The new Catholic Bishop-elect of Hamilton, Fr Richard Laurenson, does not wear clerical black. He puts his avoidance of black down to Josie, his cat. Late Wednesday night, Pope Francis appointed the 55-year-old Laurenson (pictured) the new Catholic Bishop of Hamilton. Trust is fundamental Laurenson says he is looking forward to his new role with Read more
ACT leader David Seymour, Wednesday, issued a reminder to the New Zealand Catholic Bishops to keep the Commandments. In a statement on the End of Life Choice Act, Seymour singled out New Zealand’s Catholic Bishops and told them they needed to follow the ninth commandment and to ‘stop bearing false witness against their neighbours in Read more
The six New Zealand Catholic bishops are reminding people that voting does not start with entering the polling booth: “Our participation in elections is about listening to the cries of the Earth and the cries of the poor, studying carefully the proposals of political parties, praying about them, and voting with our conscience. They make Read more
End of Life Choice Act (EOLC) Referendum, is one of two referendums being held alongside the October 17 New Zealand General Election. The New Zealand Catholic bishops’ Nathaniel Centre for Bioethics is providing a series of weekly briefs for parish newsletters. The first brief says: The End of Life Choice Act is not an option Read more
Jesus’ blood was poured out “per tutti” – “for all” rather than “per molti”, meaning “for many”, according to the new Italian Missal presented to Pope Francis on 28 August. The pope normally celebrates Mass in Italian. The approved Italian translation from Latin of the new Roman Missal comes nine years after the English version Read more
New Zealand Catholic bishops have condemned a fake news statement circulated online claiming they had endorsed the New Conservative Party. They say they are seriously concerned about claims they are urging Catholics to vote for the party. The bishops have reported the false statement to the Electoral Commission and told all parishes and the New Read more
The Archbishop of Wellington, Cardinal John Dew, in a letter to parish leaders has announced that he has suspended all masses and parish activities which involve gatherings until 18 August. “This means there will be no Masses this weekend, and the dispensation from the Sunday obligation is in place.” The dispensation also applies to the Read more
New Zealand’s Catholic bishops will closely review a new Vatican guide on dealing with sexual abuse by priests to see how it matches their existing rules on handling such abuse. Last week, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published Vademecum (“Handbook”) a 17-page step-by-step-guide to help bishops and other Church religious administrators Read more
The New Zealand Catholic Bishops met last Friday to discuss how COVID-19 Level 1 was working in their respective dioceses. They noted there were differences between some dioceses and even between some churches – for example, some churches allowed Communion from the Chalice, others did not. So they decided there was no need to issue Read more
On Monday the prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced that beginning Friday up to 100 may gather in places of worship. Following the prime minister’s announcement Mass – restricted to 100 people – is able to resume from this Friday at noon. On Monday night Steve Lowe, Bishop of Hamilton and New Zealand Catholic Bishops’ Conference Read more