Burnt-out cars in the Northern suburbs of Paris, Sarcelles . . . “Throughout the past 40 years in France, urban revolts have been dominated by the rage of young people who attack the symbols of order and the state: town halls, social centres, schools, and shops.” Although they never fail to take us aback, French Read more
It appears that the Destiny Church has been the only church to acknowledge the wero presented by the reaction to the proposed development of Ihumātao next to the Ōtuataua Stonefields Historic Reserve in Māngere. On Saturday, Brian and Hannah Tamaki and about 100 Destiny Church supporters arrived at Ihumātao. Hannah Tamaki said she was there Read more
Everything changed for Teina Pora after he was baptised by a fellow inmate using water from a prison laundry tub 11 years ago. He says he forgives the police who charged him with the 1992 rape and murder of Susan Burdett. Pora was convicted twice for this offence and spent 21 years in jail. In Read more
It’s official: the deep Amazonas is more remote than Siberia. In all of the visits I have made to provinces of the Congregation of Jesus (CJ) all over the world, never have I been without a signal for my BlackBerry… until I visited one of our sisters living and working in a community along the Read more
An image of the Child Jesus stands in the midst of the rubble, leaning – naked and homeless – against a wall that is about to be torn down. Images of the Child Jesus, popularly known as the Santo Nino, have been dislodged from their altars as the shanties of slum dwellers in five villages Read more
I was working on a standard-of-living case and was shown figures prepared by an approved budget advisory service for Meg and her daughter Stacey (I have simplified some detail and changed their names). Meg’s chronic health condition ruled out paid employment, so she was on a benefit. The budget recorded the family’s 2012 weekly income Read more
Bosses all over the Western world have been warned. Unless they make allowances for the religious faiths of their ever more diverse workforces, they will suffer lawsuits, official rebukes and protests from staff. Employees increasingly expect to be able, for example, to dress in accordance with their faith while at work, and be given appropriate Read more
I first became involved in Rwanda in July 1994, some two or three months after the start of the horrific events in that landlocked country, the full scale of which had not, by that time, reached the wider world. My lasting memory of that time is the chaos of the situation. There was a camp that was Read more
Where once an event like the Olympics or the World Cup may have been seen as a triumph of corporate and athletic enterprise, today’s world counts the cost of games much more carefully. Previous events have left countries with decaying venues and huge bills that take years to pay off. Local communities are increasingly unhappy Read more
Lent will see churches crowded across the globe. But here in Syria, where St Paul found his faith, many churches stand empty, targets for bombardment and desecration. Aleppo, where I have been bishop for 25 years, is devastated. We have become accustomed to the daily dose of death and destruction, but living in such uncertainty Read more