Churches see Melanesian culture as a way to find balace

THE Melanesian culture of give-and-take compared to the compensation mentality is causing an imbalance to how people live in families and communities, a church leader says.
Catholic Bishops Conference president Bishop Rochus Tatamai told the church partnership programme biannual forum in Lae that people should encourage the positive values of the Melanesian way of life.
He said some of these positive values were disappearing, creating social chaos and disorder in families.
He suggested that the churches should work together to help the government change the way people lived their lives. “It is through encouraging positive Melanesian moral and ethical values and standards of better living in churches and communities that people can live harmoniously,” he said.
“We needed to sharpen our values and build on our traditional values.”
Lutheran Head Bishop Reverend Jack Urame urged the churches to embrace positive cultural values and norms that set the foundation of unity and shared responsibilities to hold families and communities together.