It means creating the social, economic and ecological conditions which enable all members of society - according to their capacity - to reach their human fulfilment and to contribute to the good of society.

Majority rule, and claims to be acting on the mandate of a majority, do not guarantee the common good. Majority rule can even lead to disadvantaged groups and indigenous peoples being under the domination of majority cultures, indefinitely.

Electoral systems are only a means to higher end. That higher end is the fundamental right of people to participate, and contribute to decisions that affect them.

As ancient wisdom put it: "if it's about us, then not without us". "One person one vote" can need to be supplemented by other measures, especially at local level, to enhance people's ability to participate.

Same Treatment Is Not Always Equality

To safeguard this right, fair-minded people recognise the need to level the playing field for disadvantaged groups. Opposition to this is based on the simplistic view that equality requires everyone to be treated "the same."

In fact, sameness of treatment can prevent equality of opportunity.

Worse still, sometimes that is the agenda: to treat "everybody the same" is convenient for those who want to reinforce the political and economic advantages they already have.

They will call different treatment "divisive." What can look like advocating different treatment based on culture or ethnicity can be, in fact, advocating supplementary measures based on need. Failure to meet those needs is divisive.

Cultural Diversity Matters

However, self-interest is not the only reason for opposing efforts to level the playing field. Opposition can emerge from poor understanding of why cultural diversity matters so much.

One thinks of the decision of Australians to vote down a proposal that would have given First Australians a way of making their needs better understood by the nation's parliament.

In our own country, there has been opposition to extra provision for Maori participation on local body boards, and slowness to allow Maori to manage vaccination roll-outs among their own people when the Ministry of Health's lack of success was evident.

These matters raise an interesting question: why do we readily accept the need to level the playing field for some disadvantaged groups, but resist doing so when the disadvantage relates to cultural or ethnic diversity?

Is this just the typical failure of some within a dominant culture to understand the deep needs of people whose culture is different?

Does it reflect an individualistic culture's tendency to identify need only in individuals, failing to recognise the shared needs of communities?

Or does this zeal for dominance by the majority culture come from something more sinister?

After all, to eliminate te reo from public signage is a gratuitous, needless and mean-spirited thing to do. The more bizarre because it is an official language.

A dominant culture's failure to recognise the needs of other cultural groups can only heighten a tangata whenua's felt need for full self-determination.

Civil Society

Of course, a people's right to self-determination includes their right to enter treaties and agreed forms of partnership. But treaties, legislation and contractual agreements, though important, are not sufficient.

Achieving the common good depends more on those forms of association that bring people together based on goodwill, friendship, loyalty, generosity, shared values and responsibilities.

It is through these relationships that we become our true selves by being there for one another - civil society.

The markets and the state are meant to support that kind of society.

But neo-liberalism has subverted these relationships: society's subjugation to polarising market forces, and the state's subservience to the market's most powerful sectors, are deemed to be normal, acceptable and inevitable; it's even called ‘progress'.

Society has itself to blame for this to the extent that we have farmed out to the state and the markets the consequences of our poor choices.

In discussions on social and economic problems, the glaring absence of any reference to personal virtue, moral formation or social responsibility is commonplace.

We expect the state and the markets to fix what we have broken. They can't.

Pursuing the common good also needs freedom of speech and of association, including religious freedom.

Faith-based values, and respectful faith-based dialogue, have a unique contribution to make to the common good, but can be obstructed by polarising religious fundamentalism at one extreme, and secularism disguised as ‘neutrality" at the other.

The "Logic of Gift"

In some remarkable documents, recent Popes have taught the need for giving what isn't owed.

Lack of compassion was a feature of the pre-Christian cultures of Rome and Greece, and is a feature of post-Christian society today.

In the early Church, compassion made Christians conspicuously different.

Compassion, like God's love for us, isn't owed. That makes it a circuit breaker where otherwise tit-for-tat and getting even would be about as far as the common good could go.

Pope Francis has asked those with institutional and political responsibility, and those charged with forming public opinion, to remain especially attentive to the way they speak of those who think or act differently or those who may have made mistakes.

Courage is needed to guide towards processes of reconciliation. It is precisely such positive and creative boldness which offers real solutions to ancient conflicts and the opportunity to build lasting peace.

Some feel that a society rooted in mercy is hopelessly idealistic.

I would encourage everyone to see society not as a forum where strangers compete and try to come out on top, but above all as a home or a family, where the door is always open and where everyone feels welcome… (World Communications Day 2016)

Similarly, Pope Benedict XVI dared to hope that compassion, gratuitous giving and forgiving could be brought into economic relationships - the very antithesis of neo-liberal economics.

He thinks of what it would do to trading relationships, business and industrial practices… He sees this as a way of pre-empting the imbalances and inequities that otherwise need to be redressed afterwards. (see Caritas in Veritate, 6, 36-39):

On the one hand, charity demands justice: recognition and respect for the legitimate rights of individuals and peoples. It strives to build the earthly city according to law and justice.

On the other hand, charity transcends justice and completes it in the logic of giving and forgiving.

The earthly city is promoted not merely by relationships of rights and duties, but to an even greater and more fundamental extent by relationships of gratuitousness, mercy and communion…" (Caritas in Veritate 6.)

• Peter Cullinane is the Bishop Emeritus of the Palmerston North diocese.

We're flicking mosquitoes at dusk so they won't bite and listening to noisy cicadas and hearty piwakawaka and spotting a ripening fig before a blackbird pecks at it.

The Synod on Synodality

The Northern Hemisphere-based Vatican inside their ruminative winter period asks the Catholic Diocese of Waitaha, Tai Poutini, Rekohu Canterbury, Westland, Chathams Islands to unravel the second stage of the Synod here, in our late summer.

They're asking us to sit inside buildings and pray and ruminate about concrete actions we can take and structures we can build to enhance co-responsibility and inclusivity in our decision-making, homilies and liturgies, and scriptural and spiritual formation.

The first stage of the Synod was on the principles and this second stage is on the concrete actions.

Karoro gulls drop pipi from a great height onto the sand, cracking them open just wide enough to get in and get the kaimoana out and feed themselves.

Somehow in all of this we need to feed ourselves in these motu far from the Northern Hemisphere, with good nourishing kai for our bodies, our spirits and our souls.

Feeding out souls

Kevin Burns says at Mass this morning that the fish was the symbol of the early church, and the empty tomb.

We here know about fish, we know how present you need to be when fish.ing, to the swellings of the tide, the presence of the sun, the passing of a cloud, the stillness of the moon, the whakarongo - the deep listening with all of your senses that brings healing - needed while watching for fish.

