Ribat hints on value of respect

 THE value of respect must be taught and practised by families in their homes, Catholic Archbishop of Port Moresby John Ribat says. 

“In our dioceses, they have been calling for this word respect but when we call for respect we call for it in areas of concern to us,” Ribat said.

“When we started our annual programme in 2012 we started by saying that there must be respect for life.

“So that’s what we encourage people and families that come from different ethnic groups in Papua New Guinea and this is because Port Moresby is the capital of our nation and we find that there is a representative from all 800 languages.”

Ribat said the call for respect came about after the diocese undertook a survey on community needs. 

He said the findings indicated the great need of respect in communities which was what the diocese was aiming to rebuild, encourage and promote.

Speaking at the feast day celebrations of St Anne’s Elementary School in Port Moresby last Friday, Ribat said 2013 was the year in which the Catholic Church promoted respect for different ethnic groups. 

“The cultural activities that happened in the past two weeks were really a promotion of recognising the value in our culture, this time we looked beyond Papua New Guinea but to the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, West Papua-Indonesia, and Timor Lest-East Timor,” Ribat said.

“They came up here with their own cultures and the comments that we were hearing in the media that this Melanesian Festival of Arts and Culture brought and encouraged people to be more united respecting one another and recognising the diversities and it became stronger this time.”

Ribat said the regional cultural activity was enjoyed by other Melanesians, which was what the diocese promoted in its programme.