New Zealand’s Catholic bishops will closely review a new Vatican guide on dealing with sexual abuse by priests to see how it matches their existing rules on handling such abuse. Last week, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published Vademecum (“Handbook”) a 17-page step-by-step-guide to help bishops and other Church religious administrators Read more
A Government-sponsored survey questioning the future of religious instruction in state schools is being dismissed by both religious and secular groups as “biased.” The survey was launched last week by an independent charity, the Religious Diversity Centre (RDC), in partnership with the Ministry of Education. The survey asks whether “religious instruction” in state primary schools Read more
The head of the Fiji Catholic Church has made an apology for the behaviour of Catholic priests, religious and teachers who allegedly abused Fijian children. Archbishop Peter Loy Chong was responding to a news report on TVNZ by pacific correspondent, Barbara Dreaver. For the last year, 1 NEWS has been investigating claims of historic sexual Read more
A digital sign displayed on a school board outside St Paul’s College in Ponsonby in Auckland reads: “To legalise is to normalise. Say no.” “Isn’t it illegal for a high school to push political opinions on students?” a Reddit user posted in the forum. According to Education Ministry guidance, boards of trustees as a state Read more
You hear people say it takes a village to raise a child; some new research supports this intuition. A recent report suggests that women’s social networks positively affect her child’s cognitive development, says Dr John Shaver from the University of Otago. The analysis also suggests that religious women have stronger support networks. Shaver says that Read more
New Zealand recently launched a government safety campaign that provides content to help parents to protect children from pornography on the Internet. It gained positive attention this month through a video ad about Internet pornography, using their motif of every parent’s worst Internet nightmare knocking on their front door. “What is interesting about the New Read more
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
Kiwi journalist Caralise Trayes was interviewed on RNZ Sunday about a book that she has just completed called The Final Choice. She said she was motivated to write The Final Choice after she realised she would soon have to vote in the referendum, but she did not know much about the issue. The New Zealand Read more
An African American actor who is in New Zealand has penned a column in the New Zealand Herald which he calls his Love Letter to New Zealand. “This is my love letter to New Zealand for all you’ve done for me after escaping a country that made me feel like a natural-born refugee and becoming Read more
Anyone who tuned into the broadcast version a Two Cents Worth podcast last week may be forgiven for thinking they had tuned in to a church service. It began with a recitation of the first part of the Our Father. But Two Cents worth is advertised as being “Stories that make sense of business and Read more