Anglican Communion News Service

The Melanesian Brothers who were allegedly killed by followers of the militant leader, Harold Keke, will receive a final burial on Friday 24 October. The seven Brothers, murdered earlier this year on the remote Weathercoast of Guadalcanal, will be laid to rest at Tabalia (Headquarters of the Melanesian Brotherhood) in West Guadalcanal.

The ceremony will be attended by families and relatives from all over Solomon Islands, as well as from Papua New Guinea, home country of Brother Robin Lindsay who was Assistant Head Brother in Solomon Islands and Head Brother in Papua New Guinea for four years. Alison Sparham, Chester Diocesan Link with Melanesia, writes: "The coffins of the Brothers are due to leave Honiara Cathedral at 6:30am by road, with a commendation by the Dean. Villagers will be lining the 20-mile road to pay their respects, and the service at Tabalia will begin at 10:00am. Three families have already arrived, and their grieving is very painful." Alison asks us to remember especially Brother Richard Carter, the MBH Chaplain, as he copes with everything.

The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, the Revd Canon John L. Peterson, who visited the Melanesian Brothers in October last year, sent his own message of condolence. “I want you to know that all around the Anglican Communion there are prayers being lifted up for the ministry of the Melanesian Brotherhood and for the Church in Melanesia. We [in the Anglican Communion] can be proud of a witness where Jesus’ radical words to be a peacemaker have been lived in such a dramatic way.”