Persistent child poverty rates in Aotearoa New Zealand signal a failure to recognise the legal rights of the child consistent with the Articles of the UN Convention, according to a report by Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG). CPAG is concerned groups of children have been ‘left behind’ in recent attempts to reduce poverty, and more Read more
New Zealand
More New Zealanders working more than one job, data shows
Thursday, April 20th, 2023Inflation pressures are probably prompting a growing number of people to take on a second job or start a side hustle, commentators say. Inland Revenue has released data under the Official Information Act showing the number of New Zealanders working more than one job has increased by more than 40,000 in six years. In the Read more
Validity of Oceania synod discernment in question
Monday, April 17th, 2023
The validity of the Vatican’s Oceania Synod Continent phase of Pope Francis’ Synod on Synodality is being questioned by the report itself. “The Vatican’s fictional construct, a new continent it calls Oceania, may have been a step too far” a seasoned observer of Church politics told CathNews. The Vatican’s “Oceania Continent” occupies 33% of the Read more
Royal Commission’s repeated delays insult abuse survivors
Monday, April 17th, 2023
The Royal Commission into Abuse in Care’s repeated delays in producing its report insult abuse survivors. That’s what Lake Alice survivor Paul Zentveld said when he heard the Government had extended the Commission’s report deadline for a second time. The high-level inquiry was due to hand over its report by June this year. It will Read more
Māngere mum faces crippling debt after flooding ruins her state house
Monday, April 17th, 2023A mother of four has been plunged further into debt after her government-provided home was ruined in the Auckland floods. Jayde Jones’s Kāinga Ora home was built on a flood plain, and lifted off its foundations when a historic deluge swept across the city. Jones believes the state housing agency should pay to replace her Read more
Stats show no change in child poverty
Monday, April 17th, 2023There has been no real improvement to the proportion of our tamariki living in poverty according to the recently released 2021/22 Child Poverty Statistics for Aotearoa. About one in 10 children experience material hardship where their households cannot afford things like regular healthy food, doctors’ visits or to pay their power bills on time, according Read more
Taranaki Whānui eye St Mary of the Angels
Monday, April 3rd, 2023
Taranaki Whānui is eying St Mary of the Angels and St Patrick’s College Silverstream land as way of giving meaning to the Vatican disowning the Doctrine of Discovery. The Doctrine is a 15th-century policy backed by “papal bulls” that legitimised the colonial-era seizure of Native lands. The New Zealand Catholic Bishops say they have been Read more
Christchurch diocese publishes the letter
Monday, April 3rd, 2023
Three days after not allowing the printing or publication of a letter concerning parish restructuring and rebuilding a new Cathedral, bishop of Christchurch, Michael Gielen, released the letter. The 29 March move came after there was considerable interest in the letter’s contents, particularly from Catholics who could not be at Mass on the Sunday it Read more
Wairoa’s Catholic school opens to state school pupils
Monday, April 3rd, 2023
Over a month after the floods that demolished swathes of the North Island, Wairoa’s Catholic school is home to 80 extra pupils from nearby Nuhaka. In a state common to many small settlements after Cyclone Gabrielle, the small Nuhaka settlement 30 kilometres north of Wairoa lost essential services and its wastewater and sewage systems were Read more
Oceania bishops complete the response to Synod’s working document
Monday, April 3rd, 2023Representatives of the four Catholic bishops’ conferences in Oceania have approved the region’s final response to the Continental Stage working document published last October for the Synod of Bishops for a Synodal Church. The Oceania response will be sent to the Synod Secretariat in Rome before this week’s deadline, and be published during the week Read more