Deputy mayor, Rohan O'Neill-Stevens, says a few people had contacted councillors about advertising which depicts a Divine Mercy image of Jesus.

"Having religious advertising on buses is not something that everyone is comfortable with" he says.

O'Neill-Stevens doesn't think the advertising breaches any council advertising policy guidelines.

Nonetheless he has asked staff to look into the concern as it's "a policy decision we have to weigh up against other obligations under the Bill of Rights Act".

"It's a space where I think we just need to make sure we've got our policy as strong as it can be, because we want our buses to be reflective of a wide range of people who use them and we want all of our users to be comfortable with our bus system."

Diverse, tolerant community sought

Mayor Nick Smith is "surprised" that having Jesus and a religious trust advertising on an eBus has caused controversy.

The Council doesn't own the eBuses he says. It subsidises the service through rates and funding from Government.

Advertising on the back of the buses helps offset costs, Smith explains. He can "see no good reason" to prohibit religious organisations from buying advertising space on the eBuses.

"It would send the wrong signal when I want Nelson to be a tolerant and diverse community where differing religious beliefs are welcomed and respected" he says.

One councillor says concerned people's worries are: "If they put that up, what else can they put up?"

Some councillors are a little concerned that if you allow this, you have to allow "quite yucky" organisations, or "elements of beliefs that are kind of gross".

"Where's the line as far as what you can plonk on the back of the bus?"

The Council says eBus advertising is handled by an external agency.

An advertising panel considers all potentially contentious advertisements, including the Divine Mercy ad. It came to their attention in September 2023.

The panel decided "nothing in the ad conflicted with council's policy for bus advertising" or was "inappropriate in the guidelines". Nor was it "a political ad".

While Council's policy refers to advertising that could be perceived as harmful to the community's well-being, an expression of religion was "not inherently harmful" the Council says.

"We fully understand that some people in the community may have negative experiences with religion and might find this advert confronting.

"However, if we were to ban an advert like this where would we draw the line? The consequence might be that we would have to ban any advert with a topic that may be offensive."

The Regional Transport Committee doesn't see a problem either. The ad doesn't breach the shared councils' policy, nor Advertising Standards Authority guidelines.

"What is does do is call for some tolerance as it is not inciting any action or negative opinion of other groups" Committee chair Stu Bryant says.

Source

• Nelson Mail

"This is my first visit here, but I think it is really great. I would not consider myself a really devout or religious person, but I really like the look of the building, and the coffee served here is excellent as well", said Leilani Su'a who visited the place with a colleague.

The shop sells sacramental and ceremonial items for the Catholic Church. And religious statues, images and devotional books, scripts, that is inspirational and motivational to all religious.

The café sells an All Day Breakfast Menu and light lunch meals with our specialty coffee of flat white, mocha; and tea.

The Immaculate Religious Shop and Café's setting is unique. Looking up, customers can discover a ceiling panel in the style of Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" in Sistine Chapel in Rome.The café's walls are decorated with Christian scenes such as Leonardo da Vinci's famous "Last Supper".

Immaculate Religious Shop and Café is the brainchild of five women Kereti Ah Liki, Tanya Grey, Francine Fruean, Trude Clarke and Jackie Fepulea'i. They got to know each other through their church group Divine Mercy.

Each of these women already has had experience in leading a business.

The Immaculate Religious Shop and Café is located in an old historical building in the Catholic Cathedral Compound in the heart of downtown Apia, Samoa.ia. It is across the road from the Samoa Tourist Information Centre.

"It has been going really well so far for us. We see our business also as a part of the community service, which is not only limited to the Catholic community only but is also open to all the other religious communities in the area," said Francine Fruean.

Fruean told Samoa Observer that churches are not the only only ones interested in these item. Some of Samoa's more devout tourists also discovered a certain joy in them.

Source

• sobserver.ws
• facebook.com
• Image: facebook.com

Little wonder then, that it's very easy to become poetic about Mercy. We all know it as God's gift. But it is less easy to say what Mercy actually is.

When I go to a dictionary of synonyms, I find a long list of definitions: benevolence, blessing, charity, clemency, compassion, forbearance, forgiveness, generosity, goodwill, grace, leniency, patience, pity, sympathy, tenderness, tolerance.

Together these definitions say much about God's abundance, but the dictionary is lacking a certain word. Perhaps it's the most important word of all, because it describes the very nature of God. That word is Love.

This is something to think about. Without love, our ground of mercy becomes uneven. There can be a suggestion of division that is almost elitist: the giver and the receiver, the rich and the poor, the fortunate and the unfortunate, the forgiver and the forgiven. Such a separation makes us feel uncomfortable.

The more I reflect on this, the more I hear St Paul thundering in the background, "Without love you are as the sounding of brass!" (I Corinthians 13.) Worse still, there comes an echo of a quote from an Anglican Bishop: "The world is divided two ways - the righteous and the unrighteous. And it is the righteous who do the dividing."

