Monday morning, 7.30am. While children across the country are waking up to a new school week, Lisa Boddy’s 8 and 10-year-old are already at childcare. They’re just two of the 190,000 Kiwi kids in both before and after school care, often doing longer hours than their parents. Continue reading
New Zealand
Well-know priest and theolgian was a child abuser
Thursday, July 26th, 2018
Michael Shirres, a Catholic priest and theologian who died in 1997, has been exposed as a child abuser. He worked with Māori communities in the Far North before becoming a University of Auckland theologian. He also wrote and published books about Māori spirituality. The Catholic Bishop of Auckland, Pat Dunn, told the New Zealand Herald that Read more
Children’s Commissioner has his say on mandatory reporting of child abuse
Thursday, July 26th, 2018
Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft has changed his mind about the mandatory reporting for all abuse. But he also thinks it is inconceivable that any New Zealand community group would have its own private investigation system. Writing for Spinoff, Becroft said that when he became children’s commissioner mandatory reporting seemed a “no-brainer.” But he says all the experts he Read more
Prolife supporters deliver 13,285 pairs of booties to Parliament
Thursday, July 26th, 2018
Both sides of the abortion debate demonstrated on Parliament’s front lawn on Wednesday. The Voice for Life prolife group laid out 13,285 pairs of baby booties on the lawn to represent the number of foetuses aborted in 2017. There was tension and some scuffles when a prochoice demonstrator started picking up handfuls of booties and Read more
Family breakdown is behind our high prison numbers
Thursday, July 26th, 2018I was born in 1951, at a time when New Zealand’s crime and prison numbers were incredibly low, averaging one or two homicides a year until the early 1960s say Garth McVicar. So what went wrong? The one common denominator – that Mr Little and his colleagues won’t dare talk about – is the traditional Read more
Quake-hit St Mary’s convent chapel in Christchurch restored
Thursday, July 26th, 2018Mayor Lianne Dalziel said it was a joy to see the “meticulous” work done to restore the Rose Chapel in Christchurch after it suffered extensive damage in the February 2011 earthquake. The Colombo St chapel was built by the Sisters of Mercy in 1911, and shared a site with the convent and St Mary’s College. The Christchurch Read more
Mycoplasma bovis – how can faith help farmers?
Monday, July 23rd, 2018
Until recently, New Zealand was one of two countries in the world that did not have cattle infected by the Mycoplasma Bovis disease. Fr Tom Lawn is the assistant priest in the Catholic parish of New Plymouth, the main city in the Province of Taranaki – an area in which dairy farming has been long established. Read more
Erskine College tumbles to make way for town houses
Monday, July 23rd, 2018
Demolition of the imposing Erskine College buildings in Island Bay, Wellington, is underway. 96 townhouses are to be constructed on the site. As part of the overall development, the chapel is to be restored at the cost of $7 million. Development manager Earl Hope-Pearson said the feeling was positive as work was able to begin. “After 18 Read more
Anglican church in Mataura converted into a mosque
Monday, July 23rd, 2018A former Anglican church in Mataura has been converted into a mosque. The Main St church was bought by the Ashburton Muslim Association at auction in May. The imam (leader) of the Mataura Masjid (mosque), Zamberi Bin Matyunus, a New Zealand citizen originally from Malaysia, lives in Mataura with his family. Read more