A number of Pacific leaders have attended a church service together on the eve of the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum in Sunday local time at the Avarua Cook Island's Christian Church in Rarotonga. 5 November 2023. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Eleisha Foon
A number of Pacific leaders have attended a church service together on the eve of the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum in Rarotonga, Sunday local time.
Cook Island Prime Minister and Forum chair Mark Brown was joined by leaders of Palau, New Caledonia, Niue, French Polynesia and American Samoa.
They were accompanied by a convoy of delegates and UN agencies at the service at Avarua Cook Island's Christian Church in Rarotonga.
Pacific leaders stood in awe as angelic voices echoed across the limestone coral rock church, known by locals as CICC - the oldest church in the Cook Islands.
The Avarua Cook Islands Christian Church was established by the Reverend John Wiliams and Papehia, a Tahitian Missionary, in 1823.
The 200-year commemoration of the arrival of Christianity to Rarotonga and sister islands Ati, Mitiare and Mauke was celebrated in July.
The CICC is renowned for its traditional hymn singing, and people in certain parts of Papua New Guinea that were converted to Christianity by Cook Islands Missionaries also retain this type of singing to this day.
Most of the leaders took part in the church offering and smiled as they soaked in the traditional hymns and sermon by Rev Vaka Ngaro in Cook Island Maori.
Albert Henry burried outside the Avarua Cook Island's Christian Church in Rarotonga. 5 November 2023. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Eleisha Foon
Buried in the church yard is the founding father of the Pacific Island's Forum - late Albert Henry, which leaders acknowledged before leaving.
His monument and resting place to the left of the entrance of the Church shows the respect, love and admiration that Cook islanders have for the man they consider to be the 'Father of the Nation'.
Cook Islands first premier, the late Henry, was given a formal pardon by the King's representative Sir Tom Marsters in Rarotonga last Thursday.
Something Foreign Minister Teparu Harrmann said "was finally for me personally a lifting on what has been quite a heavy cloud over what is a mammoth contribution by Papa Arapati [Henry] throughout."
She said a well known saying he used during his leadership was "no one in the tribe is left behind".
"That continues to serve as a reminder to Cook Island leaders, the obligation they have to the people of this country in how they lead."
A number of Pacific leaders have attended a church service together on the eve of the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum in Sunday local time at the Avarua Cook Island's Christian Church in Rarotonga. 5 November 2023. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Eleisha Foon
A number of Pacific leaders have attended a church service together on the eve of the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum in Sunday local time at the Avarua Cook Island's Christian Church in Rarotonga. 5 November 2023. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Eleisha Foon
A number of Pacific leaders have attended a church service together on the eve of the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum in Sunday local time at the Avarua Cook Island's Christian Church in Rarotonga. 5 November 2023. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Eleisha Foon
Mark Brown, middle, with family members outside the Avarua Cook Island's Christian Church in Rarotonga. 5 November 2023. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Eleisha Foon