So this is where we start with the Second active phase of the Synod in our late summer. We watch for the fish and go to that place of deep listening to the breath, the wind, the sea, the sky.

This place of stillness, this quiet, is the place where each synodal discussion begins.

We open ourselves and we become like an empty tomb, and we move with Mary, outside the empty tomb and into the garden, where she sees the gardener is Jesus, and she is not afraid.

Recognising Jesus in synodality

We pray that we can recognise Jesus here in our late summer, walking as some of us did alongside other Christians and the Anglican Bishop from Rangiora to Al Noor Mosque of Light where most of the 51 people were killed on 15 March 5 years ago.

The walk took us through Hagley Park to the Transitional Cathedral on Saturday evening 9 March carrying a cloth inscribed with the names of the children killed in the Holy Land since October 2023.

We were praying as others of us do on Wednesday nights at 7.30pm above the water under the Bridge of Remembrance.

We are vigiling for peace in the Middle East and vigiling for the end of all wars - an intention, a prayer, a deep longing, a silencing of the busyness, a stilling, a profound listening.

Second synod phase

At St Mary's our Synodal discussion begins with Jesus' story of the Prodigal Son - the compassion, the embrace, the kiss, the placing of sandals on the bare feet, the forgiveness.

This is where the second phase of the Synodal discussion begins - outside walking across rough and uneven ground, in whakarongo - in deep listening with all of our senses that brings healing - like the prodigal son.

It is from this place during our late summer, where we - the Catholic Diocese of Waitaha, Tai Poutini, and Rekohu - are invited to begin the second part of the Synodal discussion on concrete action - with compassion, forgiveness and deep listening.

And it is as we move forward in this korero, from this place of quietness, we will begin to feed ourselves alongside others in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres, with good nourishing kai for our bodies, our spirits and our souls.

• Kathleen Gallagher writes from Christchurch.

Speaking to a crowd in St Peter's Square before reciting the Angelus on Sunday, he said God is love and "the one who loves does not remain rigid.

"Yes, they stand firm, but not rigid; they do not remain rigid in their own positions, but allow themselves to be moved and touched."

Francis also commented on the day's Gospel - the story of the Canaanite woman who asked Jesus to heal her daughter. At first, Jesus brushes her off since she is not Jewish. But he sees her persistent faith and grants her request.

"Later," the pope said, "the Holy Spirit would push the church to the ends of the world," but at that point Jesus was preaching to the Jews.

"Faced with her concrete case, he becomes even more sympathetic and compassionate.

"This is what God is like: he is love, and the one who loves does not remain rigid."

"Love is creative," he said. "And we Christians who want to imitate Christ, we are invited to be open to change."

Francis suggested that in faith and relationships with others, people need to notice and be willing "to soften up in the name of compassion and the good of others, like Jesus did with the Canaanite woman."

Another aspect of the story is the woman's strong and insistent faith that Jesus could heal her daughter, he noted.

The woman "probably had little or no awareness of the laws and religious precepts" of Judaism. She comes up to him, prostrates herself and has a "frank dialogue" with him, Francis said.

"This is the concreteness of faith, which is not a religious label but is a personal relationship with the Lord."

Consider whether you show Christ's compassion and flexibility and the Canaanite woman's bold faith, he invited the crowd.

"Do I know how to be understanding and do I know how to be compassionate, or do I remain rigid in my position?" Francis asked them to consider.

"Is there some rigidity in my heart, which is not firmness? Rigidity is bad, but firmness is good."

"Do I know how to dialogue with the Lord? Do I know how to insist with him? Or am I content to recite beautiful formulas?"

Source

• NCR Online

He told people gathered for the Angelus in St Peter's Square on Sunday that Jesus always looks at us with love.

If you feel your are "not up to the challenges of life and, even less, of the Gospel, mired in problems and sins, Jesus always looks at us with love," Francis told the crowd.

Jesus "comes toward us, he calls us by name and, if we welcome him, he comes to our home."

Commenting on the encounter between Jesus and Zacchaeus, who collected taxes on behalf of the Roman rulers, Francis said Zacchaeus was rich, hated and branded a traitor and a sinner.

But, despite his lowliness, Zacchaeus "feels the need to seek another way of looking" and "awaits someone who will free him from his condition.

"Zacchaeus teaches us that, in life, all is never lost," he said. "We can always find space for the desire to begin again, to start over, to convert," Francis explained.

We can look past mistakes.

"Let us remember this: the gaze of God never stops at our past full of errors but looks with infinite confidence at what we can become.

"God has never looked down on us," he does not humiliate or judge people, Francis explained.

"On the contrary, he lowered himself to the point of washing our feet, looking at us from below and restoring our dignity to us."

"How do we look at ourselves?" Francis asked the Angelus crowd.

"Do we feel inadequate and resign ourselves, or precisely there, when we feel down, do we seek an encounter with Jesus?

"What gaze do we have toward those who have erred, and who struggle to get up again from the dust of their mistakes? Is it a gaze from above, that judges, disdains, excludes?"

"We Christians must have the gaze of Christ, who embraces from below, who seeks those who are lost, with compassion. This is, and must be, the gaze of the church, always, the gaze of Christ, not the condemning gaze," he said.

Source

• Catholic News Service

Then he smiled and said: 'We probably won't see them again the following week, but that's OK.'

I was pleased to hear that.

It is of the very nature of Catholicism that we welcome people but don't demand they conform to our expectations.

We're not a sectarian or exclusive church. The very word 'catholic' means universal, big, and embracing. I'm reminded of debates at clergy conferences about whether priests should baptise the children of non-practising Catholics. My view has always been 'yes', reach out to people, be like Jesus and welcome them.

But there's a flip side to this.

Earlier this month in La Croix, the bishop of Odienné in West Africa's Ivory Coast, Alain Clément Amiézi, complained that 'People are baptised without becoming Christian, the sacraments are given without evangelising.'

He says that 'the number of faithful who are truly committed to … the virtues of the gospel is infinitesimal.'

Speaking of African converts, he said that just being seen at church is insufficient, and that committed Christians have to break the tribal logic of social convention and be willing to critique societal norms and practices in the light of the gospel.

That requires a spirituality of faith and courage.

My purpose here is not to critique of African Christianity. You can see exactly the same superficiality in the conversion of Europe in the first millennium.

We have an entirely romanticised notion of the medieval 'ages of faith' and the notion of Ireland as 'the island of saints and scholars.'

Recently historians like Anton Wessels and Jan Romein have questioned whether Europe was ever really Christian. Wessels argues that medieval missionaries attempted to convert pagan Europe by Christianising the culture, and transforming it by re-interpreting it.

Jan Romein says that 'medieval Christianity was only a thin veneer,' a superficial overlay with people's basic pagan beliefs remaining unchanged.

