It is a feature of our current times, in large cities especially, that people do not know their neighbours. Such is the pace of modern life; such is the transitory nature of people’s stay in one place that the sheer time needed for such bonds to develop is often not there.

Four conferences of bishops are members of a group that meets every four years: the Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands; the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conference of Oceania; the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. The latest meeting, which concluded last month in Fiji, was more than a chance to get to know our neighbours. It also sought to:

• promote and defend whatever is for the common good;
• contribute more effectively to the common good of the universal Church;
• promote the wellbeing of the family of nations by drawing on the cultural riches of the peoples of Oceania;
• give visible expression to the unity in diversity with which the Holy Spirit has endowed the particular churches in the various nations of Oceania; and
• deepen the collegial spirit and to strengthen solidarity (synodality) among the members of the four member conferences.

I would say that these aims were easily fulfilled.

Another dimension to this regular gathering was the overlay of the continental phase of the Synod on Synodality. The presence, in particular, of Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and Sr Nathalie Becquart XMCJ, an undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, and other Vatican officials assisted this dimension of the continental discussion.

They commented on how the problems facing Oceania, the main one spoken of by so many bishops being climate change and its impacts, were not theoretical but affect people now.

Although the number of Catholics in Oceania is only nine million and represents just 0.8 per cent of Catholics worldwide, there was a freshness and joy.

The main program was arranged around three themes: care for our Ocean Home; how might we in Oceania become a more synodal Church; and how might we equip our people for mission.

I had the grace of sitting next to Bishop Paul Donoghue SM of the Diocese of Rarotonga, Cook Islands. His is a diocese of more than 5 million sq km, where only 2 per cent is land. There are 2500 Catholics in the diocese, 15 parishes and four missions with four priests and six Religious.

Interestingly, he spoke of how the concerns expressed in the synodal documents and the consultation leading up to our gathering deeply resonated with his diocese, which had recently, at great expense, held its own diocesan assembly.

Maybe as part of our Together on the Way process we might explore ways of assisting other places such as the Diocese of Rarotonga.

Click here to read more