News Shorts

Five couples publicly whipped for cuddling, holding hands

Thursday, March 21st, 2019

Five unmarried couples were whipped in Indonesia on Thursday after they were caught behaving amorously – a crime under the conservative region’s Islamic law. Read more

Joint Statement by National Church Leaders

Thursday, March 21st, 2019

The National Church Leaders gathered in Wellington today (Tuesday 19th March 2019) to express their profound horror at the terrible violence towards Muslim people in Christchurch mosques last Friday. We are deeply saddened by these tragic events and we strongly condemn these acts of racial hatred and murder. We feel very deeply for our fellow Read more

Superstition stops Mass

Monday, March 18th, 2019

Superstition is delaying the first Mass of a newly ordained priest. He also faces social exclusion in his eastern Indian village as Catholics now consider him a “bad omen” after 11 of his close relatives died in a road accident on his ordination day. Read more

Bishops’ Interfaith Committee call for renewed outreach

Monday, March 18th, 2019

New Zealand Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Interfaith Relations 18 March 2019 Dear brothers and sisters in Aotearoa New Zealand, It is with profound sadness that we grieve for the deaths and injury of Muslims in Christchurch through the violence of extremists. We grieve too for the loss of a sense of safety and peace for Read more

Poland reports 382 priests abused 625 minors

Monday, March 18th, 2019

The Catholic Church in Poland says they have recorded cases of 382 clergymen who have abused 625 victims under the age of 18 since 1990. The figure includes 198 priests and friars who abused minors under 15 years old and 184 clergy who abused victims between 15 and 18, according to Wojciech Sadlon, head of Read more

Mosque attacks: The youngest victim — a 3-year-old boy — ran toward the gunman

Monday, March 18th, 2019

When the gunman stormed into the mosque and started spraying bullets indiscriminately around the men’s section, little Mucad appeared to think it was a scene from the kind of video game his older brothers liked to play. He ran toward the gunman.  Amid the chaos, his father and brother ran in different directions. Read more

Vatican says China should not fear Church

Monday, March 18th, 2019

A Vatican official says China’s government should not fear “distrust or hostility” from the Roman Catholic Church, amid speculation over whether President Xi Jinping will meet Pope Francis this week. Read more

College to remove a photo of ex-rector who abused boys

Monday, March 18th, 2019

A Wellington Catholic high school has agreed to remove a photo in its auditorium of a proven sex abuser of multiple boys. It has been on display till now, despite the Marists in 2009 upholding a complaint from an ex-student that Father Durning sexually assaulted him. Read more

Cardinal Barbarin had already decided to resign

Thursday, March 14th, 2019

An auxiliary bishop of Lyon, Emmanuel Gobilliard, says it was not the 7 March court verdict that caused cardinal Philippe Barbarin to offer his resignation, but rather the court case itself. Even if he were not found guilty of failing to report clerical sex abuse, he had decided to resign. Gobilliard said Barbarin had confided Read more

9,000 religious venues will be lost by 2020

Thursday, March 14th, 2019

In Canada alone, 9,000 religious venues will be lost by 2020. The National Trust for Canada says this amounts to one-third of faith-based buildings. Their imminent closure is a result of funding shortfalls. Read more