Odd Spot

Wairarapa farmer disturbed by the sound of people singing hymns

Thursday, April 30th, 2020

A Wairarapa farmer has been complaining about hearing unfamiliar singing coming from behind his house. A group of Fijian workers had caused an unusual disturbance by gathering to pray and sing hymns. Read more

Woman thinks piano in ruined church needs to be played

Thursday, April 23rd, 2020

Josh Roe was live for newscasts at Faith Community Wesleyan Church. It is one of the many buildings destroyed by the Easter storms. Tracy Coats saw the piano in the rubble and told Josh that she felt it just needed to be played. Read more

An open letter to Catholics from church mice

Monday, April 20th, 2020

Amid the pandemic, you have prayed for doctors, nurses, grocery store workers, priests and religious. You even, amazingly, invoke grace upon politicians before remembering us, who are right under your noses. We church mice always made a good living from the Cheerios the Nelson kids dropped in the fourth pew during 10 a.m. Mass. And Read more

Vatican censors Pope’s joke about whisky being the real holy water

Monday, April 20th, 2020

Footage of Pope Francis holding up a bottle of Scotch whisky and jokingly describing it as “the real holy water” was cut by the Vatican from a documentary on Scots College seminarians in Rome. Read more

Bishop takes to a helicopter to bless his people

Thursday, April 16th, 2020

Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria took to the skies via a helicopter on Good Friday, April 10, to offer a blessing to the entire Diocese of Peoria as well as to pray for all affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Read more

The 10 best Irish movies of all time

Monday, April 6th, 2020

What makes a movie stay in your memory and you watch it over and over again? Ireland has a proud tradition of producing some of the industries finest films; films that have gained worldwide popular and critical acclaim. Read more

The world’s only motorbike temple

Friday, April 3rd, 2020

Plenty of motorbike riders are devoted to their bikes. But few worship them with quite the same intensity as the Royal Enfield Bullet at Om Banna, a shrine just south of Jodhpur in India’s Rajasthan. read more

Coronavirus changes Lent: Some bishops permit Catholics to eat meat on Fridays

Monday, March 30th, 2020

In many of the resources available from the United States, you will hear/read that one of the practices of Lent is abstinence – refraining from the eating of meat on Fridays. Read more In New Zealand, the days of abstinence are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday ONLY. The website of the Auckland diocese notes: The Read more

Evangelicals say this not the end of the world

Thursday, March 26th, 2020

The worldwide upheaval caused by the fast-spreading novel coronavirus pandemic has many people reaching for their Bibles, and some starting to wonder: Could this be a sign of the end of the world? Read more

Pastor preaches to a church full of photos

Monday, March 23rd, 2020

Rev. Carl Ruby’s assistant taped photos of church members to the pews so he was not preaching to an empty church. Read more Scroll down