VIOLENT witch hunts are not a strange thing of the past – they exist today in many countries including neighbouring Papua New Guinea. During Holy Week last April in PNG’s Southern Highlands province, three village women were accused of sorcery, strung-up and tortured by fire. They were then forced to take responsibility for the death of a man who had ... Read More »
ALOTAU-Sideia Bishop Emeritus Desmond (Des) Moore, a Missionary of the Sacred Heart, died aged 94 at St Joseph’s Nursing Home in Kensington, New South Wales, on June 2. Bishop Moore was a much-loved pastor for the work he did in Papua New Guinea. From interviews posted to Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australia on his 90th birthday, Bishop Moore said ... Read More »
A NEW parish of largely subsistence farmers in the Papua New Guinea western highlands is seeking international help to build a church of cathedral proportions. The 10,000 Catholics who live in the mountainous Sinsipai Sacred Heart parish congregate in a church made of corrugated iron sheeting. Their grand design is to build a massive house of worship set against the ... Read More »
A CARDINAL best known for defending Pacific island nations swamped by the impacts of climate change has spoken candidly of another challenge – his own daily commitment to be a priest. “The question really is how do I live my life in relation to the formation but also the sexuality that is deep within us. How do you live that?” ... Read More »
THE niece of a Papuan catechist who was killed for preaching the Catholic faith was brought to tears as she saw hundreds of people venerate her uncle last Sunday. Angie Kolita-Payne is the niece of Blessed Peter To Rot, a Tolai man who was killed in 1945 during the Japanese invasion of Papua New Guinea. Her aunt on her mother’s ... Read More »
WHEN the villagers of impoverished Bereina need to quell their famine, they reach for the noxious betel nut. In the town of Bereina, in the Central Province of Papua New Guinea, the addictive seed, which is prohibited in Australia, is often the only food source for the local villagers. It is an unfathomable sight for Sr Anna Pigozzo, a missionary ... Read More »
MARIAN Valley will host about 80 Port Moresby Catholics to pray alongside the Brisbane Papua New Guinea Catholic Community for the blessing and opening of a chapel dedicated to Blessed Peter To Rot on January 19. PNG Cardinal John Ribat will fly from Port Moresby to lead the celebration and blessings, coinciding with 25 years since Blessed Peter was beatified ... Read More »
A SENIOR priest in Papua New Guinea has turned to Australia seeking compassion for refugees and asylum seekers languishing in our nation’s off-shore detention system. Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands general secretary Fr Giorgio Licini has been in Australia in recent weeks pressing the case for an end to what he calls “a humanitarian crisis”. ... Read More »
A CATHOLIC bishop in Papua New Guinea has branded rival tribesmen “monstrous cowards” and called for a law and order crackdown, after tribal clashes that claimed at least 24 lives – including the hacking to death of women and children. “What kind of monstrous cowards can sneak up on defenceless women and children and slaughter them in their beds?” the ... Read More »
The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You
