Catholic agencies and individuals around Aotearoa-New Zealand are busy working from home and still-open “essential services” supporting communities in need during the Level 4 COVID-19 coronavirus lockdown. Work that is less visible nationally but very important locally is happening everywhere. Foodbanks and soup kitchens are two very busy basic services working hard behind the scenes. Read more
A long-planned Muslim chaplaincy service for the University of Otago will be officially launched today. Two chaplains are taking up part-time, voluntary roles providing pastoral care and spiritual support to Muslim students – retired political lecturer Dr Najib Lafraie, a former Afghanistan foreign minister who fled the Taliban, and Salmah Kassim, a former diplomatic officer Read more
Pastors have long hung out with workers. During the Industrial Revolution, they would preach from factory floors. Nineteenth-century Catholic teachings declared it the Church’s duty to support the working poor. And in the Great Depression, industry titans hired chaplains to visit workers on the Hoover Dam. But in recent years, a number of companies have Read more
A concert is being planned to raise funds for chaplains at Waikato Hospital, who between them help 30,000 patients a year. The Waikato Healthcare Chaplaincy Committee Charitable Trust will hold a concert “Hear and Care” on August 30. The current chaplaincy team at Waikato Hospital is made up of three ecumenical chaplains, one Catholic chaplain, Read more
The New Zealand Buddhist Council is concerned that Buddhists who are sick or dying in hospital often do not have access to appropriate spiritual support. To address this, the Council has started to provide advice to hospitals on how to contact Buddhist clergy in their area when they have a patient in need. In the Read more
She sat beside the bed, tears brimming. ‘Mum’s dying.’ ‘Yes.’ We sat in silence for a bit. ‘I’ve lost my faith.’ ‘Uh huh.’ ‘When my friend died.’ ‘Mm.’ We held hands and Mum’s too, wondering in our own ways, about God and faith and people dying and what the universe meant, if anything. As we Read more
Some people are simply gifted at sport; they excel at any challenge involving a ball, a stick or a physical contest nearly as soon as they turn their hands to it. One such person is Father Geoff Hilton, a priest from Salford diocese in the north of England, who will be serving as one of Read more
Chaplains in hospitals are expected to talk of spiritual things but for clinical staff it is different. While a holistic approach to health care is much talked about, “spirituality remains a bit hazy; hard to find words for in a world dominated by scientific method”. “Making meaning is seen as one of the important elements Read more
A non-believing Australian Prime Minister has made God the winner in the Australian budget. School chaplains at 1,000 extra schools will receive A$222 million more. The significant increase in funding comes despite a High Court challenge to the programme on constitutional grounds and speculation prior to the budget that the future of the school chaplaincy programme was Read more