Josepha Madigan, who is Ireland's Minister for Culture, offered to lead a liturgy service because the priest wasn't available.

She was also a Minister for the Eucharist distributing consecrated hosts at the service.

An Irish newspaper reported her as saying it is a "sad reflection of the times we live in that there are no priests available to say Saturday evening Mass in one of the busiest parishes in Dublin."

Madigan says she think her support of abortion and the church's core teachings about the protection of human life are at odds with each other.

"I would be of the view that God gave us free will. I believe it is for everybody to make their own choice notwithstanding the fact that abortion is not something that I would choose."

In her opinion, a bigger issue is that the Church "should be ordaining women and it should be optional for priests to marry. It is something that I will say to Pope Francis if I get an opportunity in August."

The Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin was not happy with the Minister's involvement in the "Yes" campaign and her church ministry.

"Comments by Minister Josepha Madigan ... have caused parishioners in Mount Merrion and further afield considerable distress. Many have contacted my offices to express their hurt and upset at the Minister's comments, as reported in the media.

"There is no shortage of priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin for the celebration of Sunday Mass.

"Due to a misunderstanding, the priest assigned to Mass in the parish of Mount Merrion on Saturday evening failed to turn up. It is in no way correct to say that the Minister ‘said Mass.'"

He went on: "It is regrettable that Minister Madigan used this occasion to push a particular agenda. Her expressed view that a mix up in a Dublin parish on one particular Saturday evening should lead to the Universal Church changing core teachings is bizarre.

"Minister Madigan might consider listening to the voices of those people who disagree with her public comments, she might consider the hurt she has caused to parishioners who deem her actions deeply disrespectful."

Source

• The Tablet
• Crux Now
• Image: Independent.ie

Francis named Bishop Heiner Koch of Dresden-Meissen to the position.

The right to elect their own bishops, from a "terno", or list of three candidates approved by Rome, is still held by 13 of Germany's 27 dioceses and archdioceses.

This is under the terms of the Vatican's 1929 concordat with Prussia, an agreement which was revived after Germany's reunification in 1989.

The archdiocese of Salzburg, Austria, and the dioceses of Basel, Chur and Sankt Gallen in Switzerland, have the same election rights.

Under the concordat rules, the state governments of Berlin, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern had to be officially notified of Bishop Koch's election.

This could only be confirmed by the Pope if these bodies raised "no concerns of a political nature".

Stefan Forner, a spokesperson for Berlin archdiocese, confirmed that the voting is secret and there is no public consultation as in Germany's Protestant churches.

"There've been calls to make the election procedures clearer and more transparent, but this wouldn't reflect Catholic tradition," Mr Forner said.

"Nor could our German system be easily reproduced in other countries."

He admitted that questions are sometimes raised as to whether this system allows for genuine choice or not.

Vatican and church leaders traditionally had been glad to seek government approval, as a means of avoiding conflict, Mr Forner added.

Bishop Koch, 61, was elected on June 2 to succeed Cardinal Rainer Woelki, who was transferred to Cologne archdiocese in July, 2014 after three years as archbishop of Berlin.

Bishop Koch will attend October's synod of bishops on the family in Rome.

He has said that describing homosexuality as a sin is "hurtful".

He has also indicated an openness to allowing Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics.

Local media have described Bishop Koch as "a churchman in the spirit of Pope Francis" who would approach his tasks "without ideological blinders".

Only 10 per cent of Berlin's population is Catholic.

Sources

• Catholic News Service
• The Tablet
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

This is so New Zealanders can better evaluate the trade deal's implications, the bishops stated.

The bishops acknowledge the right and duty of any New Zealand Government to promote the nation's trading opportunities.

And they are mindful that the well-being of New Zealanders depends on economic growth.

But the lack of transparency and public involvement on the TPP is a cause for great concern, the bishops stated.

"The sense of unease stretches across the community, and includes people in business, academics and unionists.

"Corporate interests are party to the TPP negotiations and able to exert influence in favour of their own interests, while the people are excluded.

"This leads to the belief that ordinary New Zealanders, and particularly those who are poorer, will be disadvantaged by the TPPA and all the benefits will accrue to those who already have considerable wealth.

"The bishops accept that secrecy may be the norm in ordinary trade agreements, but the TPP is more than just a trade negotiation.

"It has the capacity to reach into domestic economies, and to dictate what happens within a nation's own political and legal systems."

