Susie Scott, whose family has an association with the Teschemakers Catholic girls’ boarding school going back to its establishment in 1911, has now had a High Court decision which confirms the altar cannot be removed from the College chapel without a resource consent. The dispute dates from August, 2010 when contractors Naylor Love arrived to remove Read more
Former residents of a home for troubled kids have launched a $500,000 lawsuit against the Government for claims of physical and sexual abuse. Father Felix Donnelly, the Catholic priest and former talkback host who founded the home, said he was surprised the historic abuse claims had been brought. Eleven former residents of The Glade in Read more
The historic importance of two Auckland Catholic buildings has been recognised. The NZ Historic Places Trust recently registered Bishop’s House in Ponsonby, and St Benedict’s Church and presbytery, as Category 1 historic places, identifying them as places of outstanding heritage significance. Continue reading
A prominent Irish priest has resigned from the board of Dublin’s Mater Misericordiae University hospital after the hospital announced it would allow abortions in compliance with Ireland’s new law. Father Kevin Doran told the Irish Catholic that he left the governing board because “I can’t reconcile my own conscience with the statement, largely because I Read more
The prefect of the Vatican’s supreme tribunal, the Apostolic Signatura, says a “false sense of dialogue” has led to “grave scandal” on many Catholic college campuses in the United States. Cardinal Raymond Burke, said it is impossible to reconcile the Catholic identity of a Catholic college with decisions to honour political figures who have taken Read more
Evangelical Protestants are worse than Catholics in their response to sexual abuse, a law professor who investigates abuse has told a Religious Newswriters Association conference in the United States. “Protestants can be very arrogant when pointing to Catholics,” said Boz Tchividjian, a grandson of evangelist Billy Graham and executive director of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Read more
Converts to Christianity in Laos are facing eviction from their village because of their beliefs, according to a US rights group. Authorities in Huay village, Savannakhet province, accused the Protestant converts of conducting worship in their homes and said they must recant or be expelled, said Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF). The Read more
One of Saudi Arabia’s top conservative clerics has said women who drive risk damaging their ovaries and bearing children with clinical problems, countering activists who are trying to end the Islamic kingdom’s male-only driving rules. A campaign calling for women to defy the ban in a protest drive on October 26 has spread rapidly online Read more
Despite Pope Francis’ earlier remarks about opening up the Church, the Vatican has firmly shut the door on artist Gonzalo Orquin’s latest exhibit, “Trialogo,” scheduled to open at the Galleria L’Opera on Wednesday evening. The exhibit consists of photographs of same-sex couples kissing in churches mainly located in Rome, but the pictures have been covered Read more
Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, has awarded a scholarship to New Zealand-born Pacific Islander, Rachel Yates, to investigate the migration of young Pacific Islanders to Asia. Yates says she expects her PhD to take three year to complete but hopes it will motivate other New Zealand Pacific Islanders to study and travel abroad. Read More