Bishops meet this week

By ALISON ANIS
MORE than 20 heads of the Catholic Church archdioceses in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands will meet this week for their annual gathering to discuss key issues affecting the church and its services in the two regions and how to strengthen education partnership with the government.
A total of 22 bishops who make up the Catholic Bishop Conference (CBC) to PNG and SI arrived into Port Moresby yesterday for the 52nd annual general meeting (AGM).
The CBC AGM was officially opened yesterday afternoon by CBC president Archbishop Francesco Panfillo at the Emmaus conference centre at Don Bosco Technological Institute (DBTI) in East Boroko.
According to CBC office in Port Moresby the bishops would meet with key representatives from the education and health departments to see how church’s partnership with the state could be strengthened to become effective in delivery of health and education services.
CBC general secretary Fr Victor Roche said the meeting was in line with the launching and declaration this year by the church as the “Year of the sick” for the two regions.
“By and large we can honestly say that the Catholic church is trying its best in the delivery of health services, especially in remote areas of the country. We could not possibly be able to do so without the dedicated commitment of our nurses and community health worker,” Panfillo said, when reporting to the conference what has transpired during the past year.
In citing the national pastoral plan statement Panfillo said: “We want to revitalise the church’s healing ministry, particularly through out health and HIV/AIDS services. This means that we must focus our attention on the most disadvantaged members of the society and people living with HIV/AIDS.”
The meeting ends this Sunday with a mass celebration in DBTI.