Call Made To Restructure Catholic Church in Fiji
There has been a suggestion for a restructure of the Roman Catholic Church in Fiji to support a new way forward for the church.
The suggestion was made at a three-day synod of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Suva at the Novotel Suva Lami Bay Convention Centre.
This was confirmed by synod consultant Father Arthur Leger (SJ), who told the that the synod sessions were a gathering of Roman Catholics to help the Archbishop in making his decisions. “According to the documents that help us, it’s a consulting process,” Father Leger said.
“He (Archbishop) will consult the representatives of the church on certain issues that were brought up by the people. “Recommendations are then given by the representatives and it’s entirely up to the Archbishop to decide on the recommendation.
“At the end of the process, we would like to look at the pastoral plan, because it is one of the Bishop’s hopes.
Father Leger said there were several topics for discussion at the
synod.
“One suggestion was to align all our norms of the church to cater for the society and also to cater for us.
“Another one was restructuring: that we will have a plan. We have our norms but the church in Fiji will have to be restructured so that it supports that path.
“There are 174 nominees appointed along with leaders from the church community, for example we have the chairperson of the pastoral council from the Nadera Parish, representatives from every group such as the representative from the women leaders, rural leaders, the disabled and the LGBTQI community.
“The Archbishop will take all his documents and pray over it in the next two weeks before making his declarations on June 30.”
That announcement will coincide with a big celebration for the Festival of Youth.
Father Leger pleaded with all Roman Catholics to pray for church leaders as they tried to move with the spirit and to have patience as they tried their best to map out a plan and pathway for the church. The synod session concluded with a mass at the Sacred Heart Cathedral yesterday evening.