Is the Church in decline? Some might draw that conclusion looking at data from the 2023 census. Reporting the results, one media headline said, “More than half the population has no religion”. It went on saying that the proportion of people with ‘no religion’ has increased from 48.2 per cent in 2018 to 51.6 per Read more
Since the COVID-19 crisis, there have been increasing concerns about the deterioration of mental health among teenagers and young adults. From surveys to reports, the statistics on young people’s mental health seem to depict a generation in distress—sad, anxious and discouraged. Professor Ludovic Gicquel, head of the child and adolescent psychiatry department at Laborit Hospital Read more
Former New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet has strongly opposed the COVID-19 vaccine mandates, labeling them “wrong”. The retiring politician, a Catholic, made the claim during a valedictory speech on Tuesday, reflecting on the government’s response to the pandemic. He suggested that the enforcement of the vaccine mandates impinged on individual freedoms. “If the impact Read more
Covid-19 and life expectancy made bad partners in most countries during the pandemic. The virus made global life expectancy fall. Except that is in New Zealand, Australia and a few other countries. Here and in those places, the long-standing trend of people living longer continues. The pandemic’s toll About 15.9 million deaths have been attributed Read more
A recent study highlighted the significant impact of Covid-19 vaccines in New Zealand, notably reducing deaths and hospitalisations during the Omicron phase. Published in Vaccine, the research estimates vaccines averted 4,000 to 12,000 deaths and 34,000 to 56,000 hospitalisations within 18 months from January 2022. However, among the highlighted outcomes were the disparities in health Read more
A new national survey shows students in the United States are still struggling to make up learning loss experienced over the course of the COVID-19 crisis. The report this week from NWEA examined test scores from nearly 7 million elementary and middle school students in about 20,000 public schools around the US. The researchers found Read more
“The ongoing issue of low attendance in NZ Catholic schools is a pressing concern” says Dr Kevin Shore, Chief Executive of the New Zealand Catholic Education Office (NZCEO). “Student success is vital. It opens doors to life’s best opportunities and allows school graduates to contribute positively to society,” Shore told CathNews. Acknowledging that the factors Read more
There is a risk that school attendance levels will not return to their pre-pandemic norm, says head of New South Wales Catholic schools, Dallas McInerney. He wants an inquiry into the long-term consequences of shutting down schools during the pandemic. In a speech to school leaders last week, McInerney said he had argued to keep Read more
More than a year after the Government launched a top-level advisory group on Long Covid, leading experts worry sufferers are still being let down by the health system. Those concerns have been aired in a series of just-released video interviews, as the Ministry of Health says it’s impossible to quantify how many people are living Read more
Just because the World Health Organisation (WHO) says the Covid-19 health emergency is over, it doesn’t mean everything’s OK. Far from it. It’s still a global health and welfare threat, WHO officials say. We can expect the same devastating health and social consequences will continue to plague us. The virus keeps evolving and spreading. Many Read more