Whangarei teacher Nigel Studdart, who lost his job at a Catholic school for taking a public stand on gay rights, is considering legal action. The science teacher was dismissed from Pompallier College for helping students stage a peaceful protest against comments made by the principal about gay marriage and gay parenting. Continue reading
A former Catholic school in Dunedin is about to become home to a secondary boarding school for Muslim boys. The former St Patrick’s Primary School has been sold by the Dunedin Catholic Diocese to the Al-Noor Charitable Trust – a Christchurch-based charity established to form Islamic education institutions in New Zealand. Continue reading
Last week more than 1400 New Zealanders attempted to live below the extreme-poverty line and make do with only $2.25 worth of food and drink for each of five days. Their efforts raised almost $300,000 for charity. The challenge was to put yourself in the shoes of 1.4 billion others who are forced to live Read more
Rotorua will once again celebrate the richness of Deepawali festival on Saturday, 6 October 2012 at the Rotorua Convention Centre. This year the theme of the festival is ‘Unity in Diversity‘. In the first year, a message of healthy lifestyle and care for the environment was promoted through Smoke-free, Alcohol-free and Meat-free festival, which is also in accordance Read more
Family First NZ says that a Research NZ poll shows that support for gay marriage has dropped to less than 50%, down 11% from a similar poll in 2011. “Only 49% of the 500 respondents said that they were in favour of same sex couples being allowed to marry. This is down from 60% in Read more
The God business is going gang-busters at City Impact Church and its Queenstown branch. In the year to last December, revenue at the pay-to-pray religious network topped an unprecedented $10 million – up $2.7m or 36 per cent. According to freshly-filed financials, tithes – a 10 per cent worship tax labelled “donations” – accounted for Read more
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and reflect on the major changes it brought to consecrated life, the Vatican’s congregation for religious has overhauled the course it offers on theology and canon law. The Second Vatican Council’s call for religious to return to the founding inspiration of their orders and, at Read more
By a vote of 50-49, the Uruguayan congress passed a law during a late-night session on Sept. 25 legalizing abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy. The legislation now goes to the senate for approval and must be signed by President Jose Mujica, who has already voiced his support for the measure. It passed Read more
Western secularism underlies the worldwide economic crisis and challenges the future of Ukraine, the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church told Canada’s bishops. “The current economic crisis is merely the symptom of a much deeper spiritual and cultural crisis,” Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk told the annual plenary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops Sept. 25. Read more
Construction of the transitional cardboard cathedral in Christchurch is due to get under way in earnest today. The temporary church will be built on St John’s Latimer Square, which before the earthquake had been home to the city’s earliest stone church. The concrete foundation was being poured at the site on Monday. Continue reading