Daniel O’Connor, a Columban priest from New Zealand working in the Diocese of Hyderabad in Pakistan, reports on the aftermath of the Peshawar church bombing two weeks ago. Dan has been Columban priest for 25 years. Last year he ran in the London Marathon “Life will not be the same for their loved ones again, and Read more
Invoking just-war criteria, the United States Catholic bishops have questioned the moral legitimacy of the Obama administration’s use of drones in counter-terrorism actions. “Targeted killing should, by definition, be highly discriminatory,” said letters from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops to National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon and members of Congress. The letters questioning the use Read more
A blogger has, perhaps light heartedly, called for New Zealand’s airlines to ban “Richard Prosser and his fellow Islamophobes from aircraft!” “How would he and they feel if that happened? Not too happy I would imagine!” says Chris Ford. On Wednesday Prosser apologised for comments made in a magazine column that young Muslim men should be Read more
French authorities increased security around Jewish and other religious sites after attacks on a Jewish grocery store and a synagogue, news reports said. President Francois Hollande announced that he is increasing security at religious sites and will introduce stronger anti-terrorism laws in parliament. He met with Jewish leaders in Paris on Sunday, saying the state Read more
The Dowse Gallery in Lower Hutt, New Zealand , has banned men from viewing an exhibition containing footage of Muslim women at home without their veils. The Dowse man-ban has created widespread media discussion. One commentator has remarked that anyone glancing at the paper on the news-stand would have been forgiven for thinking this was Read more
Before the dead had even been carried from the cinema in Colorado on Friday afternoon a CBS broadcaster said in a solemn radio editorial: ”We’ll eventually find out who James Holmes is, but he’s not a terrorist, we’re told, and thousands of other showings were peaceful, so really we have to start seeing these things as Read more
Starting April 1, the Vatican’s penalty for money laundering and financing terrorism is prison. Having disappeared from canon law some time back, the penalty of prison was reintroduced last December 30. It will come into effect on April 1. Along with the prison sentence, there are a raft of new regulations to govern the Vatican Bank, Read more