What will future Catholic Ministry look like as our priests age and numbers of priests diminish? In today’s faster paced world, are those un-ordained people living their faith and ministering to others as an integral part of who they are, their work, and their daily interactions with others becoming the new ‘priests’? Andrea O’Hagan and Read more
Poland’s Catholic bishops have suffered a defeat with the approval by the nation’s president of an international convention combating violence against women. The Council of Europe convention creates the world’s first legal framework for curbing psychological and sexual violence. It also criminalises forced marriages, stalking, and female genital mutilation. President Bronislaw Komorowski signed a government Read more
The Communications Secretary for Fiji’s Methodist Church, Reverend James Bhagwan, says the key message from the church is that, “We don’t condone violence in any way, shape or form.” He said it’s a challenge for the church to help people find ways to resolve conflict peacefully. Bhagwan said they have noticed domestic violence on the increase Read more
Issues such as gender-based violence and HIV can be taboo topics in some communities and behavioural change requires more than just awareness of the problems, says a country director with the British Council New Zealand, Ingrid Leary. She says churches are the major influences of behaviour and some can do much more to lead on Read more
(RNS) In the West, the idea that religion is inherently violent is taken for granted by everyone from academics to cab drivers, says British religion scholar Karen Armstrong, the former Roman Catholic nun who wrote the best-selling “A History of God.” Her new book, “Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence,” picks at the Read more
Sir Owen Glenn’s report into child abuse and domestic violence has found that perpetrators associated their violence with alcohol and drug use. The study involved 26 people, almost all of them men, who had not been violent within the previous year. The report found most thought violence in the home was acceptable and that half Read more
The week before our Prime Minister promised to “shirt-front” the president of Russia, I was at the gravesite of a man who hit his wife so hard she went through a door. The man was my grandfather, on my father’s side, and the woman he assaulted was his wife, my beloved Nana. When this man Read more
Members of New Zealand’s Hurricanes rugby union team will visit Vanuatu to spread a message against domestic violence. Professional Development Manager for the Hurricanes, Steve Symonds says the program will help support local law enforcement and challenge the resilience of the players themselves. Listen to interview
Increasing domestic violence in Solomon Islands is being blamed for the rise in the number of women and children seeking shelter in a care-centre in Honiara. The Church of Melanesia’s Christian Care Centre’s director, Sister Doreen Awaiasi, says she is having to turn people away as the centre is at full capacity. Sister Doreen says Read more
High Court judge, Justice Stephen Pallaras QC says that the Solomon Islands is a small country, “and a small country be what they want it to be.” He said in order to mould the communities, everyone has to act and do something about respecting women and children. “You have to learn your rights what they Read more