The new Archbishop of Sydney has urged disillusioned Catholic to return and “help us to be a better Church”. At his installation Mass last week, Archbishop Anthony Fisher vowed to improve the Church’s record on safeguarding children. He said the Church would emerge from a period of intense public scrutiny about clerical child abuse “humbler, Read more
New guidelines for sex education will be released in a few weeks, but the Government will shy away from ordering schools to teach more than basic biology. The Ministry of Education is due to release the new blueprint in December, nine months after an advisory panel recommended teens be taught respectful attitudes as a core Read more
Leading public lawyer Mai Chen says New Zealand’s 2007 changes to smacking law have criminalised “good parents”. A legal opinion signed by Ms Chen for the lobby group Family First says case law since Section 59 of the Crimes Act was changed have confirmed that is now illegal for parents to use force against a Read more
Kenya’s Catholic bishops have charged that a tetanus vaccine used in a national campaign has been laced with a contraceptive hormone. The vaccination campaign, sponsored by the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, is aimed at girls and women of reproductive age. The bishops said four independent laboratory tests in Kenya and elsewhere showed the vaccine Read more
Pope Francis has received Ireland’s new ambassador to the Holy See, ending a three year hiatus in which the ambassador was based in Dublin. In 2011, the Irish government closed its Vatican embassy after Prime Minister Enda Kenny accused the Holy See of deliberately thwarting a probe into sex abuse allegations. The Vatican had strongly Read more
A letter from Catherine of Aragon asking a pope to block King Henry VIII’s attempts to annul their marriage is to be auctioned in Paris. The letter is part of about 1500 documents written by women throughout history which are going under the auctioneer’s hammer next week. Catherine’s letter is addressed to Cardinal Francisco de Read more
A leading Maori historian says the churches have an ongoing responsibility to the Treaty of Waitangi. Manuka Henare presented his thoughts to a recent church hui at Manukau Institute of Technology on the treaty and theology. He says it was a chance to review the greater understanding historians now have of the early contacts between Read more
Labour leadership contender Andrew Little says he does not want a colleague to restart the highly divisive debate on legalising euthanasia when the party is trying to restore confidence with voters. Labour’s Palmerston North MP Iain Lees-Galloway has taken over responsibility for the End of Life Choice Bill after sponsor Maryan Street failed to get Read more
A priest has been suspended in Fiji after a video showing him engaged in sexual acts, with a church member, went viral. Archbishop Peter Loy Chong yesterday confirmed that a priest had been removed from office. Archbishop Chong said the moment the Church was made aware of the video they “did not sweep the matter Read more
A Kenyan Catholic priest has been sentenced to death for the murder of his bishop. Fr Guyo Wago Malley and four other men were sentenced over the murder of Bishop Luigi Locati of Isiolo in 2005. The execution was stayed last week to give the men an opportunity to file an appeal within 14 days. Read more