A new book on the history of the Dominican Sisters in New Zealand, Windows on a Women’s World, has recently been launched. It chronicles the transformation of the Sisters from a closed order to a congregation of religious women who became integrated in the wider community. The author, Susannah Grant, was commissioned by the Dominicans Sisters Read more
The movement towards healing the 500 years of separation between Lutherans and Roman Catholics takes a step closer in New Zealand next week. On Sunday 4 June Lutheran Bishop Mark Whitfield and Cardinal John Dew will open a formal dialogue for the two Christian denominations with a combined ecumenical service in Sacred Heart Cathedral to Read more
US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, will meet New Zealand’s Prime Minister Bill English and Foreign Minister Gerry Brownlee in Wellington next Tuesday. Brownlee says he welcomes the visit. He said the United States and New Zealand “share a deep interest in maintaining peace, prosperity and stability in the Asia Pacific region” The turtle in Read more
A prominent euthanasia advocate is set to tour the country, with a series of meetings planned in different cities over the next few weeks. Professor Jan Bernheim believes New Zealand should adopt laws to give terminally ill patients the right to choose to end their own life. Continue reading
A former Waikato Catholic priest convicted and jailed for the sex abuse of young boys in the 1970s and 80s has admitted further historic offending. Mark Brown pleaded guilty to four representative charges when he appeared in Hamilton District Court on Tuesday. Continue reading
Synod 2017: Go you are sent An invitation to a workshop for Synod 2017 saw over 300 parishioners from the Wellington Archdiocese’s North Island parishes working together on Sunday. This was the second Synod workshop for the Archdiocese. South Island parishes met in Nelson last week. After opening the workshop with prayer and reflection, Cardinal Read more
A Working Group report on the Christchurch cathedral, released last week addresses the question of who foots the bill. It did not seem to have addressed the question who has the right to decide of what the function and purpose the Cathedral is. Many people look on the cathedral as an “icon”, but others want a Read more
The prayer that began the meeting of members of the Maitland-Newcastle diocesan community with Cardinal John Dew from the archdiocese of Wellington, New Zealand, urged them to “see signs of hope in a sometimes seemingly hopeless world.” “After a few hours of easy yet profound conversation with Cardinal “call me John” Dew, I concluded that Read more
On Friday CathNews reported that priests will have to pay to register as marriage celebrants. This was an error. After receiving feed-back about this CathNews sought clarification from Internal Affairs. CathNews was informed that the following approved organisations, which are listed in the schedule in Part 2 Section 8 of the Marriage Act 1955 (as amended Read more