Since the early 2000s, Bishop Viard College has welcomed the refugee community of Porirua. “Their refugee backgrounds add life and experience to the school,” said Jane Bourke, a whanau leader at the college who has an interest in refugee students. Three Burmese students who joined at the end of last term are the latest additions Read more
One of the world’s leading travel websites has put Hawke’s Bay in its top 10 for possessing what it calls one of New Zealand’s finest restaurants – which went down very well at Mission Restaurant in Greenmeadows, which got the nod for the list. The annual Travellers’ Choice Awards staged by the US-based site, Trip Read more
Dunedin’s Methodist Mission has begun a literacy and numeracy programme at the Otago Corrections Facility in Milburn that it says is ”much more powerful” than classroom learning. The organisation began the courses at the prison this week, after winning a contract with the Department of Corrections. Te Wananga o Aotearoa secured a contract to deliver Read more
The Anglican and Methodist churches are in talks which could bring closer ties. The two were working on equal recognition of each other’s ordained clergy and had discussed their relationship at an annual meeting between the two churches, in Auckland in September. John Wesley founded Methodism, with parishioners from the Anglican church, in the 18th Read more
“The experience of those countries that have already legalised euthanasia shows that the demand for euthanasia cannot be limited to a carefully defined group,” say the New Zealand Catholic Bishops in their most recent statement on euthanasia. “In the Netherlands euthanasia was initially only available to dying adults with terminal illness who were able to Read more
Sister Cecilia celebrated her 80th birthday by taking a spin of a Harley. “It was lovely,” she said. “I was nervous before I got on, but once we got going it was great.” It started as a joke but before she knew it Cecilia was flying down the Parade in Island Bay, a Wellington Suburb, on Read more
A statement from a New Zealander on the goodness of sexual love in marriage is being considered for inclusion in the family synod’s final document. In a blog post on the New Zealand Catholic bishops’ website, Dr John Kleinsman wrote of how the synod’s working document made little mention of this goodness. He told a Read more
Plans for a new Catholic school in Hamilton have been declined despite a waiting list of hundreds of children. The Hamilton Diocese sought Ministry of Education permission for a new state-integrated primary school on a 3 hectare block the church owns between Resolution Dr and Borman Rd, Rototuna, Hamilton. The diocese would provide the land Read more
The Mt Roskill cross is set to return to Puketapapa. Following a successful application by a group of Mt Roskill church ministers, backed by the Puketapapa Local Board, the cross will make its comeback for Christmas and Easter. It is lit up in the form of a cross at Christmas time and a star at Easter. Read more
Patrons of the Auckland City Mission are bringing an original script to the stage. Op Shop Dreams is a play about the ways in which people dream of a life different to their own. It’s being performed by The Hobson Street Theatre Company, a City Mission initiative which gives people, including the homeless, opportunities to Read more