Caritas welcomes today’s government announcement of reforms designed to “improve the natural environment, enable more development within environmental limits, provide an effective role for Mâori, and improve housing supply and affordability.” Pope Francis has said that “love moves us to devise larger strategies to halt environmental degradation and to encourage a “culture of care” which Read more
A new sound system and improved heating are among early features of a planned multimillion-dollar revamp of St Paul’s Cathedral, Dunedin, after last year’s damaging fire. Cathedral dean the Very Rev Dr Tony Curtis said the improved $50,000 sound system had been largely installed and it was hoped to complete repairs of the fire-damaged roof Read more
A church in Auckland has been struck off the Charities Register after its employees stole millions of dollars in church funds, and poured millions more into dubious investments. It follows a two-year probe into the Samoan Independent Seventh Day Adventist Church (SISDAC) which operates 10 churches in the Auckland region. An investigation report by Charities Read more
The Government’s Covid economic success story might not be a sparkly for some as it seems for others. Data released by the Government shows Māori and Pasifika have been the big losers since the Covid pandemic struck. Both the Prime Minister Jacinda Adern and Finance Minister Grant Robertson are hinting Māori and Pasifika may be Read more
New Zealand’s Catholic Bishops Conference is urging everyone to have a covid vaccine when it becomes available. Conference President Cardinal Dew says the bishops took their advice about vaccines from reputable doctors, scientists and the bishops’ own bioethics agency, the Nathaniel Centre. “Everyone, including Catholics, has a moral responsibility to protect themselves and others by Read more
COVID restrictions are hampering some parish clergy appointments. Most visibly in the list of Wellington appointments, is the announcement of Fr Bill Warwick as the new parish priest of Holy Trinity parish, Wellington East. Warwick replaces the Capuchin Friars, who have served in the diocese for 62 years. He will have responsibility for the Kilbirnie, Read more
Catholics of Palmerston North may soon celebrate the appointment of a new bishop. In a post on the Metropolitan Cathedral’s page, Cardinal John Dew says he hopes and prays there will soon be good news for the people of Palmerston North who have managed their diocese so well without a diocesan bishop. As well as Read more
The Palmerston North diocese is working well, even without a bishop. The diocese has a positive vision for the coming year says newly appointed general manager, Liam Greer. Greer told parishioners in a presentation around the diocese that the diocese’s prime focus is its mission. “One of the best questions (during the presentation) that was Read more
The housing crisis is going through a “perfect storm” and is likely to worsen over the next year, a post-election briefing to the Housing Minister says. The Hon Megan Woods has been told historically low-interest rates, a stalled private rental market and not enough new houses are drivers of the housing crisis. An increasing population Read more
Over a thousand people gathered in Wellington last Saturday to give a voice to pre-born children in the National March for Life. The event celebrates the value of life and the unborn child and offers a peaceful protest against New Zealand’s abortion laws. “Forty-three years ago, Parliament passed a law that said not all unborn Read more