Caritas Oceania meets at Holy Cross, Honiara
Fr. Ambrose Pereira sdb, Director, Catholic Communications Solomons
HONIARA: 18th October -- Caritas Oceania, the Regional Body of the Catholic Church for Relief Works, Development and Social Services held its meeting at Holy Cross, Honiara on 15th and 16th October, 2003. Present for the meeting were National Directors of Caritas Australia, Caritas Papua New Guinea, Caritas CEAPAC-Pacific, Caritas Aotearoa-New Zealand, Caritas Tonga and Caritas Solomon Islands the host for this years meeting.
In his opening address, Bishop Hilton Deakin, Regional Coordinator for Oceania stated: “Coming together in Solomon Islands is an appreciation of the beauty of the country and more especially a show of concern as the country goes through the pain and suffering in dealing with its present crisis”. Developing common policies, linking up with proper civil authorities and joining forces with RAMSI are points before them on the agenda, he said.
Caritas is involved in a wide range of programmes ranging from disaster relief, peace building, good governance, community development, poverty reduction, communication development, environment, gender and capacity building. Caritas is present in 201 countries and territories around the world. Rev. Cesario Sixto Sanedrin, Officer-in-charge of the Asia and Oceania Services based in Vatican City is also present for the meeting.
