Sex abuse and its handling by Church authorities is the top priority for the new pope, according to a recent readership survey conducted by ucanews.com. The survey – conducted from February 18-28 – attracted 2,300 responses, with the majority (72 percent) from Asia. More than three quarters identified sexual abuse and how Church authorities respond Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Divorce’
New Swiss bishop calls for pragmatism 
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Friday, September 14th, 2012
The incoming head of the Swiss bishops’ conference has suggested that allowing remarried divorcees to receive communion and lay people to deliver homilies is a “pragmatic” course of action. The Swiss bishops elected Bishop Markus Buechel of St Gallen to be the next president of the Swiss bishops’ conference, replacing Bishop Norbert Brunner in January. Read more
Katie Holmes returns to Catholic Church after divorcing Tom Cruise Comments 0
Friday, July 13th, 2012
Six years after she converted to Scientology to marry actor Tom Cruise, actress Katie Holmes has divorced her high-ranking Scientologist husband and returned to the Catholic Church in which she was raised. Holmes and the twice-divorced Cruise were married in 2006 at a 15th-century castle in Italy, in a Scientology ceremony. They already had a Read more
Woman ‘insulted’ by church role in annulment Comments 2
Tuesday, June 26th, 2012
Alice Bassett-Smith was married, and now she is not. She and her United States-born husband married in 2000, lived together in both New Zealand and the US, divorced in 2008 and have both moved on. So, she was stunned when telephoned “out of the blue” by a Catholic priest a month ago and told her Read more
Study of children of same gender parents is flawed Comments 0
Friday, June 22nd, 2012
A recently released study suggesting children of same gender parents fare worse than others is flawed because it does not compare children living with parents in stable same gender relationships with children living with parents in stable heterosexual relationships. “In fact, only a small proportion of its sample spent more than a few years living Read more
Priests defy Rome over Communion for remarried divorcees Comments 0
Friday, June 8th, 2012
One hundred and forty priests from the archdiocese of Freiburg announced yesterday that they have signed a memorandum in which they admit to publicly allowing remarried divorcees to receive Communion. “In our parishes remarried divorcees go to Communion, receive absolution in the sacrament of reconciliation and receive the last rites with our specific permission,” say Read more
Brits obsessed with sex and divorce says bishop Comments 0
Friday, June 8th, 2012
An obsession with sex and divorce is running rampant through British society, the Bishop of London said on Saturday, urging Britons to use the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations as a chance to reflect and change their ways. Taking stock of the changes in Britain since Elizabeth came to the throne in 1952, Richard Chartres said Read more
Pope twice reaches out to divorced at world meeting of families Comments 1
Tuesday, June 5th, 2012
During a three day visit to Milan to support the activity of the World Meeting of Families, Pope Benedict spoke several times, addressing young catholics, holding a question and answer session with young people, and preaching 1 million faithful at Sunday Mass. Traditional family values are the key to navigating modern society Pope Benedict told Read more
Does Facebook wreck marriages? Comments 0
Tuesday, May 29th, 2012
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg changed his status to “married” Saturday and received over one million “likes” from his followers. But the site he founded isn’t always so marriage-friendly. In fact, lawyers say the social network contributes to an increasing number of marriage breakups. More than a third of divorce filings last year contained the word Read more
Fewer marriages, fewer divorces in 2011 Comments 0
Friday, May 4th, 2012
There were 20,231 marriages registered to New Zealand residents in 2011. This is the lowest number of marriages since 2001 when 19,972 weddings were celebrated. The number of divorces also dropped, down from 8,874 in 2010 to 8,551 in 2011. “The decrease in divorces in 2011 is consistent with the recent trend of declining divorce Read more
