Ecumenical impact of Melanesian martyrs

(Vatican Radio) Ten years ago, in April 2003, seven members of an Anglican religious community known as the Melanesian Brotherhood were killed as they tried to bring lasting peace between rival factions waging war in the Solomon Islands.
On Friday a member of Rome’s Catholic St Egidio community, Monica Attias held a press conference for the publication of a new book about the Melanesian martyrs and the legacy of reconciliation they left behind on these remote Pacific islands.
As part of the Commission on new Christian martyrs, set up by Pope John Paul II, Monica studied the ecumenical impact of such contemporary witnesses to the faith – she spoke with Philippa Hitchen about the work of the brothers and the memory of their martyrdom contained in the Basilica of St Bartholomew on Rome’s Tiber Island…

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Monica Attias of Rome’s St Egidio community: her Italian volume on the Melanesian martyrs ‘Racconti di pace in Oceania’ (Tales of Peace in Oceania) is published by Urbaniana University Press