This is understandable when mass baptisms followed the conversion of the local ruler or when people like the Saxons under Charlemagne were faced with the choice of either baptism or death.

The church has always embraced people with different levels of commitment

The result was that medieval 'Christendom', the combined power of church and state, dominated people's lives from birth to death. Sure, there were many people in the medieval period deeply committed to the teaching and person of Jesus and to a life of service, but they were the small minority.

Another historian writing in this vein is Frenchman Jean Delumeau, whose work focuses specifically on early modern Catholicism after the Council of Trent (1545-1563), the period that still influences us today.

He says that as late as the seventeenth century, 'the intellectual and psychological climate [of Europeans] … was characterised by a profound unfamiliarity with the basics of Christianity, and by a persistent pagan mentality.'

While Christendom still prevailed, there was a thriving underworld in which sub-Christian beliefs and pagan folk practices flourished.

When enclosure and a population explosion turned the landless peasantry into the urban working class in the emerging industrial cities of the early nineteenth century, their superficial faith quickly disappeared.

Delumeau argues that the church didn't lose the working class; they were never really Christian in the first place.

Now, this may be interesting historically, but you're probably asking: what's the point? The answer: the church has always embraced people with different levels of commitment.

Actually, modern secularism has done Christianity a big favour. First, by closing down Christendom and separating church and state; and secondly, by removing the social supports that made church-going 'respectable'. People can now choose to be or not to be Catholic.

Nowadays, particularly following the sexual abuse crisis and the failure of the church to address the issues that concern our contemporaries, commitment to faith and Catholicism is seen by many as irresponsible, if not unethical.

People deeply committed to the gospel is small

In addition, to many, the church projects an unattractive, unwelcoming image and seems besotted with a narrow range of issues focusing on gender, sex, reproduction and euthanasia, leading to the impression of a closed-door, hard-nosed, uncompromising institution.

The damage done to the church by a 'boots-and-all' approach is terrible.

In this context, we should, like my PP, be welcoming people.

Yes, it's true that the number of people deeply committed to the gospel is small, but that doesn't make us judges of the lives of others.

The word 'Catholic' is derived from the Greek 'katholikos' meaning universal, of the whole, and the entire tradition is the very opposite of sectarian, particularist, or narrow. It is most truly itself when it's embracing and inclusive.

This is where I think Catholic schools have been particularly successful.

With only a tiny number of students coming from committed-Catholic households and increasing numbers of non-Catholic students (in Sydney archdiocesan schools about 25 per cent and in South Australia 44 percent), the schools face a real challenge to form an approach to life that is genuinely Christian and Catholic, yet allows room for freedom of conscience to operate.

They need to form what theologian David Tracy has called a 'catholic imagination.'

That is the whole educational ethos of the school must be founded in the Christ-like values of love, compassion, acceptance and forgiveness and on a genuinely Catholic understanding of inclusivity and freedom of conscience.

For sure, staff, students and parents need to know they are embracing a whole 'package' when they come to a Catholic school, including religious education, liturgy, retreat days and explicitly Catholic values and spirituality.

That said, these are expressed in a welcoming, embracing way; no one should have Catholicism forced on them. And here 'embracing' includes LGBTQI+ students.

Here we're back with my PP last Sunday. We welcome people, whether we see them next week or not. Just like Jesus, really!

• Paul Collins is the author of 15 books, several of which focus on church governance and Australian Catholicism.
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

He encouraged Slovak Catholics to open their hearts to "a faith that becomes compassion" that "identifies with those who are hurting, suffering and forced to bear heavy crosses."

It is "a faith that does not remain abstract, but becomes incarnate in fellowship with those in need. A faith that imitates God's way of doing things, quietly relieves the suffering of our world and waters the soil of history with salvation," Francis said.

"The world needs Christians who are "signs of contradiction," who demonstrate the beauty of the Gospel rather than hostility toward others."

He invited Slovakians to be Christians who are "bringers of the sweet fragrance of hospitality and solidarity".

Reflecting on Mary as a "model of faith" for Catholics in Slovakia, Francis noted that despite being chosen to be the mother of God, Mary did "not consider it a privilege," nor did she lose her humility.

Instead, she accepted "the gift she had received as a mission to be carried out" and set out on a journey to take God's love to those in need."

In making this journey, the Pope told Slovakians that like Mary they overcome the temptation to a passive faith, content with this or that ritual or ancient tradition.

"Instead, you leave yourselves behind and set out, carrying in your backpacks the joys and sorrows of this life, and thus make your life a pilgrimage of love toward God and your brothers and sisters. Thank you for this witness!"

Francis said Mary's prophetic faith shows "God's presence in human history; even in moments of trial and suffering.

Faith "cannot be reduced to a sweetener to make life more palatable," he said.

Mary's faith is also compassionate and she understands the suffering endured by humanity, Francis finished.

She is a mother who "dries our tears, comforts us and points to Christ's definitive victory."

He made the comments while celebrating Mass in Šaštin, on the final day of his apostolic trip to Slovakia.

Source

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Herald Malaysia

But even with the best prognosis, age is catching up to Francis.

Barring a miracle, he will only be expected to continue as pope for five or six years. We may look back at his hospitalisation as the moment that marked the beginning of the end of his papacy.

If that's the case, we will also be able to count incredible achievements.

As a pastor, Francis has caught the imagination of the world with his compassion and openness to all people. He has put love, especially love for the poor, centre stage in his peaching of the gospel.

As a world leader, he has put his papacy squarely on the side of migrants and refugees. And he has been a prophetic voice against global warming and the excesses of capitalism.

And within the church, he has encouraged dialogue and a more consultative style of governance: Put bluntly, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith no longer acts like the Inquisition it once was.

In short, Francis has rebranded the papacy for the 21st century with a pastoral, prophetic and inclusive voice.

Where he has been less successful is in winning over the clerical establishment to his vision for the church. In his eight years as pope, Francis has hardly dented the clerical establishment that he inherited.

Many bishops and priests in the Roman Curia and around the world think his election was a mistake and they are hoping for a return to what they regard as normalcy in the next papacy.

They feel he has not emphasized dogma and rules enough, so they are not cooperating.

Yet Francis has treated these opponents with the gentleness of a pastor who hopes for their conversion.

Any other CEO would simply replace those who are not on board with his agenda, but Francis refuses to fire people.

As a result, he has waited until curial officials and bishops reached retirement age. For such a strategy to have an effect requires a very long papacy, such as the 27-year reign of John Paul II, followed by eight years of Benedict.

During this 35-year period, John Paul and Benedict remade the episcopacy in their image.

