Caritas Oceania Forum addresses regional challenges

The Caritas Oceania Forum began on Sunday with a spiritual encounter at Pukekaraka Catholic marae in Ōtaki, hearing first-hand experiences from the local Māori community.

On Sunday evening, a special Pacific-themed Mass was celebrated by Wellington Archbishop Paul Martin SM at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.

Joining Archbishop Martin at the Mass were Cardinal John Dew, Cardinal Mafi, Archbishop Loy Chong, Hamilton Bishop Richard Laurenson and Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand chief executive Mena Antonio, who is also vice president of Caritas Internationalis.

In his homily, Archbishop Martin spoke of how people all belong to God, and how those from different backgrounds can work together in genuine communion.

“Mission begins with our relationship with Jesus Christ,” Archbishop Martin said.

The Caritas Oceania Forum this year had the theme of “Moana of Hope: Navigating Together”. Discussions focused on the economic, social and environmental impacts affecting communities in the region.

Key issues that arose included impacts of shrinking funding internationally and locally, local economic conditions, demands for greater transparency on spending, clarity on outputs and articulated outcomes. The value of shared networks for advocacy, research, communication strategies and response practices was discussed.

A strong recommendation was for better media and public speaking training, including for clergy and for on-the-ground spokespeople during emergency responses.

There was also a call for a wider voice and methodology to share stories about climate justice, social advocacy, disaster risk and recovery, gender equality, youth matters and other issues impacting people now and for future generations.

Prioritising for the future, members identified needs for better community engagement, investment in resilience to climate change, more cross-learning by members and improving collaboration in disaster response.

On the final day of the forum, Caritas Oceania shared a report Turbulent Waters: Navigating debt and climate vulnerabilities in the Pacific, which calls for greatly increased climate finance to meet the NZ$6.3 billion per year gap in what is needed in the region to adequately address adaptation, renewable energy needs and irreversible loss and damage in Oceania.

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Caritas Oceania – Caritas Oceania is gathering in Wellington (Caritas Oceania/Facebook)

Caritas Oceania Forum Mass at Wellington cathedral (Archdiocese of Wellington/Facebook)

Caritas Oceania Forum focuses on key issues (Caritas Oceania/Facebook)

Caritas Oceania – Caritas Oceania shared its latest report today… | Facebook (Caritas Oceania/Facebook)