Auckland City Missioner Diane Robertson has said her staff have reported a rise in clients showing symptoms of solvent abuse. However, it was too early to indicate it is linked to withdrawal from synthetic highs, as many of her clients have stockpiled the drugs, she said. Mrs Robertson said she is monitoring a group of Read more
Pope Francis is to beatify his predecessor Pope Paul VI on October 19, the Vatican has confirmed. The Vatican announced that Francis has approved a decree attributing a miracle to the intercession of the Italian pope, and his beatification will take place at the conclusion of the bishops’ synod on the family. On May 6, Read more
Two hundred and twenty Anglican bishops, clergy and lay people from throughout New Zealand and the Pacific are at Waitangi to thrash out the direction the church will take in the next couple of years. Over the next three days, they will discuss its role in helping alleviate child poverty, and where it goes in Read more
Argentina’s Catholic bishops have spoken out about violence that is besetting their nation. In a statement released at their recent annual conference, the bishops said “We notice with pain and concern that Argentina is sick with violence. Some symptoms are clear, others more subtle”. “Criminal acts have not only risen in number, but in aggressiveness; a Read more
A new Australian mockumentary has been condemned as “self indulgent” and “deeply offensive” to Pacific Islanders. Chris Lilley’s comedy ‘Jonah from Tonga’ follows the life of a rebellious 14-year-old schoolboy and his run-ins with family, friends and teachers. Professor Helen Lee is the Head of La Trobe University’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology. She’s spent Read more
Anton Ngoc Thanh, a Vietnamese Redemptorist priest, has been listed in as one of 100 information heroes by Reporters Without Borders. Fr Thanh has worked for Vietnam Redemptorist News since the 1990s and has often had problems with authorities in the communist-run nation. Last year, he was arrested during a demonstration in support of an Read more
Employing people from all corners of the globe has many benefits, according to Mt Albert Pak ‘n Save owner-operator Brian Carran. The supermarket won the Equal Employment Opportunities Trust diversity award for innovation in 2005 after Carran set up a prayer room for Muslim staff. “It’s just good business,” he says. “It’s just being a Read more
The growing atheist Sunday Assembly movement has held its first general meeting to try to set up a system of church-like management. Organisers say the process is comparable to the Church of England’s General Synod. After only 16 months, the UK-based Sunday Assembly predicts it will have 100 congregations in five continents by the end Read more
A Māori Presbyterian Church leader says he will join the push for an annual national commemoration day to remember the New Zealand Wars. Reverend Wayne Te Kaawa, the moderator of the church’s Māori synod, backs the calls made last month by the Waikato-Tainui leader Tukoroirangi Morgan. Te Kaawa says, “This is no longer a Māori Read more
At the end of 2012, there were 1.228 billion Catholics in the world, according to the newly-published Statistical Yearbook of the Church. This was an increase of 14 million (1.14 per cent) on the previous year. Catholics as a percentage of the global population remained essentially unchanged from the previous year at around 17.5 per Read more