Parishes asked to help appeal

Press, 12 January 1987, Page 6

Parishes asked to help appeal

Catholic parishes in New Zealand are being asked to contribute to a Pacific cyclone appeal for victims of the devastating storms that have hit many parts of the Pacific in the last few weeks. The New Zealand Catholic Commission for Evangelisation, Justice and Development is launching the appeal for victims of cyclones and storms, which have struck Rarotonga, Fiji, the Cook Islands, and Futuna, and Saipan in French ’ Polynesia..

An immediate grant of $5OOO would be made from existing relief funds, said the commission’s executive officer, Mr Manuka Henare, in Wellington. Churches in the

affected areas had been approached and the commission would be guided by them in deciding how the appeal money would best be spent.

The commission had been in touch with church groups in Rarotonga and Suva, and was also monitoring the situation in Futuna. Saipan, in the Marianas, was still difficult to reach, after a typhoon with winds of up to 200. km/h destroyed 1000 homes in the small scattered community two weeks before Christmas.

While the commission’s “primary mandate” was for development work, it “was always ready to respond to emergencies of this kind,” said , Mr Henare.