New Zealand

St Mary of the Angels church now a national shrine

New Zealand now has a national shrine dedicated to Mary, Mother of God, Assumed into Heaven. A Mass of Dedication was celebrated last Sunday afternoon at St Mary of the Angel’s church in Wellington. The central Wellington church was almost at its 550-person capacity for the Mass. The Dedication Mass was the finale of a Read more

Six theme national Synod synthesis

Synod syntheses

New Zealand’s National Synod Synthesis has been compiled and released to the public. The diocesan documents were synthesised at a national meeting held in Wellington in June. The introduction to the national document says participants throughout the country “spoke positively and with love about the place the Church has in their lives. “They want the Read more

Analysis and Comment

Floods and the Christian agenda

Christian agenda climate

Like many people in the southern hemisphere of our planet, winter 2022 is the year of rain, floods and landslips. We have all heard about global warming and seen graphs and projections of changing temperatures, but it takes a constant and sometimes torrential rain for the statistics to become a reality. But has this anything Read more

Catholic clergy’s unquestioned — and uneducated — power spurs abuse

Beyond bad apples

A new report, based on interviews with some 300 Catholic priests, nuns and laypeople concludes that clergy aren’t adequately prepared to wield the power they exercise and need more education on questions of sex and gender. The report, “Beyond Bad Apples: Understanding Clericalism as a Structural Problem & Cultivating Strategies for Change,” released Monday (Aug. Read more

Will future Canadians owe the disabled an apology for euthanasia?

Last month, Pope Francis came to Canada and expressed regret for the Roman Catholic Church’s part in running notoriously abusive residential schools for Indigenous children, which operated between 1880 and 1996. “I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples,” the pope said. Canada’s own government has previously Read more

Catholic faith can coexist with ancestral worship

ancestoral worship

Doctor Judith Bovensiepen teaches Social Anthropology at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom. Her research explored post-conflict recovery as well as oil development in rural Timor Leste, one of the only two Catholic-majority countries in Asia. In 2015, she published her book, The Land of Gold: Post-Conflict Recovery and Cultural Revival in Independent Read more

Catastrophic Compassion closure – no nurses

St Joseph’s Home of Compassion elder care facility will close in four months. Upper Hutt mayor Wayne Guppy labels the closure as “catastrophic.” Guppy said he attended a packed meeting of family members at the home’s chapel on Wednesday night. “It was a bolt from the blue. “People were obviously sad and wondering what was Read more

  • Oddly

    • Rosaries are flying off the shelves

      Online shops that sell rosaries have reported a boost in sales following a controversial article published in The Atlantic magazine that attempted to link the Rosary to right-wing extremism in the United States. Daniel Panneton claimed, “The rosary has acquired a Read more

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  • Need for Catholic Church change evident to ‘anyone with two eyes in their head’

    The report synthesising Ireland’s feedback on the synod on synodality is very clear. “Anyone with two eyes in their head can see that renewal in our church is clearly and urgently necessary. “The challenge is to find the good way of renewal,” says Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell. The Catholic Church in Ireland and across Read more

  • Bianca Jagger steps up; defends Nicaraguan bishop

    Bianca Jagger Nicaragua

    Human rights activist Bianca Jagger (pictured) has called on Pope Francis to condemn the Nicaraguan government’s targeted attacks on the Catholic Church. Jagger is among the thousands of Nicaraguan Catholics in constant vigil for detained Bishop José Álvarez who has been under house arrest in northern Nicaragua with 11 companions since 4 August. “I feel Read more

  • Prominent Canadian cardinal accused of sexual assault

    Cardinal accused of sexual assault

    A prominent Canadian cardinal has been accused of sexual assault in a civil suit filed against the Archdiocese of Quebec. Cardinal Marc Armand Ouellet has been named in a class action suit that targets more than 80 members of the clergy in the Quebec diocese, court documents showed. Ouellet is a prefect of the Congregation Read more

  • Australian Synod synthesis – missionary and inclusive

    The results of Australia’s national diocesan synthesis on the Synod on Synodality reveals Australian Catholics need a Church that is missionary and a Eucharistic community that is inclusive. Trudy Dantis, director of the National Centre for Pastoral Research which prepared the booklet, said hundreds of submissions were made by groups and individuals. Australia’s Fifth Plenary Read more

  • Joan of Arc to be portrayed as non-binary in new Globe Theatre production

    Joan of Arc Globe Theatre

    Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre is reinventing the story of St Joan of Arc in an upcoming production in which the French-Catholic heroine will be portrayed as a non-binary “queer” character. The Globe announced its decision in a tweet, “Our new play ‘I, Joan’ shows Joan as a legendary leader who uses the pronouns ‘they/them’. We are Read more