A Marist brother has be found guilty of indecent assault The actions of Brother Patrick Bignell, 69, had a considerable “adverse impact” on each of his three teenaged male victims a judge said as she sentenced him on Friday to eight months’ home detention and ordered him to pay $8000 each to two of the victims Read more
The head of the Pontifical Council for the Family has been dropped from a criminal investigation into a real estate deal. An Italian judge ruled Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia was completely uninvolved in a scheme to buy a 14th-century castle and then re-sell it at a profit. The judge made the decision after a public prosecutor’s Read more
Church authorities fear that a new Psychoactive Substances Bill in Britain could lead to the banning of the use of incense in church worship. The bill as it currently stands is worded so broadly that the use of incense in worship would be an unwitting casualty of the new legislation. The Churches’ Legislation Advisory Service, Read more
The Archbishop of Canterbury has offered to host one or two refugee families in a cottage in the grounds of his Lambeth Palace residence. A spokesman for Archbishop Justin Welby noted that Jesus was a refugee. The spokesman said a four-bedroom cottage at Lambeth Palace in London could house a “family or two”, adding that Read more
There has been a big jump in the number of New Zealanders not giving to charity, a University of Otago study shows. The University of Otago New Zealand Consumer Lifestyles Study, published late last month, reveals the percentage of people never giving to charity has doubled. “I suspect it is about their ability to give, Read more
First class seats, Greek resorts, a penthouse suite in a Miami hotel and gambling in Las Vegas – it’s not the typical life of a church leader. A photo of Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki was uploaded to Facebook on Saturday night by an onlooker who saw him gambling. “What does Brian Tamaki of Destiny’s Read more
Marist School has worked hard to raise the money through their annual Mission Market and now it will be put to good use. Leanne and Matthew Prichard, along with their children Louis, Fenn and Nina will personally ensure the funds are delivered safely to Mulemi Community School in Zambia. A sum this size is likely to Read more
Pope Francis is putting up a Syrian refugee family from Damascus in a Vatican apartment, aides revealed last week. The Christian family is the first of two that the Catholic leader has promised to find space for in the Vatican’s two parishes. This is part of a broader Church effort to help shape Europe’s response Read more
A German bishop going to the synod on the family has proposed that the Catholic Church might offer ‘private blessings’ to same sex couples. Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabruck said it was possible to see strengths as well as weaknesses in both gay relationships and in those of cohabiting heterosexuals. He said that the Catholic Read more
A Catholic congressman is to boycott Pope Francis’s address to the US Congress later this month because of the Pontiff’s views on the environment. Paul Gosar from Arizona said he would boycott the address on September 24, because he believed it would mostly be about climate change. “ . . . When the Pope chooses Read more