Across the Pacific, people are picking up the bones of their ancestors like shells on the beach. Burial grounds are being washed away by rising tides. Communities are shoring up seawalls with old tyres. I was raised on the beautiful island of Tonga. When I was a child, my parents and grandparents would come out Read more
A Polish TV report has claimed that Pope John Paul II, when he was Archbishop Karol Wojtyla, knew about sexual abuse within the Catholic Church but failed to take appropriate action. The report aired on TVN24, a major news channel in Poland, and has sparked controversy among Catholics and non-Catholics alike. A former priest named Read more
Last week St Joseph’s Home of Compassion in Silverstream was formally handed over to private provider Heritage Lifecare. Heritage Lifecare has been managing the facility since August 2022, which it has since purchased. Heritage Lifecare chief executive Norah Barlow said seeing the home close would have been a shame. “Losing this home and the vital Read more
The pope’s key clergy abuse reform effort is not working, says a papal consultant. Jesuit Fr Hans Zollner made the admission last Thursday to a group of clergy survivors of sexual abuse. Speaking in an online session, Zollner was asked if there is recourse for those who feel their cases have not been properly handled. Read more
The Church of England is considering what language and pronouns should be used to refer to God. The church’s General Synod has, however, clarified that it will not abolish or substantially revise any of the currently authorized liturgies. Nonetheless, this news made headlines and brought up questions of how religions refer to God. Is God Read more
Upset, disappointment and, for some, ‘resigned understanding’ has greeted the announcement that the March edition of the Marist Messenger is the final edition. “What a shock and great disappointment! I appreciate commercial realities to which we are all subject, but it does not dull the pain,” one reader wrote. “The Marist Messenger has been an Read more
The Eucharistic prayer is the most important and least understood prayer in the Catholic Mass. Most Catholics see it as the priest’s prayer that is centred on the consecration of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. Many priests use Eucharistic Prayer II, the shortest of the 13 versions of the Read more
Catholic traditionalists attached to the Old Latin Mass have their rosaries beads in a knot again over Pope Francis’ latest move to strictly curtail use of the Tridentine Rite, the complex and heavily rubricised ritual that pre-dated the liturgical reform mandated by the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). The pope, on February 20, ordered the Dicastery Read more
Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has confirmed it is not leading the post-cyclone Catholic relief effort for the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference (NZCBC). It told CathNews that Caritas’ focus was not New Zealand, but on helping fund development and emergency relief work worldwide. However, Caritas’ comments seems to run counter to the information the charity Read more
Pope Francis has intervened for the third time to crack down on the celebration of the old Latin Mass, a sign of continued friction with Catholic traditionalists. Francis reasserted in a new legal decree published Tuesday that the Holy See must approve new celebrations of the old rite by signing off on bishops’ decisions to Read more