An Ashburton school is calling it quits on student cellphone use. From next year, Ashburton College’s students won’t be able to use them during school hours. Or see them. At all. Not even at lunchtime. Principal Ross Preece (pictured) says the Board-approved new policy will address a number of concerns, including bullying. Others include ensuring Read more
A call from Germany’s “synodal way” to give lay Catholics a clearly defined role in choosing bishops has run into problems. The Southern German Archdiocese of Bamberg says the decision seems incompatible with a concordat governing the appointment of bishops. In their document “Involvement of the faithful in the appointment of the diocesan bishop,” synodal Read more
Just war theory requires that combatants have not only a just cause, but also that they wage their war in a just way. Thus, Catholic teaching about conflict condemns direct attacks on civilians or even the disproportionate killing of civilians as collateral damage in an attack on a military target. In other words, you cannot Read more
Australia’s Covid-19 case numbers are on the rise again, with health officials signalling the arrival of new Omicron subvariants as a new wave begins. It’s the first sustained uptick since the “winter wave” of Omicron subvariant BA.5, University of Melbourne public health researcher Nancy Baxter told RN Breakfast on Friday. “You have things like wastewater Read more
The upcoming plenary meeting of the USCCB comes as the Catholic Church is on its way to being, in some ways, a “post-episcopal” Church—no longer a bishops’ Church. That will likely have a dramatic impact on how Catholicism may influence and interact with American social and political values. The situation arises from the precipitous drop Read more
Decentralisation is likely to be the order of the day from now on, says Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane. “The days of Dioceses as independent fiefdoms and the bishops as a law unto themselves are gone.” Coleridge (pictured), who is the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference’s outgoing president, explains what he means by this in his Read more
Catholic teaching on sexuality needs a new perspective, says German Bishop Helmut Dieser. “Same-sex feelings and love are not an aberration, but a variant of human sexuality,” he says. Homosexuals have a right to church support and blessing. Dieser (pictured), who is the spokesman on abuse issues for the German bishops’ conference, says the current Read more
New Zealand’s Catholic bishops are again stressing the importance of bishops to the Palmerston North and Hamilton dioceses. At their November meeting the bishops re-emphasised the need for two bishops to the Pope’s diplomatic representative to New Zealand, His Excellency, Archbishop Novatus Rugambwa (pictured). New Zealand bishops are appointed through the Dicastery for Evangelisation headed Read more
In our Faith, we have created many names for the second person of the Trinity. They are names that reflect our adoration. Jesus is Christ our Saviour, Redeemer, Lamb of God, Word made Flesh, Prince of Peace, Fountain of all Holiness… Such names are deeply etched on our minds and hearts. If someone mentions “Sacred Read more
October 31 was Reformation Day. On that day in 1517 Martin Luther may or may not have nailed his 95 Theses on indulgences to the door of the Wittenberg church. He certainly did send them to the Archbishop of Mainz, thus initiating a movement that became the Protestant Reformation. When I was a schoolboy, I Read more