New Zealand’s Catholic bishops have written a statement on the 2014 General Election, with particular emphasis on remembering the poor and vulnerable. According to the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference website, the statement is written for Catholics to read and reflect upon. It begins with a quote from Pope Francis: “The goal of economics and Read more
The best way to describe how I felt when I first became a mother is invisible. I went from going to meetings, lectures and libraries, where people would show interest in me and my work, to being stuck in our apartment with round the clock feedings and baby care. I didn’t see many people, and, Read more
It seems to us that at this time worthy politics and democracy are at risk in Papua New Guinea says Bishop Arnold Orowa President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. He says that honesty and commitment to the common good are essential ingredients of worthy politics. Moreover in a true democratic system Read more
Prime Minister John Key spoke to more than 500 members of South Auckland’s Pasifika community on Tuesday. The meeting, with Pacific church leaders at the Samoan Independent Seventh Day Adventist Church in Mangere, was also a platform to promote National’s candidate for Mangere, Misa Fia Turner. Key says there had been a shift in support Read more
While growing up in the Dominican Republic, Ana Garcia-Ashley lived on a dirt road that always had plenty of traffic, making it too dangerous a place for neighborhood children to play. One morning, her grandmother got fed up with the situation and decided to take action. She went door to door, rounding up other concerned Read more
Children at an Auckland primary school have won a promise from four political parties to let children help to run the country. The Grey Lynn School children grilled National, Labour, Green and Internet Party politicians and independent MP Brendan Horan at the launch of a “tick4kids” campaign to bring children’s issues to the fore in Read more
Laura O’Connell Rapira has a pretty simple philosophy. “Everyone should have a nice life,” she tells a small audience at a Wellington bar. “Small actions, multiplied, can lead to big change,” she says. Laura, 25, outlines her pitch for RockEnrol, a movement to increase youth voter turnout. The audience is a mix of smartphones and activists Read more
The Leonardo Express rumbles from Rome’s airport right to the city centre. After 32 minutes, it arrives at its final destination, Termini, the city’s central station. An ad in a pedestrian tunnel at the station reads, “Roma Termini — a Place to Live.” Some have taken the message quite literally. It’s 11:10 p.m. Stranded people Read more
The recent events in Ukraine are not what many news sources, even respected ones, imagine them to be. 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. Read more
March is a wet month in Rome. It was raining when Pope Francis was elected on 13 March 2013, and it was pouring raining again when I was back there last week in preparation for his first anniversary. But nothing seems to dampen media enthusiasm for Francis and his approach to what he calls his Read more