An army of volunteers will take to the streets and neighbourhoods of Auckland from April 19 to 25, putting “love thy neighbour” into action. It is part of a worldwide movement called Servolution, geared towards serving local communities. Volunteers from churches and community groups will be cleaning up the place by painting out graffiti, picking Read more
New Zealand needs a greater commitment to measuring the children’s well-being say New Zealand’s Catholic Bishops. Responding to the release of the UNICEF Innocenti report into Child well-being in rich countries, Archbishop John Dew, speaking on behalf of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, said it was a matter of concern that New Zealand does Read more
He’s convinced the cardinals, wowed the crowds and on Saturday he attempted perhaps the trickiest task of all – to woo the hardbitten media. And Pope Francis pulled it off spectacularly, speaking warmly to several thousand journalists crowded into the Vatican’s Paul VI hall about their hard work covering his election and passionately of “a poor church for Read more
Rodney Hide says Government programmes are perfectly engineered to embed and eternalise an underclass. He agrees with Matt McCarten that successive governments have shown no concern for the poor and downtrodden. “The transformation of New Zealand society from one in which Jack was every bit as good as his master, and Jack’s children had every opportunity Read more
Some of the staff of Challenge 2000, a youth development agency, are excited by the election of Pope Francis because he is a man who has a proven track record of serving the poor and working for social transformation. “At a time where the world is struggling with many issues it is heartening to hear of the example Read more
The Wellington Homeless Women’s project, an initiative of four women – three religious, Srs Raye Boyle, Catherine Hannan, and Marcellin Wilson and Newtown lay pastoral leader Karen Holland, lead to the establishment of The Wellington Homeless Women’s Trust which recently announced that it has been able to secure a 2 year lease from 19 April 2013 for accommodation Read more
Maori have a difficulty with the current 4G spectrum auction. They cannot accept the notion that they must join a long queue of very wealthy bidders at auction for a piece of the scarce spectrum resource, with the Crown as seller. There will be roaring levels of commercial testosterone at this auction, and the Treaty Read more
Near the opening of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man(1916), James Joyce’s alter ego Stephen Dedalus opens the flyleaf of his geography textbook and examines what he has written there: Stephen Dedalus Class of Elements Clongowes Wood College Sallins County Kildare Ireland Europe The World The Universe Most of us will, no doubt, remember Read more
It is important to take into consideration the impact that activities such as mining could have on the environment and the people. Churches must take a strong, united stand on the responsible use of natural resources says Fiji Catholic priest, Father Kevin Barr. He was speaking at Pacific Conference of Churches Assembly. More than 200 delegates representing 34 Read more
Today, the top one per cent of incomes in the United States accounts for one fifth of US earnings. The top one per cent of fortunes holds two-fifths of the total wealth. Just one rich family, the six heirs of the brothers Sam and James Walton, founders of Walmart, are worth more than the bottom 40 per Read more