The litmus test was loyalty and orthodoxy as they defined it.

Anyone who questioned the papacy's position on birth control, married priests or women priests was disqualified.

These bishops then revamped the seminaries that have produced the clergy we have today.

One of the best examples is the United States, where neither the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops nor the seminaries are bastions of Francis supporters.

Bishops who embody Francis' values make up only 20 to 40 of the 223 active U.S. bishops.

And among the clergy, Francis receives his greatest support from older priests, who are dying off, rather than younger ones who are the future of the church.

Instead of taking to heart the axiom that "personnel is policy," he left in place a Benedict appointee, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, as prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, the office that vets candidates for the episcopacy.

The nuncios, who suggest episcopal candidates, were also trained and advanced under John Paul and Benedict, and for the first three years of Francis' papacy, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, an archenemy, served in that role in the United States.

As a result, even the American bishops appointed under Francis are a mixed bag.

Finding young candidates for the priesthood, meanwhile, who support Francis and want to be celibate is like looking for Catholic unicorns, and if you were to find some, they aren't likely to be welcomed by conservative seminaries.

As a result, the laity who are encouraged to come to church because they like Francis are unlikely to find him in their parishes or dioceses.

Reforming the Catholic Church takes decades, not years.

If his papacy is reckoned a failure, it will be because Francis failed to replace or outlast the clerical establishment put in place by John Paul and Benedict.

His papacy will only succeed if he is followed by popes who are in sync with his approach to Catholicism, and this is not guaranteed.

He has appointed sympathetic men to the College of Cardinals, but conclaves are unpredictable as his own election showed.

• Thomas Reese SJ is a senior analyst at Religion News Service, and a former columnist at National Catholic Reporter, and a former editor-in-chief of the weekly Catholic magazine America. First published in RNS. Republished with permission.

The global "Share the Journey" campaign aims to build "bridges of hope between islands separated by fear," says Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, president of Caritas Internationalis.

Although the campaign has formally ended, its message continues. Communities are encouraged to change attitudes toward immigration by getting them to know their migrant neighbours.

"We gave ourselves a few challenges: not just seeing the migrants but looking at them with compassion; not just hearing their voice but listening to their stories and concerns; not just passing by the other side but stopping, as the good Samaritan, and living a moment of communion with them," Tagle says.

Anyone can get involved.

They can go on a sponsored or symbolic solidarity walk with refugees, invite migrants to shared meals, or light a virtual candle.

Some people may want to share messages or stories, which will be gathered into a compilation for Pope Francis.

Asked about ways to measure the success of the four-year "Share the Journey" campaign, both Aloysius John, secretary-general of Caritas Internationalis and Tagle spoke of individual encounters where people were "converted" to recognizing the migrant in their midst as a brother or sister.

"People have been touched in different ways, touched by the suffering," says John.

The ongoing campaign hopes to develop "a new consciousness, a new way of looking at people on the move and developing this culture where, instead of fear of the 'other,' we see a human person and we give them the love, the attention, that we know every human being deserves," Tagle says.

"We cannot set a time frame; we cannot say, 'At the end of 2021 everyone, including Caritas workers, should have been converted already.' We hope that happens, but knowing human freedom and human frailty," some people will need more time."

With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing and with many nations claiming a need to protect their own citizens first, we face "the risk of intensifying selfishness and the fear of strangers," Tagle says.

The call is for everyone to show solidarity and " continue to share the journey with migrants, especially at this most difficult moment."

"The mission continues," Tagle says.

"Where there is indifference and intolerance toward migrants, Caritas will stand by them to express the love and concern of the Mother Church," John says.

His comment is echoed by Msgr Bruno-Marie Duffé, secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

He notes the campaign's key elements reflect Catholic teaching on migrants, beginning with the fact that they are human beings with dignity and rights to be protected.

Everyone has a journey, an intimate pain that haunts them and each of them has a hope: to be considered as a person, to be called by name, to be welcomed and recognized, he says.

Source

• Detroit Catholic
• Image: Caritas Internationalis

Firstly, though, I want to help you think about the concepts of justice, love, compassion, mercy and caring not merely on a spiritual or emotional or philosophical plane, but in a grounded way.

What do I mean by that?

Reality is defined by the challenges thrown up by our own weaknesses and the weaknesses of others, including the flawed institutions that we move in and out of and that sustain us.

Reality is also perhaps defined by our personal fears, both real and imagined, which limit our vision and can cause us to renege on our ‘yes' to what is good and life-giving.

Cultural and social context

A few facts about the social and cultural context in which we currently live that I believe are relevant to the introduction of assisted death in NZ?

• It's a context in which more than 10% and rising of our elders are experiencing abuse, including physical and emotional neglect, mostly from their own family members. This despite the tightest of laws against such abuse - WHY?
• It's a context in which more and more people, our elders in particular, are feeling socially isolated - WHY?
• It's a context in which depression is on the rise while our mental health services are under stress.
• It's a context in which people who are elderly, disabled and dependant are increasingly feeling like they are unwelcome and a burden.
• It's a context in which our health system is under increasing financial pressure to provide the care people need in a fair and equitable way.
• It's a context defined by severe institutionalised racism because Maori and Pacifica people die on average 7 years earlier than the rest of us and are 2.5 times more likely to die of diseases or illnesses than the rest of us.
• It's a context in which quality palliative care is not equally accessible?

We need to ask

What sort of social and cultural dynamic will be created were we to enact the End of Life Choice Act in this context?

In my view, there has never been a more dangerous time to legalise assisted death as at this particular time in our New Zealand history.

• What does it mean to care about others as much as ourselves in this context?
• Will providing assisted death address any of these issues in a caring ethical way?
• Will it resolve the inequity issues for Maori and Pacifica or worsen them?
• Will it address the social isolation of our elders or will it add to a sense of abandonment?
• Will it resolve the issues of increasing elder abuse or mask them? Will it address the inequitable access to palliative care or compound the current shortcomings?
• Will it really be "good care" to introduce assisted death in this context?

The questions I am posing are not questions about the rightness or wrongness per se of assisted suicide and/or euthanasia.

Actually, the question about the contextual implications - which is essentially a justice question - poses an even more important question for us as voters than whether assisted death is morally right or wrong.

This is precisely what the NZ Catholic Bishops are speaking about in their recently released Election Statement where they write:

"An informed decision requires consideration of the economic, social, whanaungatanga-kinship and cultural factors that limit many people's freedom to choose. Well-intended laws can have significant negative repercussions because of matters not anticipated by the law or because we don't all have access to the same choices.

"In coming to an informed decision, we advocate that voters embrace a perspective that gives priority to the impact a law change will have on others: ‘How will such a law affect us as a community? Who will be most negatively affected by the law in question? What are the consequences for those who are most vulnerable?"

