Great reads

Miraculously healed woman misses John Paul I’s beatification

Monday, September 5th, 2022
miraculously healed

The young woman who was miraculously healed through Blessed Pope John Paul I’s intercession missed out on his beatification. Pope Francis beatified John Paul I in Rome on Sunday. He had been pope for just 33 days, from August 26 to September 28, 1978. Candela Giarda (22) explained in a video recorded from Argentina that Read more

Catholics to help NZ’s hospices and palliative care services

Monday, September 5th, 2022

Catholics are being urged to support New Zealand’s under-funded hospices and palliative care services. Donating, volunteering in hospice shops and asking members of Parliament and the Government to make palliative care a priority are some options. NZ Catholic Bishops Conference Secretary, Bishop Stephen Lowe, says hospices provide a free service to 20,000 palliative care patients Read more

Pope and NZ’s climate experts agree

Monday, September 5th, 2022

New Zealand climate experts’ advice is almost identical to the Pope’s. We have to modify our lifestyles. The earth is suffering. Excessive consumption of the earth’s resources has to stop. Or at the very least, change. Modify, says Pope Francis. A major new international report shows 2021 record-breaking greenhouse gas emissions. Despite that, international travel Read more

De La Salle school sold to pay for abuse restitution and ageing brothers

Monday, September 5th, 2022

The De La Salle Brothers will sell their Malvern school to fund compensation claims from victims of historical sexual abuse and to financially support ageing brothers. The buyer, Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, will take over the running of the college for more than 1000 boys in years 5 to 12. Lawyers say they have more Read more

Could Francis establish a Church role for lay preachers?

Thursday, August 25th, 2022
lay preacher

The end of summer means the end of a mainstay of American Catholic life — the summer Catholic conference season, in which Catholic universities aim to fill their dorms, proclaim the Gospel, and build some brand awareness by hosting days-long catechetical and evangelical events for Catholic young people and adults. While the Franciscan University of Read more

Cruise ships are coming back to NZ – should we welcome them?

Thursday, August 25th, 2022

The return this month of the first cruise ship to Auckland’s Waitematā Harbour was accompanied by the sort of fanfare normally reserved for visiting foreign dignitaries: a tug boat decked out in bunting, a circling helicopter, even the mayor on hand to welcome the ship. Coming after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic and Read more

Dumbing down Catholicism has been disastrous

Thursday, August 25th, 2022
Dumbing down disastrous

According to a well-known US bishop, dumbing down the Catholic Church by making it more simple and appealing to the mainstream culture has proved disastrous. In his Sunday sermon, Bishop Robert Barron said, “Dumbed down Catholicism has not helped evangelisation. Quite the contrary, we did this to ourselves”. The bishop is a controversial figure on Read more

Communion is for all

Thursday, August 25th, 2022
Communion is for all

An Irish bishop has said Communion at Mass should be available for all, even if others think they are unworthy. In his homily in Knock on Sunday, Bishop of Elphin, Kevin Doran, said he would seriously question the “cancelling” of an invitation to Communion. “When the Eucharist is thought of as a prize, there seems Read more

Common threads emerging in Catholic NZ, Australia and Ireland

Thursday, August 25th, 2022
Common threads

Common threads are emerging as dioceses and eastern Catholic churches release syntheses of the documents they’ve prepared for the 2023 synod on synodality. More adult faith formation and help with engaging young adults are important. So is revising the language used at Mass and other church ceremonies, say New Zealand and Australian Catholics. The New Read more

Acquitted Waihopai spy station priest faces new charges

Monday, August 22nd, 2022
Waihopai Spy Station

Acquitted Waihopai spy station priest Peter Murnane O.P. is denying accusations he took part in an illegal Blockade Australia protest. Murnane became a household name in New Zealand in 2010. He had been charged with burglary and wilful damage to the Waihopai spy base near Blenheim – charges the High Court acquitted Murnane and two Read more