Analysis and Comment

COVID enters its 5th year – won’t go away – NZ needs a realistic strategy

Thursday, February 29th, 2024
pandemic

February 28 marks four years since COVID-19 was first reported in Aotearoa New Zealand. Many of us are probably surprised this virus is still causing a pandemic. The World Health Organization refers to COVID-19 as a continuing pandemic. As Scientific American put it recently, it “has been the elephant in every room — sometimes confronted Read more

What is the future of Catholic journalism?

Thursday, February 29th, 2024
Catholic journalism

Earlier this month, the Peoria Diocese in Illinois announced it had closed its diocesan newspaper, to be replaced with eventual “new strategies in a wider communications plan,” according to its bishop. What “plays in Peoria,” however, is already part of a trend unlikely to slow: Bishops are cutting print publications or shuttering operations altogether, only Read more

Synodal vs traditional – Church at crossroads

Monday, February 26th, 2024
Synodal

The recent Vatican letter to the German Bishops’ Conference highlights the tension between a synodal, inclusive approach to Church governance involving bishops and laity and the traditional structures of clerical authority. This letter, and the broader debate it represents, is emblematic of a Church at a crossroads. It’s a Church grappling with the need to Read more

Biblical figures struggled with mental health, too

Monday, February 26th, 2024
mental health

I have a friend in Europe who can barely keep a job. She’s brilliant, well-educated, charming, and loaded with experience in all aspects of her profession. The problem is her emotional state, which, even with therapy and medication, is always one meltdown away from another pink slip. Another friend who went to school with me Read more

Ex-Catholics in Rome reconnect with roots, spirituality in paganism

Monday, February 26th, 2024
paganism

Disillusioned by their experiences in Catholicism, some Romans are turning to paganism and finding a connection to their roots through worshipping the gods of antiquity, whom they see as more welcoming than the church. “Rome is pagan,” Pope Francis told members of the Roman clergy during a closed-door meeting January 14, when he urged them Read more

Growing up gay and rediscovering Jesus

Monday, February 26th, 2024
Gay

Though I have butched up pretty good in the ensuing decades, I was a somewhat soft boy at my Jesuit high school. It was no place for sissies. Being gay After a difficult freshman year, I begged my parents to transfer me to the local public school. That request, to my father, was ridiculous. Little Read more

Jordan Peterson wrestles with God

Thursday, February 22nd, 2024
Jordan Peterson

Jordan Peterson, the controversial Canadian psychologist, bestselling author and champion of manhood, strode back and forth across the stage at the historic Providence Performing Arts Center in early February. He matched the theatre’s ornate decoration with one of his characteristically flamboyant suits — a colour-blocked navy, white and orange number with yellow lining. As he Read more

The pope’s problem – today’s seminarians and young priests

Thursday, February 22nd, 2024
priests

He’s warned Catholic seminaries against the tendency to turn future priests into “little monsters”. He’s scolded the Church’s presbyters for wearing ornate liturgical vestments that stem from a bygone era, telling them to stop dressing up in “granny’s lace”. And he’s called it a “scandal” to see young priests and seminarians going into the ecclesiastical Read more

Humanity is challenged to reconcile ecology and food security

Thursday, February 22nd, 2024
Food security

At a time of climate change and unprecedented demographic growth, a researcher who analyses thematic themes such as the dynamics of globalisation and human security a calls for placing food issues at the heart of our policies. “We must not forget that 735 million people are in a state of chronic hunger and more than Read more

Too many products are easier to throw away than fix – NZ consumers deserve a ‘right to repair’

Thursday, February 22nd, 2024
right to repair

There was a time when the family washing machine would last decades, with each breakdown fixed by the friendly local repair person. But those days are long gone. Today, it is often faster, easier and cheaper to replace household items, even when they are meant to be repairable. This is not just a consumer issue. Read more