The report says:

• Traditional village councils and the church have been complicit in maintaining the veil of silence on the issue
• The church is generally failing in its role to prevent family violence
• The church is reinforcing the patriarchal framework which underpins family violence
• Church contributions are spiralling out of control through competitiveness, and a failure of churches to control amounts, leading to undue financial pressures, which in turn trigger a greater prevalence of domestic violence

The National Council of Churches' general secretary, Reverend Ma'auga Motu, says the criticisms were unjustified as church ministers play a big part in addressing issues relating to domestic violence.

"How insulting are the findings of this report, we have been working with the Ministry of Women to conduct consultations in the villages, through the church ministers."

"It is disheartening to read about the hard work of church ministers being degraded by this report."

The setting up of a Family Violence Prevention Office is the lead recommendation, out of 39, made in a report.

Recommendations directed at the churches include:

• Churches increasing their capacity to deal with domestic violence
• Preventing placement of victims in situations that risk further harm
• The need to consult and establish a national guideline for church ministers when dealing with victims and perpetrators of family violence
• Traditional village councils and churches providing backup for a government-led strategy

Source

• sobserver.ws
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: radionz.co.nz

Samoa's National Council of Churches does not have an official opinion on the plan by the Ministry of Revenue to tax pastors and clergy.

"We will leave it to leaders of each Church in Samoa to come up with their own ideas in relation to this and then present it to the Ministry for their report to Parliament," The Chairman of the Samoa National Council of Churches, Deacon Kasiano Le'aupepe, a Catholic, told the Samoa Observer.

"Taxing churches is a sensitive matter because it is not the same for all the churches in Samoa." he said

He thinks the government will have to consider the matter very carefully.

Kasiano pointed out that the scheme presently proposed by the government targets the money given to faifeau on Sunday (alofa/peleti).

"To me, it seems like the Church ministers for the E.F.K.S (Congregational Christian Church of Samoa) and Methodist are the ones who will have to pay."

I say this because for us in the Catholic Church, we will definitely not be paying tax because we don't get as much as my brothers from the Methodist and E.F.K.S church."

"We also have our own system of paying those who are in charge of conducting services in our church. I think the same goes for other churches aside from the Methodist and E.F.K.S.

"And that's what I mean that the Ministry should look at this very carefully before they make their final report.

Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi, has supported the decision by the Minister of Revenue to review all existing laws on income tax.

Source

• samoaobserver.ws
• sobserver.ws
• Image: themonastery.org

Reverend Maauga Motu, general secretary of Samoa's National Council of Churches, told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat less fortunate Samoans are likely to be hardest hit by the development of casinos.

"That's always the end result of playing games like this at the casino, they will always lose," he said. "Our concern is that the social life of the people will be spoilt."

Tautua Samoa leader Palusalue Faapo 11 agrees with the National Council of Churches (NCC) that the casino will only bring about more crimes and problems not only within the communities but families.

A Pacific service for New Zealand's Problem Gambling Foundation is urging Samoa to start a similar service. The manager of Mapu Maia, Pesio Ah-Hone Siitia, warns of more problem gamblers in Samoan communities, whether they be tourists or locals holding foreign passports. She says the impact gambling addicts can have on those around them is devastating.

"We've seen people losing everything, people losing their homes, their relationships and we've seen people actually losing their businesses, and for a nation or for a community like Samoa, who is a developing nation, and who are solely reliant on low wages and also remittances from overseas, we can definitely see that the impact of problem gambling will be very high."

Robbie Kearney, chief executive of Samoa's Gambling Control Authority, says the casinos will create jobs for local people and attract tourism dollars to Samoa. "Once we've reached the limits of what we can supply from the local Samoan population then the conversation will go to whether they can get visas to allow people to come in and work," he said. "But their commitment in the first instance is to employ locals if at all possible."

Sources

• Radio Australia Pacific Beat
• Talamua Online
• Radio New Zealand International
• Image: The Guardian

The Chairman of the National Council of Churches (NCC), Reverend Kasiano Le'aupepe, says the churches must play a more active role in addressing social problems in Samoa.

He says one of the biggest social problems in Samoa is the love of money.

"I believe this is what's causing all the problems Samoan people face today. Our people see money as their new god, that without money we would cease to exist. We have fallen into this idea that everything is about money," Le'aupepe says.

It is not "a bad thing to have money" but the church must be strong to tell its members that "not everything is about money."

Source

• WeekendObserver
• Image: Abitrage