Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania President and Assembly host, Archbishop Peter Loy Chong of Suva, said he hoped that a pastoral plan for the Oceania region will emerge by the end of the week-long Assembly.
He said that the plan will be based not only on the bishops’ deliberations, but also through their engagement with the document prepared on behalf of the People of God in Oceania for the Synod of Bishops for a Synodal Church – often called the Synod on Synodality.
“It’s not only the bishops that’s deciding or whose voices are being heard,” Archbishop Chong said.
“It’s the whole people that were consulted in the four conferences (of Oceania) and their voices are now being brought to the assembly of the bishops to endorse the document that will then be passed on to the Synod on Synodality.”
He said he also hopes that the Federation becomes better organised as it moves into the future.
“Today is important to the Federation of Bishops Conferences of Oceania, because it begins what I’m calling a new page in how we organise ourselves for God’s mission in the region,” he said.
“We want to end the assembly with a very clear mission that the next bishops’ executive council will take forward.”
