New beginning in Oceania

Following on from the meeting of the Extended General Council at Mittagong the Councils of the three Administrative Units in Oceania (Australia, Melanesia, and the Pacific) met on 16 October to discuss how to work more collaboratively as a region.

In March 2016 the Oceania Council met with the International Commission for Mission and established a Think-Tank to develop a set of initiatives for possible future collaboration in Oceania.

The members of the Think-Tank: Mr Peter Macnamara (Australia), Mr Brian Nicholas (Pacific), Mr Mike Andrew (Pacific), Br Paul (Australia), Br Kevin Wanden (Pacific) met in Brisbane in July and developed several initiatives.  Br Mark Kenatsi (Melanesia) was unable to attend.

On 16 October the Councils of the three Administrative Units met to workshop the Think-Tank initiatives. The meeting was skilfully facilitated by Br João Carlos do Prado, Br Carlos Alberto Rojas Carvajal and Mr Luca Olivari.  

In total eleven initiatives were workshopped and prioritised.  A timeline for their development and an implementation strategy was agreed.  The initiatives will be formalised and an Implementation Team will be established at the next meeting of the Oceania Council on 6-8 November.  Following this, the Leaders of the three Administrative Units, Br Peter Carroll (Australia), Br Jean-Marie Batick (Melanesia) and Br David McDonald (Pacific), will send a letter to all Champagnat Marists which will outline the initiatives for the Region over the next three years.