Principal of St Mark’s Catholic Primary School in Pakuranga Catherine Rivers says the Ministry of Education needs to create a pay incentive to entice teachers to stay in Auckland. “When I was a beginning teacher you used to get a country incentive to go to a certain country and work,” she says. “Now I think Read more
A gathering of several of the Solomon Islands’ most eminent church elders has given ‘in principle’ support to a Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau strategy designed to grow the destination’s appeal to international travelers looking to have their wedding overseas. Representatives at the meeting included the South Seas Evangelical Church, the Solomon Islands’ United Church, the Read more
Pope Francis has made a key appointment that signals he wants a pastoral voice to be involved in the selection of bishops. The Pope has appointed Chicago’s Archbishop Blase Cupich to the Congregation for Bishops. Archbishop Cupich replaces the late Cardinal Francis George on the congregation. Continue reading
The Pope has clipped Cardinal George Pell’s wings by removing some of the administrative functions done by his department. Pope Francis essentially reversed a 2014 law that had transferred the main operational section of the patrimony office to the Australian cardinal’s Secretariat for the Economy as of Saturday. Francis said he is removing the tasks because Read more
The only New Zealander selected to produce artwork for the closing ceremony of the 800-year jubilee of the Dominican Order at the Santa Sabina Basilica in Rome in November had not painted a picture until she was 57. Now 78, Waimate-born Oamaru nun Sr Mary Horn is one of 16 sisters of the order around Read more
The Pacific Conference of Churches is backing a formal legal complaint to the UN Human Rights Council accusing Indonesia of human rights violations in West Papua. The Dutch human rights law firm, Prakken D’Oliveira, has submitted the complaint to the UN Human Rights Council. It details vast and continuing alleged human rights violations by the Read more
Items stolen from a church in Geraldine last month have been recovered, with some found scattered in a river in the Waimate district. Opihi parish property manager David Attwood said some of the items recovered had to be fished out of a river and that some had been damaged. A statue of an angel, a procession Read more
The Sisters of Mercy in the United States are among religious orders being asked to come to Rome for further conversation. This follows an apostolic visitation of women’s religious orders in the US several years ago. The Sisters of Mercy’s US communications director confirmed the request to visit Rome, but said there would be no further Read more
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a Brazilian archbishop who has been dogged by scandals and controversies. Archbishop Aldo di Cillo Pagotto, 66, from Paraíba has been accused of a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old male. The archbishop was also under investigation by a local prosecutor for alleged “connivance” in the sexual exploitation of Read more