Former Prime Minister, and constitutional lawyer Sir Geoffrey Palmer is supporting Lecretia Seales in her attempt to clarify the law in a way that would allow her GP to help her to die. Palmer was sitting with her family and friends in the jury box when the case began in the High Court in Wellington Read more
New Zealand is the best place on Earth to be a prostitute, says a local sex workers’ advocate. Catherine Healey, New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective national co-ordinator, told an Australian news website New Zealand was the best country to work in the sex industry. She said laws here around sex work were the world’s most effective Read more
Destiny Church is circulating images of wads of cash and the Twitter hashtag “#iwannagive” to followers before its annual conference. Hundreds are expected to attend next weekend’s conference at the church’s “City of God” headquarters in South Auckland. On Friday, Tamaki tweeted to his 3344 followers a photo of wads of freshly minted $100 notes, Read more
Facebook is Catholic and Twitter is Protestant, according to a UK Catholic priest and moral theologian. Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith wrote that for “a digital illustration of respective theological worldviews, look at the two giants of social media”. The priest wrote that Facebook is “cheerful, friendly, conciliatory” and “tells the faithful how they must proceed step Read more
Hundreds of San Francisco Catholics showed their support for embattled Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone at a picnic event last weekend. Eva Muntean, marketing manager at Ignatius Press and a co-chair of the annual Walk for Life in San Francisco, organised the picnic in response to the criticism the archbishop has faced. Archbishop Cordileone said he attended Read more
Pope Francis has named a former head of the Dominicans, Fr Timothy Radcliffe, to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Master of the Dominicans between 1992 and 2001, Fr Radcliffe will serve as a consultor on the pontifical council. The council is the Vatican body devoted to social justice and human rights. Fr Radcliffe Read more
The Children’s Commissioner wants a rethink of universal services such as pensions and free children’s healthcare so more public spending can go to the neediest families. The commissioner, Hastings children’s doctor Russell Wills, hoped the Budget to start a national “conversation” about how to use limited public spending to best effect. “We need all taxpayers’ Read more
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the number of refugees who are allowed to settle here should be greatly increased. The Northland MP, who is well known for his opposition to current immigration levels, believes New Zealand’s refugee quota should be increased by at least a third. There is currently an annual limit of Read more
A former Hunter Valley Catholic brother extradited from New Zealand to face child sexual abuse charges has had his case adjourned to allow for ongoing negotiations. Bernard Kevin McGrath, 67, is facing 252 child sex offences relating to 35 victims and dating back to the 1970s. McGrath’s case was mentioned briefly in Newcastle Local Court Read more
Germany’s main lay Catholic organisation has called for a raft of new pastoral practices concerning marriage and sexuality. The Zentralkomitee der deutschen Katholiken (Central Committee of the German Catholics) called for the admittance of civilly remarried divorcees to Communion, acceptance of all forms of cohabitation, the blessing of same-sex couples and the reconsideration of the Church’s teaching Read more