The newly ordained bishop of Vietnam’s largest Catholic diocese has paid a visit to a major seminary and urged the future priests to be missionaries to preach the Good News to cultures and ethnicities at home and abroad. Bishop Dominic Hoang Minh Tien of Hung Hoa Diocese visited Bui Chu Major Seminary in neighbouring Bui Read more
A course that explores conflict, forgiveness, and reconciliation is to be offered in prisons, after its launch by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The course is based on the five-part Difference Course, which “equips you to see transformation through everyday encounters”. The team behind the Difference Course worked with prison chaplains, and conducted trials in prisons, Read more
Video footage released by a rights group showing a Thai soldier destroying a bamboo footbridge used by refugees from Myanmar to cross into Thailand has raised concerns over rights violations. In a segment of a 16-minute video posted online after being filmed from the Myanmar side of the Wa Le River, which separates the two Read more
Catholics in northern Vietnam who endured pain and suffering caused by wars, natural disasters and religious persecution have witnessed the opening of a new church. Cardinal Peter Nguyen Van Nhon, emeritus archbishop of Hanoi, formally blessed the new church – in Vinh Lai Subparish in Vu Ban district of Nam Dinh province – on May Read more
A housing project aimed at helping people living in emergency accommodation move into stable housing has started construction in Nelson. The Cabins for Community project would see eight single-room cabins placed at 236 Vanguard Street on land owned by Victory Community Anglican Church. Under the direction of the Salvation Army’s Housing First programme, people living Read more
Fiji has been ranked as the worst place in the Pacific region for journalists in the latest assessment by global press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF). In RSF’s 2022 World Press Freedom Index released this week, Fiji was placed 102 out of 180 countries – receiving an overall score of 56.91 out of 100. Read more
Health Minister Andrew Little is facing calls to release the final report from a review of Pharmac. The Independent Pharmac Review Panel’s final report has not yet been released, though the Government has received it. An interim report released last year found the strategy of the drug-buying agency disadvantaged Māori, Pasifika, disabled people and those Read more
The Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering inspectorate, Moneyval, has ended more than a decade of special measures and inspections over Vatican institutions, upgrading the Holy See to the watchdog’s ordinary process of assessments and evaluation to “regular” status. The move comes after Moneyval offered a broadly positive assessment of financial security progress made at the Read more
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops announced to staff on 4 May a dramatic reorganisation of its communications department, including the closure of the Washington and New York offices of Catholic News Service. In meetings with newsroom staff, James Rogers, the chief communications officer of the conference, said that the Washington office would be closed Read more
Women training for stipendiary ministry at St Padarn’s Institute, Cardiff, are now in a majority, outnumbering men by 18 to eight. Three of the women are under 30 — deemed good news for the age profile; a further three are between 30 and 39; six are 40-49; four are 50-59; and two are between 60 Read more