New Zealand has a reputation for treating Rugby as the national religion but they have not gone quite as far as a parish in the UK. The parish hall in St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Bracknell UK is sporting a painting of recently retired captain of the Irish team, Brian O’Driscoll. He has been included Read more
The third Prevent People Trafficking Conference to be held in New Zealand took place in Porirua on June 5th and 6th. The conference was attended by representatives from ANZRATH (Aotearoa New Zealand Religious against Trafficking in Humans) ANZRATH is a group made up of New Zealand religious from a variety of congregations based in Auckland Sister Read more
The 10th annual New Zealand Diversity Forum will be held in Christchurch 24 $ 25 August The forum’s theme is Migrant and refugee employment. Valuing diversity is a key issue, given the rebuild being undertaken in the Canterbury region and increased recruitment of migrant workers to help drive the rebuild. The forum will include a Read more
New Zealand will be made made up of a people of multiple “national” identities and its population growth may be entirely dependent on immigration, says a new study. The report – Our Futures: Te Pae Tawhiti – released today by an expert panel of the Royal Society of New Zealand, analysed data from the 2013 Census and Read more
Former Football Ferns player Melissa Ray and sales representative Natasha (Tash) Vitali won a ZM Radio competition to have an all-expenses-paid wedding in the Unitarian Church in Ponsonby at 8am on the day same sex marriage became legal last August. They went by horse-drawn carriage to a reception at the Cloud on the Auckland waterfront, Read more
The recently established Vatican Commission on safeguarding and care of abuse victims has discussed membership issues, and is looking to add some members especially from those areas that are not represented now, Africa, Asia and Oceania. In an interview on Vatican Radio Fr Hans Zoller said that at its most recent meeting the commission “discussed Read more
The Emeritus Coadjutor Bishop of Palmerston North, New Zealand, Owen Dolan, is celebrating sixty years of priesthood. There will be a Mass celebrating the occasion at 6pm on Monday 21 July 2014 in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Broadway Ave, Palmerston North. Bishop Dolan was Born in Palmerston North on 30 September 1928 and was Read more
The Chief of the New Zealand Army, Major General Dave Gawn MBE and Roman Catholic Bishop to the Military, Archbishop John Dew, along with the Catholic community gathered for the blessing and unveiling of a bronze Risen Christ. The bronze of the figure of the Risen Christ is a tribute to the Catholic military chaplains Read more
St Mary of the Angels Church, Erskine Convent and St Gerard’s Monastery are among the 137 heritage buildings considered earthquake prone. Questions are now being asked about which of Wellington city’s earthquake prone buildings should be saved. A total of 5184 pre-1976 buildings have been examined, with 684 deemed earthquake prone as at June 30. Read more
A total of 535 years of priestly ministry was celebrated in Auckland as 13 priests were acknowledged and appreciated for their years of service to the faithful. Msgr Paul Farmer, chairman of the Council of Priests, said the celebration of their brother priests’ jubilees is a significant day that no priest dare miss. Continue reading