Haves and have-nots

I am not saying that this law won't work for some, for example, the likes of Sir Michael Cullen, who has been a vocal, articulate and very public supporter of the Act.

Sir Michael is not one of the people I worry about in terms of being vulnerable when it comes to this law.

He already has choices, lots of choices.

He is articulate and well-connected.

He clearly has a good understanding of what is involved in the law. I do not have a fear that he will be coerced.

There are many others in the same position as him - able to talk about accessing the best of palliative care until they want to take control over the last few days.

For Sir Michael and others like him, legalising assisted death will provide another choice to add to the many choices for healthcare he already has.

Neither am I particularly concerned about myself being coerced into an assisted death.

I am also articulate and in a position where my saying ‘no' comes out of a place of having a family who will care for me whatever; comes from a place of knowing that I also have the choice to access quality palliative care so that I don't have to endure pain in the event I have a terminal illness.

Both Sir Michael and I, and may others are among those people capable of dying (or not dying) in a way that the Act allows … more than capable of making a truly free choice that is not the result of being bullied or coerced.

So, no, we don't have to deny that the law will work for some … but will it work for all and, in particular, will it work for the most vulnerable?

To draw again on the words of St Paul - it's about caring for others as much as, and not less than, we care for ourselves.

Taking on the same attitude of Christ Jesus is not to look at the Act from the perspective of the strong and articulate - those who have power and the luxury of choices - but rather to look at it from a perspective that considers the impact on the vulnerable - those who are disempowered and on the margins and who lack basic choices including access to good healthcare.

Not voting on law about assisted death

My experience is that most people know very little about the actual law.

My fear is that many, if not most, who decide to vote yes will decide to cast their vote based on their belief that some form of assisted death is a good idea - it's all about choice, right?

My fear is many, if not most without any reference to either the context in which we live or the robustness of the Act itself.

But we are not voting on the idea or concept of assisted death.

We are voting in this referendum on a particular law - a law that differs in critical ways from other laws overseas because it lacks many of the safeguards present in those laws; a law I regard as poorly drafted and weak.

1. There is no mandatory stand-down period in the End of Life Choice Act as there is in other countries. Under the proposed New Zealand law, a person could be dead less than 4 days after diagnosis. Hawaii has a 20-day stand down.
2. Unlike overseas laws, the EOLC Act does not require independent witnesses in the decision process.
3. A person does not need to be competent at the point when they make the final decision to die, unlike overseas laws.
4. The NZ Medical Association and the College of GPs have noted that there are no processes for effectively detecting pressure or coercion - a doctor simply has to ‘do their best'.
5. There is no screening for depression and no requirement to assess or provide mental health support?
6. There is no specific test for competency required. Rather, under the Act, the starting point for a doctor is that everyone is presumed to be competent unless it is obvious they are not - that is an extremely low threshold.
7. A person with a terminal illness does not need to be in pain to avail themselves of this law. It is not an act of last resort as many think. Up to 25,000 people will fall within the scope of this Act annually - in some ways, the structure of the Act makes it more akin to an ‘opt out' law rather than an ‘opt in'!
8. A person with a terminal illness does not need to try palliative care first!
9. The Act does not provide for a legal right to access palliative care - overseas, people are choosing assisted death because of a lack of other choices and it is well accepted that palliative care is not yet universally accessible in New Zealand.
10. It will not protect our elders who are being abused, mostly by their own families, from a premature death. Elder abuse affects 10% of our elders and continues to rise.
11. Neither of the two doctors need to know or have met a patient previously.
12. Neither of the doctors has to be a specialist in the area of your life-limiting illness as is the case overseas or be a specialist in palliative care.
13. All eligible persons, 18 years plus, can end their life without telling a family member or significant other.

Do we want a law at any cost?

It's important to know that, if it passes, the Law will be enacted in its current form - it cannot be changed.

My own conclusion, and that of almost 200 lawyers who have signed up to a website called Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders, is that the End of Life Choice Act is, from a legal and public policy perspective, poorly drafted and lacking in key safeguards found in other laws overseas.

And some of these lawyers support the concept of assisted death!

Good public policy does not provide choice for some - the privileged - at the cost of caring for and protecting the most vulnerable.

In contrast, having the same attitude of Christ means taking a preferential option for the disempowered and vulnerable.

• It's not ‘compassion' to vote for a dangerous law.
• It's not mercy to vote for a dangerous law.
• It's not caring to vote for a dangerous law.
• It's not justice to vote for a dangerous law.

Even those who favour assisted death in some circumstances have many good reasons to vote no to this Act.

• Dr John Kleinsman is Director of The Nathaniel Centre and bioethics researcher.

The rental market in Wellington was so tough, they said, in this season. Did we have anywhere they could stay? Even if it just was a single room, it would be better than outside.

In another of our churches, a mother with two children is desperate. Her partner, hoping to enter through the refugee family reunification process, lodged his application last December.

Immigration New Zealand has halted the processing of cases until our borders open, and his case sits stagnant in a backlog of cases that has no end date in sight.

At our local port, chaplains working with seafarers are in despair at the epidemic of loneliness, exclusion and mental health issues overwhelming the sailors they interact with.

Many crews orbiting New Zealand ports have already been on their ships for more than a year, three or four months beyond their contracts, and have no repatriation in sight to their home countries.

Unlike airline crews, seafarers from foreign ships are required to have 28 continuous days onboard without symptoms before they will be granted shore leave.

With most ships having no wi-fi, their only contact with home is often through welfare centres such as the Mission to Seafarers. With 90 per cent of New Zealand's imports and exports​ arriving by ship, this group, who contribute significantly to our wellbeing, are forgotten and unloved.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, we have proved that we are a nation that is creative, kind, able to solve complex problems and work together for common good.

Yet since we eradicated community transmission, we have seen some disappointing responses emerge in our reaction to those who are seeking to enter our borders; not based on common good or kindness, but on fear.

Are we really going to turn our backs not even on those who orbit our borders, but on our own citizens, existing and new?

This fear is natural - we want to preserve the safe environment we worked hard for - but the drive for self-preservation is coming at a huge cost for so many vulnerable people.

The kindness we have exhibited as a nation over this year is only as good as our kindness to the most vulnerable.

As a response of gratitude to our team of 5 million, should we hunker down and become insular, or should we be generous with what we have? What is the appropriate response for gratitude?

Our Anglican family (often in partnership with many other national and local faith-based and secular organisations) is working both in front-line and advocacy spaces in this area.

One of the core tenets of our Christian faith, and of all major faiths, is strong teachings to love and embrace others, even those we don't know or love.

