Pastoral work not effective, says priest

A SENIOR catholic priest says there is big need now for pastoral agents to re-strategise their evangelism.
Fr Victor Nanaha, from the Bougainville diocese, said the percentage of members of the Catholic church has been dropping.
“What the church is facing at this stage shows that pastoral work is not effective, so we need to re-strategise,” he said.
“When population is dropping, that means we are not promoting the fundamentals we need to.
“PNG needs new evangelisation to maintain the stability of community in all levels; not just in the Catholic circle but all Christians.”
Fr Victor is among other priests from 19 Catholic dioceses in PNG currently in Lae, learning about diocese and pastoral planning at the Wangeke Institute.
According to Lae Catholic bishop Rozario Menezes, the six-week course will prepare them to return and plan out their pastoral activity.
Bishop Rozario said evangelisation in this age under the second Vatican council was to include participation of everyone.
“They learnt about communion which means unity, that everyone is involved, how to plan and promote value and to evaluate their outcome,” he said.
Fr Victor said priests were trained to look at the needs of their diocese and how to tackle this.