The names of five new cardinals from five very different countries were announced yesterday. Pope Francis says on 28 June he will hold a consistory to appoint the cardinals, who come from El Salvador, Laos, Mali, Spain and Sweden. They will add diversity to the church, Francis says. Apart from Spain, none of the countries Read more
Catholic schools in England and Wales are “beacons of diversity” with one in three pupils registering in a recent census as not Catholic. The school rolls also have 21% more pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds compared to other schools. These insights follow a change in the annual Catholic Education Service Schools’ census. This year for Read more
A Catholic professor’s views on diversity are making waves at the Catholic college he teaches at. A row blew up after Professor Anthony Esolen published two articles recently In one of them, Esolen says the “celebrate diversity” culture crowd is “at odds with…the diversity of male and female to be resolved most dynamically and creatively Read more
Hundreds from around the country went along to the lower North Island’s largest Sikh temple to pray, eat and celebrate yesterday. The president of the Sikh society said it is not something he thought he’d ever see when he moved to New Zealand three decades ago. The new temple in Naenae is going to cater Read more
Rose Sawaya, principal of the Porirua’s Bishop Viard College, says her school has more refugee students than any other Wellington school. And she is incredibly proud of her school and its students. At a recent mufti day which coincided with International Refugee Day, students shared stories, food and performed cultural dances. Sawaya says a lovely Read more
Fijian-born Ibrar Sheikh hopes the Islam Open day in Aotea Square on the weekend has helped tackle misconceptions about his community and show that “Kiwi-Muslims are just like other New Zealanders.” The Open Day was one of the main activities of the Islam Awareness Week. Sheikh said it was a very unique opportunity for people Read more
A new study has concluded that New Zealand workplaces are more diverse and tolerant than their Aussie counterparts. The Randstad Workmonitor report found that more than three-quarters of Kiwi workers believe their company has an open and inclusive culture, while 88% of companies value diversity in the workplace. 9% of Kiwi workers said they had Read more
The Government is considering exempting kirpans from civil aviation rules – allowing them to be carried on board planes rather than stowed away with luggage. Parliament’s first Sikh MP says there needs to be legislation around ceremonial daggers so it’s clear they are not weapons and are safe to be worn. National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi Read more
A study carried published by the Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research of Victoria University in Wellington New Zealand in 2013 reveals that a significantly higher proportion agreed that, “It is a good thing for any society to be made up of different races, religions and cultures”, compared with similar surveys conducted in in Australia and 15 Read more
New Zealand will be made made up of a people of multiple “national” identities and its population growth may be entirely dependent on immigration, says a new study. The report – Our Futures: Te Pae Tawhiti – released today by an expert panel of the Royal Society of New Zealand, analysed data from the 2013 Census and Read more