A two-year audit of Facebook’s civil rights record found that the company’s elevation of free expression – especially by politicians – above other values has hurt its progress on other matters like discrimination, elections interference and protecting vulnerable users. Facebook hired former American Civil Liberties Union executive Laura Murphy in May 2018 to assess its Read more
The Pacific Island Forum’s Observer Team to Tonga has congratulated election officials for their professional conduct during last week’s snap election. Wilson Waguk, from the Embassy of the Federated States of Micronesia to Fiji, led the team which observed the opening polling and counting on the islands of ‘Eua and Tongatapu. The team said the Read more
The Australian Sex party has taken aim at the Catholic Church in an election ad it says may offend some viewers. The ad, released on Youtube on Friday, shows a flamboyant dancing priest leading a congregation in a sing along. The ad accuses the Catholic Church with its “sleazy priests” of “making the world less Read more
Cardinal George Pell is one of 15 prelates who will plan and organise the next synod of bishops. He was one of 12 prelates elected at the recent 2015 synod. Pope Francis added three others to the “synod’s ordinary council”. While the names of the 12 elected members had been circulating for some time, the Read more
Prime Minister John Key spoke to more than 500 members of South Auckland’s Pasifika community on Tuesday. The meeting, with Pacific church leaders at the Samoan Independent Seventh Day Adventist Church in Mangere, was also a platform to promote National’s candidate for Mangere, Misa Fia Turner. Key says there had been a shift in support Read more
Election times are almost with us. Beware of “millennial cargo cult” politicians! Why the strange language? Well, it aptly describes a dangerous type of politician and political policy. Millenarian cults are social movements common throughout history. They proclaim for devoted believers the destructive end of one era and the dramatic coming of another more perfect Read more
New Zealand’s Catholic bishops have asked New Zealanders and especially Catholics to consider the common good of all when they vote in the November general election. In a statement being distributed to Catholic parishes throughout the country, the bishops emphasise that politics is not a private affair and that the election is an opportunity to help secure Read more
Should some election candidates feel the need to say a little prayer about the upcoming big day then they will be in the right place during a planned meeting this Sunday.
Five candidates, Chris Tremain (National), Stuart Nash (Labour), Paul Bailey (Greens), Na Raihania (Maori Party) and Robert Burnside (ACT) will be attending the meet the candidates gathering which has been organised by Inner City Churches and set to be staged at St Paul’s Church in Tennyson St at 3.30pm.
Read the article...National Candidate for Tamaki Simon O’Connor, 35, was born and raised in Whangarei. He completed training as a Catholic priest, but chose not to be ordained.
“It’s like a lot of young men who go through it – it eventually didn’t feel like the right fit for me and I felt I could probably use some of the skills I had in a wider context, in this case outside the priesthood, so went pretty quickly into politics to make a difference that way.”
Qualities developed in his training – honesty, integrity, discipline, respect for others – were assets for a political career, he said.
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