Meeting of the South Asia, Australia & Oceania Conference

The annual meeting of the South Asia, Australia & Oceania Conference (SAAOC) leaders for the year was held in Jayapura, Indonesia and it was hosted by the Custody of West Papua. The meeting was attended by all the ministers of SAAOC except for the Custos of the Custody of Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei who could not attend the meeting on account of health reasons, and the President of the Foundation in Sri Lanka with whom contact has not been established yet. The formal meeting was from 7-9 September after which the ministers visited the frontier mission regions of the custody for three days. The main agenda for the meeting was the election of the new president and vice president as office bearers of the SAAOC conference. Friars Paul Smith, Minister Provincial of Australia and Friar Gonsa, Custos of Papua, were elected president and vice president respectively. Other practical and business matters were included in the agenda including a sharing of feedback for the General Chapter’s documents and the encyclical of Pope Francis, Laudato si’.