, “We have been in operation for over a year now, but we have just got our network established legally,” says Chairperson Rev Tevita Read more
Is it constitutional to have a race-based division in an institution in Fiji? That is the question being asked after the Methodist Church in Fiji recently decided that it will continue to have an Indian Division in the church. Last year the superintendent of the Indian Division of the Church, Reverend Dr Immanuel Reuben, tabled Read more
As sexual assault cases against the Archdiocese of Agãna continue to increase, it appears that the Vatican has found itself in trouble with the United Nations. In 2014, the Vatican was summoned to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child committee. It was asked to take concrete steps to remedy decades of institutional Read more
“Duyog Marawi,” is a Catholic aid and healing programme in the war-torn city of Marawi in the Philippine island of Mindanao. It was launched by the Prelature of St. Mary in Marawi City on the 100th day of the Marawi conflict, even as families awaited word on the fate of some 40 hostages, including the Read more
Various Papuan civil society, church and customary leaders met with Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo last month about establishing dialogue over problems in Papua. Terms of reference for the dialogue are not known yet, but the Jakarta meeting agreed on the Catholic priest, Dr Neles Tebay, taking on a mediator role. Continue reading
It is important to “speak truth to power” and ask where climate finance is going says Julianne Hickey. Hickey, the director of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, was speaking at the annual conference of the Australasian Catholic Press Association (ACPA) last month. “In the beginning, none of the climate finance was reaching the Pacific, let alone Read more