An English bishop has placed his diocese on “environmental alert” in response to Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’. Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth said Laudato Si’ should change the way Catholics think, act and pray. In a pastoral message for the first World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on September 1, Bishop Read more
News Shorts
Easter trading takes away choice from working families
Friday, August 28th, 2015
“We know from long experience how precious our few remaining shop-free days are for families and communities,” says Caritas Director Julianne Hickey. She was responding to the announcement by the Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Woodhouse that The Government will change “arbitrary” national Easter Sunday trading restrictions and put the onus on local councils Read more
Maori Church leaders back current national flag with rousing haka
Friday, August 28th, 2015Maori Anglican Church leaders launched into a “spontaneous” and “thunderous” haka after voting to support the current New Zealand flag. About 160 people met at the church’s synod in Wellington this month, where the possibility of changing the flag was raised and discussed. The church unanimously voted to support keeping the current flag, arguing it Read more
Cardinal: Laudato Si’ comparable to Rerum Novarum
Tuesday, August 25th, 2015An Italian cardinal has said Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’ is comparable to Leo XIII’s groundbreaking social encyclical Rerum Novarum. In a front page article in L’Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti wrote that in 1891, Pope Leo “turned the maternal gaze of the Church” to the labour question. This was during the transition away from Read more
Vatican workers listed among users of Ashley Madison site
Tuesday, August 25th, 2015People working at the Vatican are reportedly among the 37 million users of infidelity website Ashley Madison. Websites of at least two dozen people with the .va address are among those who had signed up to meet married people for liaisons. Hackers from the “Impact Team” posted to the Internet a huge file including names, Read more
Hilton Worldwide to remove hotel room pornography
Tuesday, August 25th, 2015An advocacy group has reported that hotel and resort chain Hilton Worldwide is to remove on-demand pornography from its hotel rooms. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation publicly thanked Hilton Worldwide for this. In 2012, Catholic law professor Robert George of Princeton teamed up with prominent Muslim intellectual Shaykh Hamza Yusuf in writing letters to Read more
New Zealanders still choosing the religious life
Tuesday, August 25th, 2015Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report briefly profiled the New Zealanders who are in the process joining communities of religious. One woman and two men briefly spoke about their motivation and about their experience of living in a community. The report noted that while there are not lot of people opting for religious life these days, Read more
Retired bishop banned from petrol station in Coromandel
Tuesday, August 25th, 2015A retired bishop has been banned from his local petrol station, which has had eggs thrown at it and horse manure dumped in the forecourt. Bruce Gilberd, former Anglican Bishop of Auckland, has been trespassed from the Gull Service Station in Tairua with his wife Pat and three others in the small Coromandel town. The Read more
Destiny launches third bid for charter status
Tuesday, August 25th, 2015Destiny Church will make a controversial fresh bid to open a charter school. Ministry of Education bosses previously rejected an application from the church, amid concerns students would be pressured into joining the Brian Tamaki-led movement. Papers detailing the rejection revealed ministry reservations over Destiny’s belief that identity as God’s child was more important than Read more