Catholics meet to talk religious education

Religious education coordinators of schools in the Archdiocese of Port Moresby had their first quarterly gathering at Sivarai Namona Pastoral Centre recently.
The gathering was organised by the Catholic religious education coordinator Sr Imelda Mission to boost the work of the coordinators.
Twenty-three participants from 16 different Catholic agency-run schools attended the gathering, with some coordinators coming from as far as Rigo in Central.
In one session, participants reflected on The Road to Emmaus experience.
Mikaela Dion, from Sacred Heart Primary School at Hohola, said: “The walk to Emmaus was a fitting topic for us in our journey with our students.
“I saw the importance of communication and accompanying our students and discerning with them as Jesus did with the disciples.”
Each coordinator was also asked to report on the best practices of religious education in their schools for 2017 and the programme of activities for 2018.
The gathering ran from Feb 14 to 15.
The next sessions took the participants through the night until the following day.
Fr Ambrose Pereira talked about culture and social media, urging the participants to formulate and regularly update a social media policy for their own schools, given the dangers and potential harm that new technologies can bring to the children.
Joanna Wambriwari, of St John’s Primary School at Tokarara, said: “Children are going onto social media, but now I can see how damaging it is to spirituality.”