Catholic Church denies claim

By Lanuola Tusani Tupufia 26 May 2016, 12:00AM

The Catholic church of Samoa yesterday denied that the church did not allocate land for the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa.

Just last week during the C.C.C.S. annual conference, church members were told that despite the church paying $650,000 for land, the Catholics had not assigned land for them. 

But the Head of the Church’s Land Division, Father Fa’auli Laga’aia said the claims are not true. 

“There is already land for the congregation,” Fr Laga’aia told the Samoa Observer yesterday. 

“Land was allocated for the church and they did not want it which is their right and they asked for another piece of land. So the church worked on that to find another piece of land and that has been done.”

Fr. Laga’aia said the Catholics are waiting for the C.C.C.S. member to come in their office so they can direct them to where the land is located. 

Speaking in the C.C.C.S. meeting last week, the Chairman of the Elders Committee, Reverend Elder Kerisiano Soti said the land in Malololelei had been earmarked for a Retreat Center development. 

However, when they inspected it they found that the estate was not appropriate for the plan so they asked the Catholic church for another piece of land. 

“When we went back and asked for land, they said there has been a change of plans,” Rev. Elder Soti said.

“But we feel that there is no more land. We feel that it has already been given to the business people.”

The assembly was also informed that $650,000 had been paid out for the five acres of land.

“As of today, the Catholic Church has not assigned us any land at Malololelei,” Rev. Elder Soti said.

By Lanuola Tusani Tupufia 26 May 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

Upgrade to Premium

Subscribe to
Samoa Observer Online

Enjoy unlimited access to all our articles on any device + free trial to e-Edition. You can cancel anytime.

>