PNG to host Oceania bishops

National

The Catholic Church of Papua New Guinea will be hosting one of its biggest meetings next year in Port Moresby.
The church will be hosting the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO) from April 11-17.
General-Secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG and Solomon Islands, Fr Victor Roche, pictured, made this announcement on Thursday.
Roche said the FCBCO was expected to have 106 participants, 84 of which would be from within the Oceania region, four papal ambassadors, eight secretaries of different regions, and 10 international representatives of partner agencies.
The FCBCO is made up of independent and autonomous bishops’ conferences of Australia, New Zealand, Pacific, and PNG and Solomon Islands.
The function of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania is to provide an avenue through which member conferences can share their interests, insights, experiences and concerns.
Roche said it also enabled member conferences to be more aware of each other and formulate joint pastoral action on matters of mutual interests.
He said the theme for the 2018 FCBCO was, ‘Care for our Common Home of Oceania: A Sea of Possibilities’, with special focus on sea and marine issues and sea bed mining.
Roche said other agenda items were West Papua and climate change.
He said the event would be a great opportunity for Papua New Guinea to showcase itself to the world.