At 83  years of age, and recently given the all-clear by Sydney specialists after treatment for Leukaemia, Archbishop William Kurtz SVD has headed back to Papua New Guinea to continue his ministry of providing formation for catechists and “helping out” wherever he can.

Archbishop Kurtz, who retired as the Archbishop of Madang in 2010, says he could have returned home to Poland when he retired at 76, but after more than 50 years in PNG, he’d come to love the place and the people, and he wasn’t sure he could cope with the European winters.

Papua New Guinea is a country where reliable access to the internet and digital technology is poor or non-existent for most of the population, and that’s partly why the Communications students at Divine Word University in Madang, have taken to their new drone with such enthusiasm.

The drone, which was funded by a donor, and bought in Australia, places the students at the cutting edge of video filming technology and they are already making the most of it.

Fr Don Grant SVD is to receive an honour from the Government of Papua New Guinea, in recognition of his 45 years’ service to the community as a missionary to that country.

The honour, the Order of the Star of Melanesia, is part of PNG’s own national honours and awards system known as The Orders of Papua New Guinea.