Archbishop calls on PM

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Wednesday 09th November 2011

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill has praised churches for their work in delivering services to the people of Papua New Guinea.
O’Neill said this during a meeting with Catholic Archbishop Francisco Montencillo Padilla, an Apostolic Nuncio and dean of the diplomatic corp.
Montencillo paid a courtesy call on the prime minister at his Morauta Haus office to discuss improving and reviving the work of churches, especially inviting more foreign missionaries to come for outreach in PNG.
O’Neill said churches had contributed enormously in the development of the country by delivering services to the most remote parts of the country where governments did not reach.
“I want to thank the churches for delivering much-needed services to our rural populace, especially in the areas of education and health.
“Churches remain at the forefront of service delivery and their contributions are huge and the government would be looking at reviving the government-church partnership to facilitate more work in this area.
“In the past, many foreign dedicated missionaries came to PNG and delivered memorable services to the rural areas but, today, the work of foreign missionaries has diminished. 
“We would revisit the concept of inviting more of them to come and outreach in Papua New Guinea and I assure you that the government would assist in any way it can to make this happen,” he said. 
O’Neill said the government’s poor record of service delivery was underlined by the fact that despite a windfall of revenue in the last six years, there was very little to show for it on the ground.