Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Berlin has declined a nomination for the 2012 Respect Award by the Berlin Alliance Against Homophobia (Buendnis gegen Homophobie) for being the first high-ranking figure in the Catholic Church to speak out in favour of a “new cooperation with homosexuals in society”. The cardinal said that as a Catholic, respect Read more
The Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Reverend Rowan Williams and his wife Dr Jane Williams will land in Port Moresby at dawn on Saturday as part of a five day tour of the country. “I am delighted to be visiting Papua New Guinea and to be able to experience at first-hand the remarkable life of the Read more
Today I have had a couple of interviews, one with Radio Vaticana and one with the London Tablet. Both the reporters asked whether or not there was any one particular intervention that has spoken loud and clear to me, and of course what the general themes of the Synod are. So I have been thinking Read more
Victims of a major employee theft at the Hibernian Catholic Benefit Society could get an early Christmas present after a settlement was reached with insurers. A letter to members from Gordon Stewart, the Wellington lawyer who became president of the society in July, revealed that its former fidelity insurers had agreed to pay out $200,000. Read more
A two day workshop on Channels of Hope for Gender was recently conducted for Church leaders from the Anglican Church and South Sea Evangelical Church (SSEC), the two major denominations in the Solomon Islands. The workshop was held to encourage the churches to take the lead in advocating against Gender Based Violence in families and Read more
Lutheran Shipping chief executive officer Agua Nombri has been suspended following continuous pressure from the company’s seafarers for him to be removed. In the seafarers’ meeting last Friday at the company wharf at Voco Point in Lae, Morobe, the chairman of nominees, Titi Christian, said the decision was effective as of Friday. The company is Read more
A legal battle to save Christ Church Cathedral is set to rage on after high-profile Auckland lawyer Mai Chen claimed the demolition order may be unlawful. Campaign group Restore Christchurch Cathedral sought advice from Chen’s firm ChenPalmer to back up action taken by the Great Christchurch Buildings Trust (GCBT), which this month sought a binding Read more
The Green Party will not support a bill by a Labour MP which would require the Law Commission to review the adoption laws. Both Labour and the Greens say the adoption laws are out of date and propose changes that would legalise gay, whangai and de facto adoptions. But Green MP, Kevin Hague, said Jacinda Read more
In a first for the Pacific, twenty four police officers from Samoa and 6 from Cook Islands, Kiribati and Tuvalu have just completed a Sexual Offences First Response Workshop. The workshop was the first one of its kind ever provided to police in the Pacific islands region. It was funded under Australia’s Pacific Police Development Read more
Destiny Church’s Bishop Brian Tamaki is calling on hundreds of skilled tradespeople and labour from within church ranks to build a new school in two months over summer. The church is moving from its Mt Wellington base to its “City of God” site at Druces Rd in Manukau. The first stage includes a new auditorium, Read more