We ask that the Government and public institutions embody the principles of kindness and compassion for which Aotearoa became globally known this year. For example:

• Make a public re-commitment to our refugee quotas, within the limitations of current international logistics. The Red Cross has indicated that is well set up to receive people from refugee backgrounds in a quarantine situation in its Mangere centre.
• Take a proactive stance in processing the applications of family reunification cases, rather than waiting until the border reopens to do so. In this way, families can have some certainty and can look forward in hope.
• Make immediate funding available to enable the provision of the basic needs of forgotten seafarers.

Fear is not fair.

We are not asking our government or our citizens to take unnecessary risks.

But using our kindness, compassion and good systems and structures, we can make a huge difference to the lives of those marginalised both within our land, and standing at our gates.

We must not be afraid of countering the narrative that "we need to look after our own".

We might be at the bottom of the world, but we are part of a global community, and we are blessed with an environment and infrastructure that can care well for the deep needs of others when together we think of creative solutions.

The contribution that refugee, migrant and seafaring communities make to our social and economic tapestry is clear, and we must not allow fear and self-interest stand in the way of the values of kindness and compassion.

• Justin Duckworth is the Anglican Archbishop of Wellington. First published in Stuff. Republished with the permission of the author.

"If you go down the street and see a homeless man lying there and you pass by without looking at him, or you think: ‘Eh, the effect of wine. He's a drunk,' do not ask yourself if that man is drunk, ask yourself if your heart has hardened, if your heart has become ice," the pope said.

The true "face of love," he continued, is "mercy towards a human life in need. This is how one becomes a true disciple of Jesus."

In his Sunday Angelus address, Pope Francis reflected on the parable of the Good Samaritan, which he called "one of the most beautiful parables of the Gospel."

"This parable has become paradigmatic of the Christian life.

"It has become the model of how a Christian must act," he said.

According to Pope Francis, the parable shows that having compassion is key.

"If you do not feel pity before a needy person, if your heart is not moved, then something is wrong," he warned. "Be careful."

Quoting the Gospel of Luke, Francis said: "‘Be merciful, as your Father is merciful.' God, our Father, is merciful, because he has compassion; he is capable of having this compassion, of approaching our pain, our sin, our vices, our miseries."

The pope noted a detail of the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is that the Samaritan was considered an unbeliever.

Jesus uses a man of no faith as a model, he said, because this man, in "loving his brother as himself, shows that he loves God with all his heart and with all his strength - the God he did not know!"

"May the Virgin Mary," Francis prayed, "help us to understand and above all to live more and more the unbreakable bond that exists between love for God our Father and concrete and generous love for our brothers, and give us the grace to have compassion and grow in compassion."

After the Angelus, the pope reiterated his desire to be close to the Venezuelan people, who he said are facing trials in the continued crisis in the country.

"We pray the Lord will inspire and enlighten the parties involved, so that they can, as soon as possible, reach an agreement that puts an end to the suffering of the people for the good of the country and the entire region," he said.

• Source: CNS

Taking the name Francis, he won the admiration and respect of Catholics and non-Catholics alike with his simplicity and concern for the poor and marginalized.

With each passing year, however, criticism of the pope has become more vocal, especially from the Catholic right, who think he is breaking with traditional church teaching, and the political right, who don't like his views on global warming, immigration and social justice.

Francis has also been unable to satisfy those who say the Catholic hierarchy's response to the clergy sex abuse crisis has been inadequate.

I am a big fan of Pope Francis, in part because I think that any evaluation of his first six years as pope shows that his accomplishments outweigh his failings.

First, his accomplishments

Pope Francis has successfully rebranded the Catholic Church, which had come to be regarded as a clerical institution that stressed rules and uniformity.

If you wanted to be a good Catholic, you were given the catechism to memorize and told to follow the rules.

Francis hates clericalism.

He is constantly telling bishops and priests not to act like princes but rather like servants to the people of God.

While he is kind and compassionate to the wider world, he can be very critical when speaking to bishops and priests.

He warns against the temptation to manipulate or infantilize the laity.

He urges clerics to empower the laity "to continue discerning, in a way befitting their growth as disciples, the mission which the Lord has entrusted to them."

For Francis, the church is not a country club for the good and beautiful. Rather, it is a "poor church for the poor," a "field hospital" for the wounded. That is why he stresses compassion and mercy.

In contrast to the last two popes, who taught using complex theological concepts, Francis appeals to the heart.

He complains that "we have reduced our way of speaking about mystery to rational explanations, but for ordinary people the mystery enters through the heart."

He believes that "we lose people because they don't understand what we are saying, because we have forgotten the language of simplicity and impart an intellectualism foreign to our people."

This is not a pope who will worry, as we did in the previous papacy, about whether the translation of the Nicene Creed should say that Jesus is "one in being" or "consubstantial" with the Father.

Francis' focus on the simple message of the gospel is quite threatening to those Catholics who confuse theology with the faith.

Theology is how we explain the faith to ourselves and others. Augustine used Neoplatonism to explain the faith to a generation whose intellectuals were all Neoplatonists.

Thomas Aquinas used Aristotelianism, the avant-garde thinking of the 13th century, to explain the faith in his day.

The mistake today's conservatives make is to simply quote these great thinkers, rather than imitate them in developing new ways to explain Christianity to people of the 21st century.

With few Neoplatonists or Aristotelians around today, theolog

ians must have the freedom to discover new ways of explaining Christianity, even if this leads to new ways of understanding of human rights, justice, sexuality, marriage and the role of women.

Unlike his predecessors, Francis is not afraid of encouraging discussion in the church. Continue reading

• Thomas Reese SJ is is a senior analyst at Religion News Service, and a former columnist at National Catholic Reporter, and a former editor-in-chief of the weekly Catholic magazine America.
• Image: GCN

We are unlikely as a Church or as a society to get this right for quite some years to come.

Unlike the apology to the stolen generations or the apology for forced adoptions, this apology will be delivered in the hope that those from institutions which have done wrong stay away or at least not be publicly identifiable.

The government website states:

'The national apology is a day for survivors, families and supporters.

"Community consultations have made it clear that representatives from institutions in official attire risk traumatising survivors.

"Accordingly, institutions will not be represented at the national apology in Canberra.

"Members of institutions who wish to attend apology events in their personal capacity as a survivor, or as a support person to a survivor, are respectfully asked to not wear a uniform or any clothing that identifies their institution."

So let's continue to feel shame as members of the Church and let's recommit to justice, truth and healing.

As we look at our church structures and the past cover ups or downplaying of abuse that occurred, let's take to heart Jesus' words in today's gospel (Mark chapter 10 verses 35-45):

'You know that those who are recognised as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt.