The bishops pointed to the parallel Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, where the European Commission has introduced measures to increase transparency and allow public scrutiny and consultation.

The bishops asked New Zealand's Government to give serious consideration to making the draft text of the TPP available, so that New Zealanders "are able to evaluate for themselves, according to their own principles, the potential negatives and positives of the TPP".

Last month, Bishop Charles Drennan joined a public protest in Palmerston North against the proposed trade agreement.

Sources

• New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference
• Stuff
• Image: Hoosier Ag Today

This is the uncomfortable underpinning of the Police Minister's proposed register for the close monitoring of sex offenders in the community.

Anne Tolley has, however, struck the right balance in, first, piloting the monitoring system with about 300 convicted child abusers and, second, keeping the names secret.

Offenders against children present by far the greatest reoffending risk.

Other sex offenders judged likely to reoffend could be added when the system has been thoroughly tested.

The secrecy question is more problematic.

Parents want to know if a convicted paedophile lives nearby.

Expatriate New Zealander and broadcaster Derryn Hinch, twice jailed for breaching Australian child sex offenders' suppression orders, makes a strong argument for parent power.

The proposal, for officials to identify paedophiles to members of the public only on a "need to know" basis, may be too limited.

For instance, people in a workplace would probably not be told a new colleague is an offender - but what about the office family picnic or offer to babysit the kids? Continue reading.

Source: The Listener

Image: kirontv.info

First, Ukraine was not a battleground where Russia and the West were hammering it out. Indeed, 99% of what was taking place on ‘the maidan', the central square in Kyiv, was based on issues internal to Ukraine.

Second, there was never the threat of civil war, as everyone living in Ukraine knew.

Unexpected developments seem to emerge on an almost-hourly basis, but in fact all the events are quite definable, the players well-known and the possibilities limited.

There are three separate moments in the current drama, each of which has its own dynamic.

The first and most important moment is the demonstration-turned-revolution on the maidan.

This protracted standoff between an honest, popular yearning and deceitful, corrupt government was understood from the outset as a spiritual, even apocalyptic, battle between good and evil. It was unimaginable without the youth and the Church.

The second follows the first and, while less dramatic, it is more complex: the creation of a style of government based on new values.

This work entails the definitive cleansing of the vestiges of Soviet-style governance and the establishment of what the West takes for granted: transparency, accountability, fair elections and basic justice.

The maidan now exercises a role of civic stewardship until such governance is in place.

The third moment is the illegal intervention of President Putin in Crimea, which is less an act of aggression than an act of fear.

It is not related to the maidan except as an opportunistic exploitation of it. Continue reading.

David Nazar SJ is Superior of the Jesuits in Ukraine.

Source: ThinkingFaith

Image: The Guardian

Easton, who's recently published a user's guide to economic inequality, says inequality is difficult to measure.

One indicator might show it going up while another has it coming down or staying the same, 'so it's easy to choose the indicator you want'.

But, he says, all the indicators are that New Zealand suffered a sharp rise in inequality as a result of policy changes to tax rates and benefits 30 years ago and is now in the company of those OECD countries with the biggest gap between rich and poor.

'The simple way to put this is that in the 1980s we were in the bottom half of the OECD as far as inequality was concerned. Those above us had greater inequality.

'By the mid-1990s we were in the top half — among the most unequal parts of the OECD — and it's still like that.' Continue reading.

Cecily McNeill has edited Wel-Com, the newspaper for the Wellington and Palmerston North dioceses, for the past eight years, and worked as a radio journalist for 20 years.

Source: Eureka Street

Image: mimosaplanet.com

The head of the US bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace, Bishop Richard Pates, called on President Obama to show leadership by signing up to the 1997 Ottawa Convention.

The bishop did this in a February 12 letter to National Security Adviser Susan Rice.

"Our views are grounded in Church teaching that calls for a ban on landmines on moral grounds since they are indiscriminate weapons that kill and maim innocent civilians during and long after hostilities end," Bishop Pates explained.

His letter calls on the US to ratify the Convention on the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and Their Destruction, also known as the Mine Ban Treaty or the Ottawa Convention.

Currently, 161 countries have signed the convention, including member states of the European Union, Canada, Australia, all of the nations in South America, and most countries in Africa.

The international accord calls for signatory countries to cease the development and production of anti-personnel land mines, destroy its stockpile of land mines within four years, and clear its mined areas within a decade of signing the treaty.

