New Zealand

No evidence Suzanne Aubert used cannabis Comments 0

cannabis grower

Mother Suzanne Aubert somewhat surprisingly featured in Wednesday’s Jesse Mulligan interview with James Borrowdale about his new book, Weed: A New Zealand Story; a book about cannabis. The book once again raises the conjecture that Aubert was New Zealand’s first commercial cannabis grower. Mulligan asked the author to expand a bit on what he had Read more

SERF helping from Hari Hari to Haast and beyond Comments 0

serf

Evangelization has many faces say, Father Mike Mahoney, the parish priest of South Westland. Franz Josef is part of the parish, and there are over 200 people there who have lost their jobs because there are no longer any foreign tourists. Many of these migrant workers cannot go home because there are no flights. In Read more

Analysis and Comment

How Jesus became white Comments 0

white jesus

The first time the Rev. Lettie Moses Carr saw Jesus depicted as Black, she was in her 20s. It felt “weird,” Carr said. Until that moment, she’d always thought Jesus was white. At least that’s how he appeared when she was growing up. A copy of Warner E. Sallman’s “Head of Christ” painting hung in Read more

Judging the signs of the times Comments 0

signs of the times

In the Gospel of Matthew, there is a scene where the Pharisees and Sadducees, in their desire to test Jesus, ask him to show them a sign. In reply to them, Jesus says that in the morning when the sky is red and threatening you say that today it will be stormy. “You know how Read more

‘Our diet is killing us quietly’: Fiji’s diabetes crisis Comments 0

fiji diabetes

At the height of his 15-year career as a surgeon in the Pacific nation of Fiji, Dr Jone Hawea was performing eight to 10 diabetes-related operations every day – at least two of which were the amputations of limbs. “Our wards are always full of diabetes cases. Sometimes our surgical wards wouldn’t be able to Read more

Gay ministry is slowly moving the Catholic church Comments 0

gay ministry

What a difference 30 years make in gay ministry! In 1990, then-Cardinal John O’Connor forced any of New York parishes hosting Dignity support groups for Catholic gays and lesbians to evict them from church property. Late last month, with the approval of New York’s current cardinal, Timothy Dolan, Fordham University released the first in a Read more

Millennial may become patron saint of internet Comments 0

acutis

Carlo Acutis, a 15 year old Italian schoolboy who died of leukemia in 2006, may well become the protector of web surfers, according to Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the head of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. “That’s my hope — he would be an ideal example for all young people,” said Becciu. As Acutis’ Read more

  • Oddly

    • Goodbye eskimo pie

      The word Eskimo is about to disappear from New Zealand’s shelves. Following in the steps of companies around the world that are removing racist or insensitive names and logos from their products, Tip Top and Pascall confirmed on Wednesday that Read more

  • World

  • St Peter’s Basilica management investigated Comments 0

    Pope Francis has appointed a commissioner to investigate St Peter’s Basilica in Rome’s management body, the Fabbrica di San Pietro. Electronic devices and documents have been taken from the offices of the Fabbrica following a report by the Holy See’s auditor, in what could look like an investigation into financial irregularities. However, the Holy See Read more

  • Divisive plan to turn Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia into a mosque Comments 0

    Turning Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia back into a mosque would be divisive, says Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who is the Patriarch of the world’s Orthodox Christians. At present the fate of the building, that has been a museum since 1934, rests on an upcoming Turkish court ruling. President Tayyip Erdogan proposed restoring the mosque status of the Read more

  • Hong Kong Diocese split as Beijing passes security law Comments 0

    China’s rubber-stamp parliament’s inner sanctum today passed the sweeping Hong Kong security law that has split the city’s Catholic hierarchy. The new law will give Beijing the power over security matters in the city state, effectively breaking open the “one country, two systems” framework that was supposed to run until 2047, posing a threat to Read more

  • Black Jesus painting to go in one of UK’s oldest cathedrals Comments 0

    A print of a Black Jesus painting will be installed in one of Britain’s oldest churches as a tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement. The painting is a version of Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”, with Jesus recast as a black prophet. Called “A Last Supper,” the reinterpretation of the original 15th-century artwork Read more

  • The Church in Colombia going bankrupt Comments 0

    The Church in Colombia is likely to be bankrupt by August, the Archbishop of Bogota, Luis José Rueda, says. The financial crisis is a direct result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has caused chaos in Colombia’s healthcare system. Rueda says “three months of zero income and 100 per cent of expenses” will cause diocesan Read more