On Anzac Day a group small elderly Whanganui women took part in a peace vigil. They were Quakers, members of the Religious Society of Friends, who strive to “bring about God’s will without the use of force or violence.” Quakers refuse to take part in war and preparation for war; and oppose the culture of militarism. Read more
The world is at war, but it’s not at heart a religious conflict, Pope Francis says. He was speaking, ahead of his visit to Poland, to reporters seeking his comments on the murder of a Catholic priest by French jihadists on Tuesday. As soon as the plane took off from Rome enroute to Krakow, Vatican Read more
Good Shepherd Sr. Monique Tarabeh’s prayers have an urgency to them. Tarabeh grew up in Damascus, Syria, and her family still lives there despite the civil war made possible by the rise of the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS. The war has raged for five years, killing hundreds of thousands of people and Read more
Pope Francis has called on parishes across Europe on Sunday to give donations to the victims of the conflict in Ukraine. The pontiff on Sunday announced that there will be special collections on April 24 in all European Catholic churches to “alleviate the material needs” of all who are suffering “the consequences of the violence” Read more
As Christians around the world prepare during Advent to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, much of the world is at war and preparing for more war – more bombs, more drones, more boots on the ground. From the drug cartel war in Mexico, to the civil war in South Sudan, to the Read more
A bikies group made up of former combatants of Bougainville’s civil war is spreading the message of peace across the country. The Bougainville Motocross Club has proved immensely popular and has helped turn around the lives of people who were affected by the war. The club’s founding president, Emilroy Augustine, said the club had toured Read more
The seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II is a good reason to tell my dreadful experience of war – and in the end – how it led me to the Good Samaritan Sisters. On December 8, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. This brought Japan into World War II. At that time I Read more
The power of the 24-hour news cycle is that sometimes we hear a story so often that we stop hearing it at all. Unless it comes leaping off the screen at us. Unless it breaks through the headlines for some reason, appears again after its few seconds on Twitter and comes alive outside itself. In Read more
The Bougainville Government has adopted a missing persons policy to try and determine what happened to those who vanished during the Bougainville Civil War. The Red Cross helped formulate the policy and says it’s ready to help locate, identify and return human remains. Listen to Interview The new approach could see the possible exhumation of Read more
I am always conflicted by the Anzac Day remembrances and the call to honour the “glorious dead”. Nothing about war is glorious, regardless of who wins; and if the dead could speak, their first utterance would be to ask why. No war is “good” or “just” or “necessary” from the standpoint of the aggressor, though Read more