A small number of mines may be retained for the sake of training purposes.

More than 3000 people each year are either killed or maimed by land mines or cluster munitions.

The Vatican is also party to the Ottawa Convention, which it signed in 1997 and ratified soon after.

The US bishops have repeatedly called on the US government to take a similar step.

Sources

• CNA/EWTN
• Vatican Radio
• Catholic News Service
• Image: Politico

In a report released last Friday, the Treasury argues the "living wage is not well targeted at the intended demographic of low-income families".

It thinks the $18.40 an hour figure the campaigners are calling for is too high, and says that if widely adopted, it would cost jobs, push up prices and require an increase in taxation.

The question is whether hard-working parents, working 60 hours a week between them, should be able to earn enough from their wages to give a couple of kids a minimally decent start in life.

Living Wage Aotearoa New Zealand defines a living wage as "the income necessary to provide workers and their families with the basic necessities of life".

It is transparent about how the $18.40 a week figure has been arrived at. It is spelled out at length in a report by the Family Centre Social Policy Research Unit, whose authors say "it embraces small but important things like being able to to pay for children to enjoy a school trip, having a computer in the home and being able to mix with friends recreationally, albeit modestly".

It allows, for example, $275 a week for the roof over their heads. That wouldn't stretch far in Auckland. Continue reading.

Brian Fallow is the New Zealand Herald's Economics Editor.

Source: The New Zealand Herald

Image:

Peter Hardgrave of Espresso Cafe, who has regularly employed intellectually disabled workers for nine years, says he will now pull the pin because a Government policy to gradually remove the subsidy will make future employment impractical.

The short-sighted policy did not take into account the fact that the worker would never have the same abilities as the rest of the workforce, he said. Continue reading

While roughly one-quarter of Republicans (26%) and Democrats (25%) say the lack of jobs is America's most important economic problem, Republicans and Democrats strongly differ in their views of the importance of the budget deficit (31% vs. 7% most important) and the increasing gap between the rich and the poor (6% vs. 21% most important).

Americans are generally pessimistic about upward economic mobility. Nearly half (47%) of Americans believe that their generation is worse off financially than their parents' generation, compared to 16% who believe their generation is doing about the same, and 36% who believe they are better off than their parents' generation.

The Silent Generation (ages 66-88) is the only generation in which a majority (59%) believe they are better off than their parents' generation. Only one-quarter (26%) of the Silent Generation believe their generation is worse off than their parents' generation. Baby Boomers (ages 49-67) are divided (45% worse off vs. 40% better off). Majorities of younger Americans in Generation X (ages 34-48) (51%) and Millennials (ages 18-33) (58%) believe they are worse off than their parents' generation.

A majority (54%) of Americans agree that hard work and determination are no guarantee of success for most people, while 45% disagree.

There are substantial divisions by income level. Nearly 6-in-10 (59%) Americans with household incomes under $30,000 a year believe hard work and determination are no guarantee of success, a view held by less than half (48%) of Americans with household incomes in excess of $100,000 a year.

Less than one-third of Americans believe the federal government is either generally working (7%) or working with some major problems (24%). Roughly two-thirds say the federal government is broken but working in some areas (40%) or completely broken (26%). Continue reading

Sources

• Public Religion Research Institute
• Image: Bloomberg

The Crown Entities Reform Bill will instead see the regulation of charities carried out by a board within the Department of Internal Affairs.

Members of ComVoices, a network of community and voluntary sector organisations, said it was not too late for the parties that made up the Government to review their support for the clause that will create havoc with the Government's results-based focus.

Ric Odom, Chair of ComVoices, said an amendment was being proposed to defer the changes. The changes would be self-defeating and would simply serve to sabotage the Government's own results-based approach.

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Voxy

School chaplains at 1,000 extra schools will receive A$222 million more. The significant increase in funding comes despite a High Court challenge to the programme on constitutional grounds and speculation prior to the budget that the future of the school chaplaincy programme was in doubt.

The school chaplaincy announcement was one of the Labor Government's major education announcements.

The $222 million increase promised before the election will provide chaplains for up to 3,700 schools until 2014.

Schools will be able to access up to $60,000 over three years to establish or expand chaplaincy services.

While funding is available to all faiths, most school chaplains are Christian.

The extra funding seems to have come at the expense of the "education revolution" of former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Rudd's trade training centres promised to secondary schools face delays and the $2.4 billion digital education revolution programme has also suffered significant cuts.