The Chairman of Samoa’s National Council of Churches, (NCC) Deacon Le’aupepe Kasiano, has challenged suggestions that abandoning babies is part of the Samoan culture. The suggestion has been made following the incident in Australia where a Samoan woman has been charged for abandoning her baby in a drain. She is the 30 year old daughter Read more
A Nigerian archbishop has told the synod on the family that no-one should try to impose foreign cultures and ways on African peoples. Africans “have come of age”, said Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, who is president of the Nigerian bishops’ conference. “We should be allowed to think for ourselves,” he said, noting that many African countries Read more
Go to any event these days and your are sure to find some one dressed up as 1950s nun or sporting gear based on some kind of religious attire. No self respecting party hire business can afford to not have a big stock of false nun’s habits for hire . So, “What’s the fuss about Dame Read more
“It is as Maori that the Lord calls you, it is as Maori that you belong to the Church, the one body of Christ.” These were the words of Pope St John Paul II on his visit to our shores in 1986. His words were powerful then and are just as powerful now because in Read more
Student Tyler Dixon is used to being asked about women’s place on the marae. Her pakeha friends ask if the traditional role of women in the powhiri is sexist. “I just try to explain that females have their own type of mana. Traditionally Maori really revered their women, and looked after their women, and I Read more
The remarkable thing about Francis is not that he’s fundamentally changing the theology of the Church, nor that he’s carving out a space for the pope as a heavyweight in the economics public sphere. It’s that he’s consistently able to match the themes that animate his spirituality and faith with issues that people around the Read more
Pope Francis, Saturday, told members of Neocatechumenal Way to pay attention to cultural differences when they go about missionary work. He said the Catholic Church’s overall unity is more important than the details of their own practices. Pope Francis also told the groups they are also to respect the authority and guidance of local bishops. The Neocatechumenate’s religious Read more
An evangelical church leader in Papua New Guinea says people will in time realise that the Speaker of Parliament was right to remove carved wooden heads at the tops of totem poles from Parliament House. Joseph Walters, a prominent evangelical church leader in Papua New Guinea, says the Speaker did the right thing, and there Read more
Since reading Pope Francis’ new document, The Joy of the Gospel, I have a huge amount of hope for the future of the Church’s work with the young. It raises many points that would mean, if we do it right, we’re much more open, available and welcoming to young people. While I think the Pope’s Read more
How the dead should be honoured and the role of funeral directors are just some of the issues being raised at hui to discuss changes to burial and cremation legislation, The Law Commission says. A number of themes are emerging at the hui, such as which urupa the person should be buried in and how Read more