At this stage of reflection, I remember the times I've thrown money in the hats of people begging, without pausing to find out their names and who they were. Then I dare to go further, examining that dictionary list, testing each word against experience. How much of my giving came from a sense of duty? Do I detect a whiff of righteousness?

Where was love?

My failure rate is quite high; but I don't waste time on guilt. Repentance is better. It means rethinking, which is what Lent is all about. So I rethink the many aspects of God's mercy, how they flow into me, and what I do with them.

Of course I grab a heap for myself. I need mercy as much as anyone. And while this time of reflection has been a valuable exercise, it may not create much change except to make me a little more realistic about myself.

One thing, though, is definitely going to change: LOVE is being added to the dictionary list of synonyms. It will not be alphabetically listed, but will go first and in capital letters because it is an essential ingredient of all the others.

Lesina, who is from Samoa, is the main speaker at the conference.

The theme for this year's congress is ‘God's word is active and alive. The hope of humans through his son Jesus Christ the Divine Mercy'.

Participants from parishes in Malaita and Guadalcanal are attending the meeting.

The conference started Tuesday and ends on Saturday.

When she attended the Divine Mercy Congress in Sydney in 2012 Lesina told those present that that the Divine Mercy devotion has spread rapidly throughout Oceania - throughout Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Australia and the islands of Micronesia, Macronesia, Polynesia and Papua New Guinea.

The last Oceanian Apostolic Congress on Mercy was held in Apia, Samoa, in 2013

Many bishops (from Fiji, Pago-Pago, Australia, Tonga) and national committees from Oceania were present.

Divine Mercy Ministry is a worldwide ministry within the Catholic Church but is joined by Christians throughout the world

Source

• Solomon Star
• worldapostoliccongressonmercy.org
• jloughnan.tripod.com

Fr Peter Nguyen Van Tuong was excommunicated "latae sententiae", the apostolic administrator of Vinh Long diocese announced.

Administrator Fr Peter Duong Van Thanh accused Fr Tuong of "preaching false beliefs against the Catholic Church doctrine" and "being too stubborn to change his incorrect stance".

But five days before the excommunication notice was posted to the diocese's website, a letter signed by Fr Thanh stated Fr Tuong was being moved away for health reasons.

Fr Tuong has a strong devotion to Divine Mercy, based on the writings of St Faustina Kawolska.

The excommunicated priest used to celebrate Divine Mercy ceremonies on Saturdays that drew thousands of people, including followers of other faiths.

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The Pope said this during his homily at a canonisation Mass at St Peter's Square on April 27 before an estimated 500,000 people.

A few minutes earlier, he had formally declared both popes to be saints of the Catholic Church.

"John XXIII and John Paul cooperated with the Holy Spirit in renewing and updating the Church in keeping with her original features, those features which the saints have given her throughout the centuries," Pope Francis said.

He called them men of courage and mercy.

Pope Francis said he liked to think of St John as "the pope of openness to the Spirit".

And the current Pontiff characterised St John Paul II as the "pope of the family".

Pope Francis said he was sure St John Paul was guiding the Church on its path to two upcoming synods of bishops on the family, to be held at the Vatican this October and in October, 2015.

Mercy was a major theme in Pope Francis's homily, which was delivered on Divine Mercy Sunday.

He has often pointed to the need for mercy in Church teaching on marriage and the family.

Among the concelebrants as the canonisation Mass were Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, 150 cardinals and 700 bishops.

Commentators have said that in canonising both popes together, Pope Francis is urging Catholics to look beyond liberal and conservative divisions to join together in following the Gospel.

Jesuit commentator Fr Thomas Reese wrote that making a former pope a saint is a way of strengthening his legacy.

This makes it more difficult for future popes to change policies the saint put in place.

"By canonising them together, Pope Francis is saying that all Catholics should be able to come together to celebrate the lives of these holy men," Fr Reese wrote.

Since these two are so different, it does not canonise so-called liberal or conservative models of being pope, the Jesuit wrote.

"So it leaves Pope Francis free to follow his own path."

Sources

• Catholic News Service
• Catholic Herald
• Reuters
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Vatican.va

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi spoke at the unveiling. He said the "only correct image now looks over the national gateway".

"Faleolo Airport is Samoa's front door to the world. It is only fitting then that the image of our merciful Christ greets and farewells those arriving and departing our shores.

"This is also a venue that is prone to accidents and perhaps diseases and other disasters that come from overseas, we depend on the mercy of our Lord to safeguard Samoa from such harm."

The Divine Mercy is a particular devotion within the Roman Catholic Church. Prayers are addressed to "the merciful love of God and the desire to let that love and mercy flow through one's own heart towards those in need of it".

Saint Mary Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938), also known as Apostle of Mercy, initiated this devotion. It is said that Jesus revealed the Divine Mercy devotion to her, which she wrote in her diary, The Divine Mercy of My Soul.

Sources

• Savali News
• Image: Linundus Kinabalu