I first became involved in Rwanda in July 1994, some two or three months after the start of the horrific events in that landlocked country, the full scale of which had not, by that time, reached the wider world. My lasting memory of that time is the chaos of the situation. There was a camp that was Read more
African Christians will be killed if the Church of England accepts gay marriage, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has suggested. Speaking on a phone in at UK radio station LBC, Archbishop Justin Welby cited first hand experience of this. He said he had stood by a mass grave in Nigeria of 330 Christians who Read more
First impressions aren’t always accurate. But in my first days here I have been struck by the extent of trauma people have experienced – and real worries that the violence that has rocked South Sudan since mid-December may not be over. The capital of Juba is calm, but it is only “outwardly” so, one of Read more
The first of my ancestors to arrive in New Zealand was Anders Haeckel, a young Finn who sailed to New Zealand with the British Merchant Navy. In 1892, he went gum digging in Northland, then tried his hand at gold mining on the West Coast. He settled in Hokitika, where he married and raised a Read more
Some African clergy have likened foreign criticism about gay rights on their continent to a new wave of Western colonialism. Support for government legislation criminalising homosexual acts and levying harsh penalties is widespread among Christians in Africa. A Kenyan religious scholar said homosexuality is not new in Africa, but open promotion and marketing of it Read more
Allen Ottaro, 28, lives in Nairobi, Kenya. A parishioner at St. Paul’s Catholic University Chapel in the Archdiocese of Nairobi, he studied Environmental Planning and Management at Kenyatta University. Mr. Ottaro is the national coordinator of MAGiS Kenya, an Ignatian young adult ministry, and has worked with the African Jesuit AIDS Network. He is also a cofounder Read more
What is the fastest growing religion? Worldwide, it is Islam. But outside Europe, the growth of Christianity is still ahead. This is the conclusion of Philip Jenkins, a distinguished scholar at Baylor University in Texas, who specialises in religious history. He points particularly to phenomenal growth of Christianity in Africa. “During the twentieth century,” Jenkins Read more
Anybody who’s seen the movie “Pulp Fiction” probably recalls the scene where John Travolta explains to Samuel L. Jackson that in France, McDonald’s calls the quarter-pounder a “Royale with cheese” because, in light of the metric system, the French wouldn’t know what a quarter-pounder is. (It turns out that the movie got the French slightly Read more
Poverty-stricken children in Africa have inspired a young Auckland woman to do all she can to give them a greater chance in life. Mary Duncan, 20, has been working hard to help youngsters in Arusha, Tanzania, after spending time with them as a volunteer two years ago. Miss Duncan, who grew up in Howick, decided Read more
We hear so little positive news about the many and varied countries in Africa – most given the Catholic faith along with their subjugation by European powers intent on despoiling them. I want to redress the balance by sharing two stories from one of the poorest countries where Christian Life Community (CLC) is making a Read more