The archbishop of Wellington, Cardinal John Dew, was in Australia last week to present an address on Servant Leadership in the Spirit of Pope Francis. He spoke at Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta on Tuesday. On Wednesday he spoke on the same topic when he presented the Helder Camara Lecture at Newman College in Melbourne. Read more
Last Thursday, Cardinal John Dew and new Apostolic Nuncio to New Zealand Novatus Rugambwa celebrated a special Mass to mark the jubilee year of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand. Fifty years ago, the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference/He Huinga o ngā Pīhopa Katorika o Aotearoa, established national bodies for Catholic overseas aid, justice and peace, and Read more
Years ago, a man about to be ordained was told by an older priest, “The hardest thing you will find is to be called Father.” The new priest found this was indeed true and he dropped the title, although doing so made some lay people uncomfortable. One parishioner said calling a priest by his first Read more
Cardinal John Dew’s call to drop the “Father” title has received mixed results. As reported by CathNews, Dew first raised the issue of honorifics in an internal church newsletter. Describing the “Don’t call me Father” call as ‘simple’, Dew however hopes that not using the clerical title might go some way to changing the clerical Read more
The Archbishop of Wellington cardinal John Dew wants to go further than just combining parishes and reducing the number of church buildings. He is calling for a more mission-focused church. In an extended interview, posted on Stuff about two recent memos he has recently circulated, Dew said there should be “fewer conversations about ‘the colour Read more
In his recent Newsletter, the Archbishop of Wellington drew attention to an article written by a priest from France, Jean-Pierre Roche, entitled “Stop calling me Father.” In his article, Roche says that priests may be able to make some small changes to overcome clericalism if they gave up expecting to be called “Father.” “In August last Read more
RNZ has reported that some Catholics in Wellington are unhappy with cardinal John Dew’s letter to all parishes in the archdiocese asking them to review the number of churches in their parish. The RNZ report says they accuse him of being high-handed and autocratic. But Dew denies this. He says he has simply asked congregations Read more
On Tuesday the speaker of New Zealand’s parliament, the right honourable Trevor Mallard, invited a multi-faith group into the House to join him as an imam led them in prayer. It was the first time Parliament had opened with a Muslim prayer, to the best knowledge of the Speaker’s Office. The interfaith group included representatives Read more
In New Zealand this Friday, young people are taking part in the worldwide college student protest about the slow pace of international action on climate change. The Catholic Archbishop of Wellington, Cardinal John Dew, is supporting their efforts. “We all need to listen to young people about climate change,” he said. Dew acknowledged that opinions Read more
Cardinal John Dew, the Archbishop of Wellington, has directed every parish in the archdiocese to review its stock of churches and presbyteries. The review will identify how many churches the parish needs to cater for its Mass count, taking into account the availability of priests and lay pastoral leaders, and the ideal location of the Read more