A collaborative study carried out by a number of universities around the world, including the The University of Otago in New Zealand, has found evidence for the existence of the Ned Flanders effect. Nedward “Ned” Flanders, is a character in the long running TV series The Simpsons. He is the Simpson family’s extremely religious next “diddly-door” Read more
On Easter Sunday Cardinal John Dew was interviewed by Wallace Chapman on New Zealand’s National radio. He talked to Chapman about being called to the priesthood, the church’s work for social justice, the meaning of Easter in the modern world, and the hope placed in the Pope. “Easter is a wonderful opportunity for us to Read more
Media have this week reported that Peter Westmore, the head of the leading Australian Catholic-based lobby group campaigning against same sex marriage in Australia, attended his daughter’s wedding to another woman in New Zealand last November. The headline for the news item read “Catholic crusader Peter Westmore blesses daughter’s gay marriage in New Zealand.” Liberal Read more
The Studio of John the Baptist, in Takapuna, Auckland, is planning to establish a Studio of St John the Baptist in the Solomon Islands, to supply quality sacred art in the Pacific. The bishop of Auki, in the Solomon Islands, Chris Cardone, visited the Studio in 2014 while in New Zealand for a meeting of Read more
“In Port Vila the destruction is everywhere, and there’s no news from anyone around the islands yet,” says the Bishop of Port Vila, John Bosco Baremes. “There’s just no shelter, with so much having been blown away, and people will need somewhere to shelter while they rebuild.” Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand and Caritas Australia are Read more
The Auckland Catholic diocese has developed concept plans for a 10,000 square metre high-rise office building and car parking on property behind Newman Hall. The property is also home to a freshwater spring that was essential to life at two local pā and their surrounding gardens. Called Wai Ariki, or chiefly waters, the spring has Read more
Wellington’s Cardinal, John Dew, has been quoted in David Gibson’s U.S.Catholic blog which has also appeared in the Washington Post, Pope Francis has history, but not time, on his side in reform push. “There would be some people who would want to return” to the old ways, said Dew. But, “if things were to be Read more
The Bishop of Palmerston North, Charles Drennan, was among a number of politicians, lecturers and religious leaders who spoke to a crowd of about 500 gathered in the city’s Square at the third anti Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) event to be held in the city in the past year. Drennan said there was growing Read more
Some scientists have suggested that belief in the big gods of moralising religions, such as Islam and Christianity, helped people cooperate with each other and encouraged societies to grow. Psychology studies have shown people are nicer to each other when they think someone is watching, —especially if they believe that someone has the power to Read more
A keynote speaker at June’s New Zealand Catholic Education Convention has slammed Britain’s shadow education secretary for a jibe about nuns as teachers. Sr Gemma Simmonds, CJ, told the Tablet that Labour’s Tristam Hunt had shown “breathtaking ignorance and bigotry”. His jibe came on the BBC’s Question Time programme last month, when the topic under Read more