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The Pacific Conference of Churches is inviting its member churches and friends to observe “40-Days of Hunger for Justice and Peace” for West Papua, Kanaky and Maohi Nui as well as the challenges facing the region. 

Because of the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic and guidance from the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), the decision was taken to postpone the Ecumenical Continuing Formation on Youth Transformative Masculinity and Femininity in the Pacific again to the second half of 2021, and change the location to Fiji.

In a statement to the president of the Republic of Indonesia, Papuan religious leaders are urging justice for seven defendants on trial in the Balikpapan - East Kalimantan District Court who held a demonstration because they were rejecting racist treatment. “But the indictments and charges at the trial were very different from the data and facts in the field,” reads the statement. “They are victims of racism but they have been accused of treason.”

In a pastoral letter marking the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, Rev. James Bhagwan, general secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), reflected on what a “renewal” of our normal might offer Pacific churches and communities.

Amidst intimidation, illegal arrests, disappearances, torture and killings in Tanah Papua resulting from tensions between the Indonesian authorities and the Papuan pro-liberation groups, churches seek justice, peace, dignity and security for the Papuans.

Qualities of the Pacific region – communal life, unbroken tradition of faith, work to combat injustice, deep scriptural grounding – are valuable contributions toward fulfilling the WCC call for a “pilgrimage of justice and peace”, said Rev. Dr Mele’ana Puloka, WCC president for the Pacific.

To raise awareness of the impact of climate change, representatives of churches, ecumenical organizations and the United Nations stood together in the sea in Apia, Samoa, in prayerful solidarity with those vulnerable to rising sea-levels and extreme weather events.

In order to build on its work for the protection of climate refugees, the WCC joins an innovative campaign “Postcards from the Frontlines” aiming to achieve urgently needed recognition and protection for climate refugees around the world.

In Tahiti, an ecumenical delegation was told about the need for re-inscription of French Polynesia (Maohi Nui) on the United Nations list of countries to be decolonized.

The 10th Assembly of the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), meeting from 3 to 10 March in Honiara, the Solomon Islands, adopted a series of resolutions on public issues ranging from climate change and resettlement, through seabed mining and nuclear weaponry, to the self-determination of West Papua and Maohi Nui (or Tahiti).

“The Pacific is a region that displays many warm and strong expressions of peace,’’ World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said in a speech to the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) 50th anniversary celebration held in Samoa this past week.

In a gala commemoration of a half-century of Christian witness, the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) has returned to the Malua Theological College in Samoa where its first representatives assembled in 1961.