Odd Spot

Sacha Baron Cohen donates $193K to church of woman who unknowingly appeared in Borat

Monday, November 2nd, 2020

Actor Sacha Baron Cohen, who stars in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, donated $193,000 to the church of a woman who believed she was taking part in a documentary but instead was being featured in the mockumentary comedy film. Read more

Pope Francis meme has some critics

Thursday, October 22nd, 2020

A new Pope Francis meme using Twitter’s tiled image format to make it look like the pontiff is holding up various things, ranging from The Lion King’s Simba to Baby Yoda has divided opinion on social media. “The pope meme is not funny. If you’re Catholic (or anyone who desires to have a modicum of Read more

Jobless marriage celebrant finds future career with redundant embalmer

Monday, October 19th, 2020

A wedding celebrant whose business dried up during the Covid-19 outbreak has teamed up with a funeral director who lost her job during lockdown to forge a new future. Glennys Logan – who was the most popular wedding celebrant in New Zealand when her Central Otago business was thriving in January – was forced to Read more

Voting in a church could influence how you vote

Thursday, October 15th, 2020

The location of the voting booth, research says, could affect which boxes we tick on the day. Voting in a church could affect more conservative candidates and issues, like our euthanasia and cannabis referendums. Physically being at a church, it seems, makes people more likely to follow church norms unconsciously. Voting in a school, for Read more

Catholic Social Service gets help from Amazon to end homelessness.

Monday, October 12th, 2020

More than 10,000 Anchorage families live in poverty, with a looming risk of homelessness, and hundreds more already stay in temporary shelters, a number expected to rise amid the coronavirus pandemic. With grant funding from Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos, Catholic Social Services expects to make a serious dent in Anchorage’s home crisis as it Read more

Dad ‘Literally Saved Christianity’ – Eric Trump

Thursday, October 8th, 2020

Eric Trump has added a new fake achievement to his dad’s collection. He claimed during a radio interview in North Dakota last week that his father, President Donald Trump, “literally saved Christianity.” Read more 

Luxury handbags for those in need

Monday, October 5th, 2020

A hundred Yu Mei handbags will go on sale for reduced prices at the Wellington City Mission today, as the luxury leather goods label partners with the mission for a new campaign. The bags will be donated to the Wellington City Mission’s Taranaki Street store and sold at a cheaper price than usual on Saturday, Read more

Bless me, Father…this is my first drive-through confession

Thursday, October 1st, 2020

Rita Buettner says because of the COVID-19 pademic she had not been to confession for a long time. She decided to try to find a way to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. She tried out to a drive-through confession on Saturday afternoon St. John’s in Westminster, Md. Read more

Auckland liturgy conference postponed

Thursday, October 1st, 2020

The Worshipping Under Southern Skies 2020 conference, scheduled to be held in Auckland in early October this year, has been postponed for a year because of uncertainty over Covid-19 restrictions. The conference, which had a theme of “Weaving together Liturgy and Life”, was scheduled to be held at Auckland’s Baradene College on October 1-3, 2020. Read more

Jesus and John Wayne: A Christian can be a “good guy with a gun

Thursday, September 24th, 2020

According to Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of “Jesus and John Wayne: How Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation,” the idea that a Christian can be a “good guy with a gun” is well-established in many white evangelical communities. But critics wonder how people who claim to worship Jesus Christ  – who taught Read more