A liquid accelerant was mostly likely used to start a fire that damaged a historic Mt Eden church hall beyond repair, an investigation has concluded. A report by Fire and Emergency NZ, released to the Herald on Sunday under the Official Information Act, has classified the fire as “incendiary”. “The cause of this fire is Read more
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Poland has condemned attempts to damage the status of his former superior, St John Paul II, and rejected calls for his de-canonisation for ignoring sex abuse in the Catholic Church. “John Paul II was a man of the Second Vatican Council, which shaped his thinking about the Church and contemporary world”, Read more
A survey of schools has exposed a yawning gap in home internet access for school students in rich and poor New Zealand families. The survey found that at one in six of the country’s poorest schools, less than a quarter of students had access to internet at home. Read more
Scott Morrison has hit back at a series of uncomfortable questions about whether he believes God will decide the election outcome by saying he is running for Prime Minister not Pope in the 2019 Federal Election. Speaking with ABC Adelaide on Tuesday, Mr Morrison was pressed on whether he thought the outcome of Saturday’s election Read more
Across the country, five major groups like the one in Hastings have sprung up in recent years for people wanting to build and customise their caskets. They’re called coffin clubs, and members have a range of motivations, from thumbing a nose at death to warding off loneliness to cutting funeral costs. Read more
In a message for Islam’s holy month of Ramadan and Id al-Fitr, the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue has released a message, urging Christians and Muslims worldwide to build bridges of brotherhood and promote the culture of dialogue. The Vatican is calling on Christians and Muslims worldwide to promote human fraternity and harmonious existence Read more
Brother Guy Consolmagno, the Vatican Astronomer believes Tekapo is one of the best places in the world for astronomy. “There’s few places where you can actually see the stars that brightly that the Milky Way casts a shadow. And you forget that’s the way the universe used to look to everybody before we filled the sky with Read more
Pope Francis has decided to authorize pilgrimages to Medjugorje, which can now be officially organized by dioceses and parishes and will no longer take place only in a private capacity which as has so far been the case. The Vatican says the papal authorization must be accompanied by “care to prevent these pilgrimages from being Read more
The New Zealand Institute of Architects’ Wellington branch announced the winners of their local awards on Wednesday, 8 May at the Parliament Buildings. Twenty-five projects were commended that “have changed the face of Wellington city and other regional centres. Bulleyment Fortune Architects and Ian Bowman, architectural conservator were the winners of the Heritage Award for Read more
In a first for Fiji, the government and the Seventh-Day Adventist Church will face off in court next week over the management of a school in the country’s north. The Education Ministry last month obtained a court order to prevent the church from taking over Vatuvonu College in Cakaudrove. The church’s general secretary, Joe Talemaitoga, Read more