Mate Tangitu (left), Wahanu Advocate and Marie Terei (Kaumatua Support) are members of Roopu Haurongo, (Breath of Life) a group that supports the whānau of at-risk youths in Whakatane region. Te Roopu Haurongo receive referrals from the Police, Child Youth and Family and the local community of young people who are getting into trouble or facing Read more
One of Pope Francis’s closest advisors has said the world’s economic system is founded on a new idolatry. Speaking in Washington on June 2, Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga also defended Pope Francis’s critiques of free market capitalism. Cardinal Maradiaga was speaking at an event titled “Erroneous Autonomy: The Catholic Case Against Libertarianism”. The cardinal, Read more
In a meeting room under Holy Name Cathedral, a rapt group of black Roman Catholics listened as Barack Obama, a 25-year-old community organiser, trained them to lobby their fellow delegates to a national congress in Washington on issues like empowering lay leaders and attracting more believers. “He so quickly got us,” said Andrew Lyke, a Read more
Major clothing retailers in the Western world are being urged to exercise more oversight of working conditions in the Asian factories where their garments are manufactured. Catholic social teaching is being quoted as the death toll in the Bangladesh tragedy of a collapsed garment factory rises above 1100. Bangladesh is the second or third largest Read more
Mitt Romney’s choice of Congressman Paul Ryan to be his running mate is electrifying. But, electricity is dangerous at times and, in this instance, Ryan is standing in a pool of watery dissent from Catholic Social Teaching that has existed on the Catholic right for some time. In 1961, William F. Buckley published a critique Read more
As Pope Paul VI once famously told the United Nations, the Catholic church likes to think of itself as an “expert in humanity.” Development of Catholic social teaching over the last 120 years is a good example, as the church has tried to bring its moral tradition to bear on questions of economic justice. Yet Read more
The first reading of the Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill 2012 was passed passed by Parliament on Tuesday 27 March. The Wellington Archdiocesan Catholic Commission for Justice, Peace and Development Commission has expressed concern about the government’s welfare reform package with a particular focus on 3 areas: 1. Legislation and social policy that devalues Read more
The Catholic Diocese of Auckland’s Justice & Peace Commission has just issued a leaflet entitled “Catholic Social Teaching and the Ports of Auckland Dispute” which is being distributed to all parishes in the diocese. It is accompanied by a letter of support from the Bishop of Auckland, Bishop Patrick Dunn. The leaflet gives an overview of Catholic Read more
As Social Justice Week (11-17 September) falls this year in the first week of Rugby World Cup competition, Catholic social justice agency Caritas has focused on the theme ‘On a level playing field’ to examine issues of fairness and the common good in the light of Catholic social teaching. Archbishop John Dew kicked off Social Read more
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s sharp rebuke of the British government’s welfare reform has put the Church of England in the midst of a major political debate. Writing in the New Statesman, Dr Rowan Williams questioned the morality of David Cameron’s Conservative party’s policies on welfare reform. Dr Williams attacked changes in the National Health Service Read more