But it shall not be so among you.

Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.'

We are fortunate that our bishops finally agreed to release the reports of our Truth Justice and Healing Council.

One of those reports contained personal testimonies by members of the Council.

This evening, I would like to quote from just four of those testimonies. I will not quote any bishop. I will not quote any man. Let me just quote from four of the women on the council.

Maria Harries, who is a professor of social work and the chair of my board at Catholic Social Services Australia, said:

'I still need to be convinced that the structures of the church implicated in their permitting of such abuse and the protection of perpetrators will really reform itself. Change is obligatory, and it is differentially confronting and frightening for various elements of our church. The recognition of the problems we face as a church is a good start to finding solutions.'

Marian Sullivan, a child psychiatrist, said:

'The royal commission has challenged many parts of Australian society and its institutions.

"The Catholic Church has been scrutinised extensively and critiqued harshly.

"As a member of the Council I have moved from a disposition of disappointment with the Church to one of satisfaction that the Church represented by the Council has unflinchingly faced the shame of its past behaviour and any inadequacies of redress.

"Although not widely acknowledged, the cooperation that the Council gave to the royal commission has been exemplary and is proof of our resolve.'

Maree Marsh, a Brigidine Sister and psychologist, said:

'The church cannot undo all of the harm done in the past, but it has the responsibility to do all that is within its power to create an environment in which people will treat other people with respect, dignity and justice.

"The healing that is necessary involves a long process and will take courage, compassion, openness and patience.

"Above all it will take faith — faith in one another and faith that God is with us in this journey.'

This evening whether victim, relative, bystander, or church official we can all identify with the suffering servant in Isaiah (Isaiah chapter 53 verses10-11):

The Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity.

If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the Lord shall be accomplished through him.

'Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear.'

May the Lord have mercy on us all.

May the day come when church officials and victims will be comfortable in each other's presence in our Parliament even if not in our Church.

But let's dare to pray that all might belong both in the galleries of our Parliament and in the pews of our Church seeing the light in fullness of days.

• Fr Frank Brennan SJ is the CEO of Catholic Social Services Australia. A former professor of law at Australian Catholic University and Adjunct Professor at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture the above text is taken from is his homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Curtin.
• Originally published in Eureka Street. Republished with permission of author.

The philosophy "is used as a theological justification for economic neo-liberalism" and is "a far cry from the positive and enlightening prophecy of the American dream that has inspired many," said the article in La Civilta Cattolica, a journal reviewed at the Vatican before publication.

The article was written by the journal's editor, Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, and by Marcelo Figueroa, an evangelical pastor, who is director of the Argentine edition of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano.

In an email, Father Spadaro described the article as "what I consider the second part of our article on the relationship between politics and fundamentalism in the United States."

The first article, published in July last year, was titled "Evangelical Fundamentalism and Catholic Integralism: A Surprising Ecumenism" and examined what the authors saw as growing similarities in the rhetoric and world views adopted by some evangelical fundamentalists and some "militant" Catholic hardliners.

They decried what they saw as an "ecumenism of hate" resulting from the political alliance in the United States of Christian fundamentalists and Catholic "integralists."

The article set off widespread debate, ranging from criticism that it was a superficial reading of the U.S. reality from the outside to praise for shining a light on ways that some tenets of the Christian faith have been manipulated for political gain.

The new article describes the "prosperity gospel" as a theological current that emerged from neo-Pentecostal evangelical communities in the United States and is thriving now in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, South Korea, China, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil.

"At its heart is the belief that God wants his followers to have a prosperous life, that is, to be rich, healthy and happy," Father Spadaro and Figueroa wrote. In such a view, opulence and well-being are "the true signs of divine delight."

The modern "prosperity gospel" owes much, they said, to E.W. Kenyon, a U.S. pastor who lived 1867-1948, and "maintained that through the power of faith you can change what is concrete and real," the Civilta article said. "A direct conclusion of this belief is that faith can lead to riches, health and well-being, while lack of faith leads to poverty, sickness and unhappiness."

"In the United States millions of people regularly go to the megachurches that spread the prosperity gospel," the article said. Preachers including "Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn, Robert Tilton, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer and others have increased their popularity and wealth thanks to their focus on knowing this gospel, emphasizing it and pushing it to its limits."

They see the purpose of faith as being to win God's favor, which is demonstrated in material wealth and physical health. Continue reading

• Image: What in the World

An IV dripped poison into my veins that would simultaneously cure me of the cancer in my body, and wreak havoc on it, sending waves of nausea, chills, malaise.

The concoction did not discriminate between healthy and cancer cells. It killed almost everything. This rendered me alive, but sick, bald, and weak.

As I sat looking out the shaded glass windows which overlooked the busy downtown area where I was receiving this treatment, I remember feeling amazed that as I sat, literally fighting for my life, my world falling apart, not only from cancer but being exhausted having just had a new baby right before my diagnosis, the rest of the world seemed not to care one bit.

People carried about their normal activities with no perception about my own personal agony. I watched businessmen in suits on the sidewalk below, hurrying to their destinations.

Women with bags of lunch from the deli were laughing as they scurried out of sight. A mother, unlike me, a seemingly healthy mother, was pushing a stroller with a child.

The sun rose and traveled across the sky in cheerful apathy to the deep suffering I experienced for six unbearably long hours each chemo session.

Flash forward.

Yesterday I was listening to a talk radio program. A teenager who had escaped without injury during the recent Las Vegas shooting had called into the show.

She was understandably quite traumatized. Her boyfriend had thrown his body on top of her then they got up and ran.

She was scared. She was heartbroken. She felt guilty that she was alive and others weren't. "The world is just going on around me and I can't get past this."

I completely understood.

The practicing psychotherapist talk show host kindly empathized with the girl then made a suggestion I thought was very wise. Continue reading

• Theresa Thomas is a Catholic mother of nine children. She lives in Indiana.

One participant said afterwards Francis told them "the Church welcomes and embraces us."

"Pope Francis was well known in Buenos Aires for being among the people," said Dew in his post.

"He has found many ways to continue the encounter with people that is at the heart of his spirituality and his approach to being Pope."

"The people who might feel they are 'on the peripheries' of the Church are very dear to him and he actively creates opportunities to meet with them."

Isabel Díaz, who took part in the meeting, said Pope Francis told them that, with their experience, they can help others who are separated and divorced live through their suffering, and "above all, he underlined repeatedly that the Church welcomes and embraces us."

""It gave me the feeling that we were meeting with the "Santa Teresa" group, in the parish of San Juan de la Cruz in Toledo, all in a circle."

