Declining numbers in all the mainstream churches means that Catholicism has emerged as the most populous religion in New Zealand. The 2013 New Zealand census shows that of the total population of 4.2 M, population, 3.9 M stated their religious affiliation. Of those, 1.635 M, (1 in 4), say they had no religious affiliation, up from Read more
The Vatican has secured the use of the new Internet domain name “.catholic,” but bloggers hoping that platform could ramp up their own digital pulpit will be disappointed—the Holy See says it’ll be reserved for church-related organizations, not individuals. Individuals—whether religious bloggers or a cleric—will not have access to .catholic, according to Monsignor Paul Tighe, Read more
Pastoral Letter Most Rev Gerard J Holohan Bishop of Bunbury 29th September 2013 The Rural Financial Counselling Service reported recently that the number of rural people within Western Australia succumbing to internet pornography addiction, drug use and depression, is growing. Research shows internet pornography addiction to be a rapidly growing problem across Australia and overseas. Read more
Catholics in Malaysia will continue to use the word Allah to refer to God in the liturgy, despite a court ruling that only Muslims may use the word. The Court of Appeal decision was specifically against a Catholic newspaper, the Malaysia Herald, which intends to lodge an appeal. Malaysia’s leading Catholic bishop, Archbishop Murphy Pakiam Read more
Cardinal Francis Arinze grew up in Nigeria, and in 1965 became the youngest bishop in the world at the age of 32. He was the first African cardinal to head a Vatican office and served as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from 2002 to 2008. He is the Read more
As top-level Internet domain names are being rolled out and up for grabs, the Vatican has scored control of .catholic. The Vatican plans to allow “institutions and communities that have canonical recognition” to use the extension, “so people online — Catholics and non-Catholics — will know a site is authentically Catholic”. But there are many Read more
A Catholic doctor in Australia could face suspension for refusing an abortion referral for a couple who wanted to avoid having a girl. Dr Mark Hobart, 55, was asked by an Indian married couple to refer them to an abortion clinic after discovering at 19 weeks they were having a girl when they wanted a Read more
The effort of some of our Catholic friends on the right to question or object or contextualize to the point of gutting the obvious import or even to demean Pope Francis’ happy penchant for speaking frankly continues. They rightly perceive that something different is happening in the church under the leadership of our new Holy Read more
Since the 6.6 magnitude Grassmere quake on August 16, Catholics and Protestants in the Awatere have been worshipping in the same place. That’s because the Anglicans and Presbyterians had their St Andrew’s Awatere Christian Joint Venture Church, in Seddon, destroyed by the jolt. And, in the spirit of Christianity, the Catholic community opened their doors Read more
The Catholic Church in New South Wales believed it had a secrecy deal with police that allowed it to withhold information about paedophile priests, newly released documents show. Church leaders thought they had struck a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with police about what information would be handed over. The unsigned draft memorandum said: “Church authorities Read more