The new Māori authority that looks after Auckland’s volcanic cones is working with church leaders and a local board about the future of a cross on the summit of Puketāpapa-Mount Roskill. The cross has been removed leaving a stark pole. The cross has traditionally been erected and illuminated on the summit of Puketapapa-Mt Roskill for short Read more
Last week 65 boat people from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were intercepted by the Australian navy off eastern Indonesia. They were heading For New Zealand. In reply to their request for asylum in New Zealand, they have been advised to contact United Nations officials in Australia. Since at least 2010 the Prime Minister John Key Read more
Reem Ayyub is a Palestinian Muslim. She was born in Kuwait but the family moved to Jordan when she was a child and then to New Zealand when Ayyub was 13. “Muslim women come from different backgrounds and ethnicities and yet we are treated as if we all think the same way. “You often hear Read more
A controversial Australian reality show that pairs couples in arranged marriage premiered in New Zealand on Monday. The documentary series, which will air on TV3, involves four men and four women being paired off by relationship experts and meeting each other for the first time at the altar. The show, Married at First Sight, then Read more
A former Catholic priest, now living in Nelson, has been charged with historic sex offences, including indecently assaulting young girls and rape. Peter Joseph Hercock, 71, a former chaplain at Sacred Heart College in Lower Hutt and administrator at a Nelson school, appeared in the Nelson District Court last week. He is charged with two Read more
The triennial NZ Catholic Education Convention, which brings together those involved in Catholic education in the broadest sense took place in Wellington this week. The New Zealand Catholic Bishops have been be in attendance throughout the convention which has been attended by teachers, principals, staff, Boards of Trustees, priests, advisors, adult educators and academics. This Read more
Last weekend two Marist Sisters were trapped in a lift in the their house, Casa Suore Mariste on Via Aurelia in Rome, for three days. The outgoing Superior General of the Marist Sisters, Sr Jane Frances O’Carroll, who is a New Zealander, and the outgoing secretary general, Sr Miriam McManus from Ireland, were minding the Read more
A petition due to be presented to Parliament could be the catalyst for a fresh debate on voluntary euthanasia. Labour’s Iain Lees-Galloway says the End of Life Choice Society petition will be tabled at the first opportunity in Parliament and will go straight to a select committee. An editorial under the heading, the devil is in the Read more
The county’s largest Bible in Schools provider has won the right to weigh in on a legal stoush over religious instruction in primary schools. The Churches Education Commission (CEC) was granted a say in the landmark case in the High Court at Auckland today. The spat is between Jeff McClintock, who says his daughter was Read more
Investigations have begun after Auckland Council upset the Hindu community by trying to hold the Auckland Diwali celebrations a month before the actual religious festival. Diwali, the Hindu festival celebrating victory of light over darkness, falls on November 11 this year. However, the council-controlled Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (Ateed) had planned to hold Read more