"The only difference was the pope was with us. A generous pope, humble and at the same time affectionate. A pope then that made you want to hug him. I have the desire to hug him." Díaz said.

The 95 minute private audience would likely have gone unnoticed, if it wasn't for the fact that the diocese sponsoring the trip wrote about it on its website.

Last April, the Archbishop of the Spanish diocese of Toledo, Braulio Rodríguez, handed Francis a letter.

It had been was written by women who participate in the "Santa Teresa" group, run by the Commission of Family and Life of the diocese.

After reading the letter, Francis invited them to Rome.

Source

• Facebook
• Rome Reports
• Crux
• Image: Crux

"Maybe when people see a patched gang member like myself doing this kind of thing in the community, they might change their perceptions," said Te Kaipo Ahuriri, Tuhoe.

A Facebook video has reached more than 255,000 views after he and his family spent the weekend tracking down and feeding the homeless.

Ahuriri's childhood friend of 38 years was found dead in Rotorua last year after living on the street for some time.

"He was like a brother to me . . . if I had've known he was living like that, we would've taken him in."

Ahuriri said seeing people living rough was heartbreaking, and he knew what that felt like.

"I was adopted out as a child and raised by a Pakeha family. I've always felt homeless myself so I know what it feels like not to have a home or know where you belong.

Ahuriri acknowledged some of those begging on the streets were using it as a way of getting drugs and alcohol.

But said the people they were engaging with were in genuine need.

"The first thing is to feed them and house them. Then we need to go back and look at the issues they are dealing with."

Since the post was shared, thousands had offered their support with videos of others doing similar acts flooding in.

"We didn't expect this at all; we've had a thousand private messages," Mrs Ahuriri said. "We had a reporter from Taiwan on the phone this morning."

"We've been overwhelmed by it all. We've had so many people send us messages of thanks and make financial contributions."

Supportive words have crossed the oceans, from people in Australia, England, France, Italy and Mexico.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• maoritelevision.com
• Image: stuff.co.nz

In off-the-cuff remarks on Saturday at St Peter's Square, he said: "How often do we see people greatly attached to cats, to dogs", but fail to "help their neighbour, their neighbour who is in need . . . This will not do".

Francis spoke about compassion, pity, and mercy which should not "be confused with compassion which we feel for the animals who live with us".

"It happens, in fact, that at times one feels this sentiment toward animals, and remains indifferent to the suffering of one's brothers and sisters," he added.

Continue reading

I liked, donated, tweeted, commented and prayed over those updates.

I witnessed the circle of life, beamed through my smartphone.

But was I really making a difference?

Social media and digital technology are seeping into the biggest moments of our lives - not to mention into the monotony of everyday events.

Now, researchers have begun digging more deeply into how this new connectivity is transforming us and our relationships, just as experts are beginning to ponder how we can use these digital technologies to help us live more meaningful and compassionate lives.

A typical Facebook user, "has more close friends; has more trust in people; feels more supported; and is more politically involved," compared to non-social media users and those who use the site infrequently, the Pew Research Center has previously found.

Contrary to the popular narrative, even many younger Americans see social media as a place where they find meaning.

A 2013 study found that teenagers often feel that social media helps them to deepen their relationships with others.

How's that for a status update?

Here's some more thinking on how social media may contribute to the social good.

First of all, it can reduce stress levels.

A new Pew survey released last month found that not only is social media use not generally associated with increased stress for most users, but that "women who use Twitter, email and cellphone picture sharing report lower levels of stress" than those who do not use the technologies.

This isn't always true, but that's not bad news either.

Pew reports that exposure to difficult events in the lives of others through social media can cause increased levels of stress, particularly in women, a phenomenon sometimes called "the cost of caring."

So as social media makes you increasingly aware of events in other people's lives, you can wind up feeling more emotionally wound-up in their well being.

"'The cost of caring' is that you feel stuff about other people. It's not entirely clear that feeling stuff about other people is worse than not having had that feeling at all," explains Lee Rainie director of Internet, science and technology research at the Pew Research Center.

Knowledge that disturbs you can also empower you to reach out and act in support, thus giving your own life a little bit more purpose and meaning. Continue reading

Image: Forbes

The Pontiff made the comments in a wide-ranging interview by Argentine daily, La Nacion.

Addressing the turmoil his papacy is causing with conservative-minded groups, Francis says he's pleased the issues are in the open.

It's a "good sign" that there isn't "hidden mumbling when there is disagreement", he said.

Pastoral care of homosexuals

Asked about the Synod itself and especially about homosexuals, Francis said the Synod did not talk about same-sex marriage but how to accompany gay people.

"Nobody mentioned homosexual marriage at the synod; it did not cross our minds. What we did talk about was of how a family with a homosexual child, whether a son or a daughter, goes about educating that child, how the family bears up, how to help that family to deal with that somewhat unusual situation.

"We have to find a way to help that father or that mother to stand by their son or daughter. That's what the synod addressed. That's why someone mentioned positive factors in the first draft. But this was just a draft."

On the question of divorced and remarried Catholics, Francis said that these people are treated as though they are excommunicated and the Synod considered what door can the Church open to these people.

Divorce and remarriage

"In the case of divorcees who have remarried, we posed the question, what do we do with them? What door can we allow them to open? This was a pastoral concern: will we allow them to go to Communion?

"Communion alone is no solution.

"The solution is integration.

"They have not been excommunicated, true. But they cannot be godfathers to any child being baptized, mass readings are not for divorcees, they cannot give communion, they cannot teach Sunday school, there are about seven things that they cannot do, I have the list over there.

"Come on! If I disclose any of this it will seem that they have been excommunicated in fact!

"Thus, let us open the doors a bit more.

"Why cant they be godfathers and godmothers? 'No, no, no, what testimony will they be giving their godson?'

"The testimony of a man and a woman saying "my dear, I made a mistake, I was wrong here, but I believe our Lord loves me, I want to follow God, I was not defeated by sin, I want to move on.

"Anything more Christian than that?

"And what if one of the political crooks among us, corrupt people, are chosen to be somebody's godfather.

"If they are properly wedded by the Church, would we accept them? What kind of testimony will they give to their godson? A testimony of corruption?

"Things need to change, our standards need to change.

Personal life, Curia reform and Cardinal Burke

Francis also talked frankly about aspects of his personal life, the upcoming reform of the Vatican bureaucracy and the new position for Cardinal Burke.

Acknowledging that reforming the Curia is complex and will take a little longer than people might expect, Pope Francis confirmed the decision to transfer Cardinal Burke was decided long before the Synod.

"So it is not true that I removed him because of how he had behaved in the Synod", the pontiff said.

Sources

• The Independent
• Irish Times
• NCR
• Image: Modern Thrill