Religious workers will be able to become New Zealand residents under a recently announced policy change. Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman said until now there was no residence option for religious workers and some communities had struggled to fill positions. “This new policy provides a path to residency for religious workers as well as an updated temporary work Read more
There’s a flourishing gay scene for priests in Rome, according to a new book due out soon. Sex and the Vatican: a secret journey in the reign of the chaste, will publish testimonies from priests and from undercover reporting. Carmelo Abbate, an investigative journalist, authored the book which will be published in Italian and French. Abbate Read more
The shortage of priests in New Zealand was highlighted by Archbishop John Dew in his homily at the Chrism Mass on Wednesday. He told his congregation that in the six years he has been been Archbishop of Wellington he has ordained one priest. In Cardinal Williams’, his predecessor’s, first six years, thirty two men were Read more
Many of Australia’s Catholic priests don’t believe in crucial church teachings and are critical of their bishops. While most Australian priests find fulfillment in the priesthood, many say they are overworked, poorly managed and feel constrained in their religious vocation by bureaucracy and parish administration. Nearly half of the surveyed priests consider their bishops as Read more
In an anonymous survey of Australian priests, of the 1550 active and 160 retired priests, 542 responded. These written responses together with 50 face-to-face interviews are basis for a book “Our Fathers.” Of those who responded: 90.2 per cent said their lives as priests had been fulfilling 47.4 per cent found the workload ”excessive” 54.3 Read more
Yes, well it is Lent, and yes, maybe he would prefer something stronger, but how about buying your priest a beer this week? Here’s the deal: Catholics need to be nicer to their priests. It used to be that priests were members of a happy, bustling community—almost universally respected, pampered and well-fed by the empty-nesters Read more