A May 2007 survey of Australian Religious Orders working in the Pacific region and East Timor shows that the focus is on education, health, pastoral work, welfare, and religious/theological formation. Twenty congregations responded to the request for information.
Thirteen Religious Orders are working in the above fields in East Timor; eight in Papua New Guinea and five in the Solomon Islands. The survey shows that three Congregations are ministering in Kiribati in the areas of health and religious/theological formation.
Notes accompanying the analysis of the data said also:
Other countries in the Pacific in which Religious Orders are involved include Bougainville, Tonga, Nauru, Fiji, Cook Islands, Samoa, Marshall Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia. Six Religious Orders are contributing to development in one or more of these countries. Taken together, the contribution to these countries by Catholic Religious Orders is significant and includes both financial and in-kind support. However, the final estimate is not yet complete since some surveys have not been returned. Furthermore, there is a need to find a suitable way of documenting these resources which are committed each year.
The report also noted that some respondents indicated involvement in PNG, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Bougainville, Tonga, and Vanuatu in the above focus areas. However, their surveys did not specify whether the focus areas are in all the above countries or whether specific programs relate to specific countries.
The Religious Congregations to participate in the survey are:
Brigidine Sisters, Victorian Province
Canossian Daughters of Charity
Carmelite Monastery, Brisbane
Carmelite Province of Australia and Timor Leste
Daughters of Charity
Dominican Fathers, Australia
Dominican Sisters, Eastern Australia
Institute of Sisters of Charity
Institute of Sisters of Mercy
Little Company of Mary Health Care
Marist Brothers, Sydney Province
Marist Fathers
Mary MacKillop East Timor (Parramatta)
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart
Poor Clare Nuns, Bethlehem Monastery (Campbelltown)
Sisters of Charity Health Service, St Vincent's hospitals, Sydney and Melbourne
Sisters of Mercy, East Ballarat
Sisters of the Good Samaritan
Society of Jesus
Society of Presentation Sisters
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