She said Wellington Women's Health Collective group helped her through the "despair" of depression, and the service was "too good to stop".

Since 2006, Lehmann and a handful of Wellington women have kept the service alive. Continue reading

Beginning in January, a female theologian will be employed to talk with sex workers in the Basel region about their concerns and burdens.

She will also be available for spiritual and religious guidance.

But Anne Burgmer, 38, said she doesn't intend to try to dissuade sex workers to give up their work or judge them for it.

Bishop Felix Gmur said the service fits with a vision of a Church which goes out and serves people, including those with no-one to speak for them

Continue reading

Irish-based Coping International was assured by the bishops that this support would be forthcoming.

The bishops made this decision at their autumn meeting in October last year.

The therapy would be provided through the church-sponsored "Towards Healing" service.

The founder of Coping International said the "Irish Catholic bishops have been providing counselling services ‘ad hoc' through Towards Healing since 2011 to children of Irish Catholic priests and to their mothers since 2013".

He told The Tablet that the Irish bishops' decision is believed to be "the first of its kind in the Church".

Coping International maintains contact with more than 30 children of priests and also some priests.

It works "primarily (at this point) with Irish clientele", but includes the Philippines, Africa and South America, where Irish priests work as missionary priests.

Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin reportedly stated: "I pray that Coping will be able to find ways which will bring the children of priests and their natural parents together for the benefit of both."

Blogging for The Tablet, David Weber, founder of Human Rights for Children of Priests, said thousands of people are affected by this issue worldwide.

Mr Weber wrote that while "a child of a diocesan parish priest might sometimes have secret contact with his or her father . . . in my experience, the payment of child support is attached to a confidentiality agreement that results in immense pressure on the child not to tell anyone who the father is".

He pointed to the 2014 report on the Vatican's compliance with the UN convention of the right of the child on this matter.

Mr Weber said a UN committee's report was "almost revolutionary" in recommending that "the Vatican find out who [the children of priests] are, [and] take all necessary measures to ensure that the rights of those children to know and to be cared for by their fathers is respected".

Sources

• The Tablet
• The Tablet
• Image: Fashions Cloud

Alesana Pala'amo beat eight other finalists and captivated judges with his presentation titled "Researching God: Come talk to your Pastor".

Mr Pala'amo, from the School of Health and Social Sciences at Albany, is doing his research on pastors in the Congregational Christian Church in Apia, Samoa.

A minister in the church himself, he was motivated because of a concern that younger Samoans are not responding to a traditional, more directive style of counselling.

He says the popularity of social media and the use of mobile phones have changed the way Samoans communicate.

The younger generation of Samoans seek a more reciprocal approach to counselling that acknowledges both spiritual and social issues.

Professor Brigid Heywood said the judges chose the winning entry because of the way the topic brings a traditional concept into a modern context.

Mr Pala'amo will take part in the trans-Tasman finals in Perth in November, along with representatives from each New Zealand university.

The winner of the Trans-Tasman finals will go through to the World finals, which are held online.

The contest - academia's equivalent of television's Idol singing competition - has a serious mission to encourage doctoral students to find creative ways of succinctly communicating their research projects.

This year's judges were Fonterra Food Structure manager Dr Steve Taylor, Massey vice-chancellor Steve Maharey, assistant vice-chancellor Research, Academic and Enterprise Professor Brigid Heywood and pro vice-chancellor - College of Sciences Professor Robert Anderson.

Source

• Massey University
• Image: Massey University

To address this issue the Catholic Church has established a society with a vision to revive family love and end violence in homes.

Called the Gaualofa Society, its mission is to work with families to restore the peace and love into the home, "into the likeness of the holy family."

Among its goals is to tackle violence in the home.

Sale says they aim to address the three major categories of violence, which are physical, psychological and sexual.

Documents obtained by the Sunday Samoan say the "Society's initial focuses are to help eliminate all forms of violence with greater emphasis on domestic violence by providing alternative dynamic community awareness programs."

"We will also provide general one to one counselling and spiritual counselling, therapeutic and rehabilitation, open and closed individual group programs for both victims and perpetrators of domestic violence."

The Society will be fully staffed. And they are undergoing training to prepare them for the mission.

"We are doing intensive trainings in social theories that will make our facilitators present better," said Sale.

He said the programme would target schools, teachers and young people.

The Society was launched during a gathering at the Tofamamao Retreat Centre at Leauva'a on 28 June. The keynote address was delivered by Archbishop Alapati Lui Mataeliga.

It will be based at Moamoa, adjacent to the Catholic Theological College there.

Source

• Samoa Observer