The Gathering evolved a few years ago from a handful of like-minded friends who used to meet and share their common belief in their homes. The Gathering, which meets in a hall the South Canterbury town of Temuka has no leader, no service plan and just a couple of acoustic guitars. About 30 people attend Read more
A recent survey suggests that, in the last 2 years, New Zealanders’ trust in churches has continued to decline. The same survey shows that the perceived change in personal trust in churches in the same period to be greater than the participants’ answers actually indicate. The results indicate a score of 7 for reduced net trust. The Read more
A Catholic church in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, was sold last week to a Muslims. The Immaculate Conception B.V.M. Catholic Church in Bristol Township, located 25 miles outside of Philadelphia, was purchased by the United American Muslim Society, based in Brooklyn, New York, for $1.775 million last Friday. The real estate transaction was announced during weekend Read more
Inland Revenue data shows the number of people filing a tax return to claim a tax rebate on donations has fallen year-on-year over the past three tax years, from 383,144 in the year to March 2013 to 359,541 in the 2015 year. Tax refund site MyTax analysed more than 300,000 tax returns and found the average total Read more
People born or raised in New Zealand, are drifting from church says the Catholic Bishop of Auckland Patrick Dunn. He said this is happening across all ethnicities. Dunn said that while it was affecting all parishes, many were not aware it was happening, because the churches were still full. New New Zealanders are replacing are Read more
I realize this comes a little late, but if anybody’s still on the market for something to give up for Lent, I’d suggest that the following misconceptions about the Catholic church and about Christianity in general would be dandy bits of intellectual junk to cut loose in the spirit of the season. Naturally, the venues Read more