This coming Saturday at our Christ the King church in Owairaka, Auckland representatives from eight of the world’s major faiths will come together for the annual interfaith meeting, hosted by Bishop Patrick Dunn, the Catholic bishop of Auckland. It was begun by a group of friends who are part of an India-New Zealand business association. Read more
A Muslim women’s forum in Auckland is creating a conversation with the wider community about employment, discrimination and housing. The forum has been organised after leaders within the Muslim community met last year and identified areas that needed improvement. Continue reading
Interfaith dialogue has been a special feature of Pope Francis’s recent trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh. He is striving to have “the wealth of our differences” to be part of the conversations between religions. Read more
The archbishop of Apia, Alapati Lui Mataeliga, says the constitution already recognises Samoa as a Christian country and there should be a clear separation of church and state. The National Council of Churches has called for Christianity to be further entrenched in the constitution. The Archbishop said his representative on the National Council of Churches Read more
A multifaith celebration of Year of Mercy was held last week in Wellington. It was a joint initiative of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Committee for Interfaith Relations and the Wellington Abrahamic Council of Jews, Christians and Muslims. The first part of the event was a panel presentation by three speakers. JoEllen Dukkor (Jewish), Sister Read more
In collaboration with the Initiatives of Change NZ and the Wellington Islamic Centre, there will be a special screening of two short films, The Imam and the Pastor and An African Answer. In the 1990s, Pastor James Wuye and Imam Muhammad Ashafa led opposing, armed militias, dedicated to defending their respective communities as violence broke Read more
Be the change, Be ‘Mother Teresa’, that was the message that came from the inter-faith committee meeting that was held in Auckland recently. This is an annual event held by The Mother Teresa Centennial Committee. This year’s meeting was held on November 21 at Christ the King Church, Auckland and saw the Minister of Ethnic Read more
About 250 Methodist Church ministers and lay people voted at its national conference in Blenheim on Tuesday to ask the Ministry of Education to have all major religions taught in schools Methodist Church director of mission Trevor Hoggard said the church wanted details about objective religious teaching in schools. “With all the troubles we’re seeing Read more
A group of Indonesian Islamic extremists have attacked and disrupted a scout camp organised by a Protestant group in Yogyakarta, central Java. According to the extremists, the Protestant group was not authorised to organise any public activity, especially, they claimed, since Ramadan had begun on 18 June, and public activities that violate the sacred nature Read more
The 22nd Eucharistic Convention held in Auckland has featured strong Jewish themes. Guest speakers included Jewish born American Roy Schoeman whose parents survived the Holocaust. Initially, Holocaust survivor Inge Auerbacher was to speak this year, but due to an unforeseen event she couldn’t’ make it. Auckland residents Bob and Freda Narev accepted the invitation to Read more