Pope Francis on Tuesday called on countries to protect migrants as he condemned the treatment of refugees as mere “pawns on the chessboard of humanity.’” The pope’s statement came in a message for the Vatican’s next “World Day of Migrants and Refugees,” set for January 19. “Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard Read more
For the the past three years, on the 4th Sunday of each month, Fr. Michael Mahoney, the parish priest of South Westland, makes the 750km round trip to Queenstown to celebrate Mass using the Portuguese language, for Brazilian people living and working there. After mass there is a social pot-luck meal. There are more than two thousand Brazilians working and living Read more
On the day when Catholics throughout New Zealand were praying for refugees and migrants Winston Peters suggested that New Zealand’s superannuation fund could be conserved by making elderly migrants ineligible. He told the the New Zealand First Conference in Palmerston North on the weekend that migrants were taking advantage of the universal pension scheme. Singling out “a Read more
As many mainstream churches are counting their flock of faithful in dwindling numbers, Ashburton’s Catholic parishes are counting theirs in new faces.
And that, says Parish priest Father Geoff Gray, has a lot to do with the influx of immigrants into the district.
The growing number of Pacific Islanders, Filippino and Latin American families now calling Ashburton home are bringing with them a strong Catholic faith and a strong desire to be part of the district’s Catholic community, he said.