Next year New Zealanders will vote in a referendum on whether euthanasia should be legalised after a long-fought bill passed 69 to 51 in parliament on Wednesday. If endorsed by the public in a referendum the new law will allow those who are terminally ill to request assisted dying. Earlier in the day Stuff published an opinion Read more
A service celebrated the beginning and the end of a rural church. Sacred Heart Whangamomona church is celebrating 100 years on Saturday – but the Mass to celebrate the centenary was the final service at the church. Read more
More than 140 Wellingtonians had the chance to watch the true-life film Unplanned at the Brooklyn Penthouse cinema on the 11th of November. Hosted by the Centre for Marriage and Family and the Reverence for Life Group, St Francis of Assisi, Ohariu, more than 71 tickets had to be pre-purchased to enable the screening to Read more
Destiny Church leader Hannah Tamaki’s political party says it will ban new “mosques, temples and other foreign buildings of worship” if elected. Vision NZ – which had to change its name after its original suggestion, the Coalition Party, was rejected by election authorities – has made the promise in an inflammatory announcement railing against multiculturalism. Read more
Last week ribbons were tied to the fence of the St Patrick’s Cathedral in downtown Auckland by attendees and witnesses from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the care of Faith-based Institutions. Survivors and supporters walked there from the Rydges Hotel, where the Royal Commission was holding the Read more
Dealing with a cancer diagnosis was the catalyst for a new book of poems from Wellington poet and publisher Michael Fitzsimons, with the title of Michael I thought you were dead. “Michael I thought you were dead is an honest and searching account of what it feels like to confront one’s mortality and find spiritual Read more
The executive director of the Maori Council, Matthew Tukaki, has written to Pope Francis, calling for “an accounting of the trauma” the Vatican has caused and a repudiation of the doctrine of discovery. While not addressing the colonisation of Aotearoa specifically, popes have on several occasions repudiated and apologised for the doctrine of discovery going Read more
The Auckland High Court has confirmed this week that it will hear the case against school-based religious instruction in October next year. The Secular Education Network is appealing to the High Court for a ruling that these classes are discriminatory and contrary to the Bill of Rights Act, and that school time should be reserved Read more
Auckland intimacy counsellor Angela Rennie has seen first-hand the devastating impact pornography has on relationships and individuals. “I would say it’s the biggest addiction society has seen and no one is really doing anything about it”. “The statistics are eye-opening, people are watching pornography from very young,” she says. Read more
More than 90% of the submissions on the Abortion Legislation Bill have rejected the proposed decriminalisation of abortion. Just under 8% support the Government bill. The in-depth analysis of a random sample of 1,000 submissions by an independent researcher found that 90.6% of submissions were opposed. This means that over 18,000 submissions in total rejected Read more