The Government is considering exempting kirpans from civil aviation rules – allowing them to be carried on board planes rather than stowed away with luggage. Parliament’s first Sikh MP says there needs to be legislation around ceremonial daggers so it’s clear they are not weapons and are safe to be worn. National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi Read more
Media have this week reported that Peter Westmore, the head of the leading Australian Catholic-based lobby group campaigning against same sex marriage in Australia, attended his daughter’s wedding to another woman in New Zealand last November. The headline for the news item read “Catholic crusader Peter Westmore blesses daughter’s gay marriage in New Zealand.” Liberal Read more
The Red Cross is calling for the country to consider increasing the quota for refugees. The country has an annual limit of 750 places for refugees on United Nations waiting lists. Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy said New Zealand should resettle more people. Continue reading
The mystery of how a giant flag that flew at Gallipoli a century ago came to hang in a New Zealand church has been solved by a naval historian. A report in the Herald told the story of the white ensign from HMS Queen that hangs in a corner of the Christchurch Cathedral in Nelson. Read more
Massey university wants to ban church members who harass students on campus. It is finalising trespass orders against nine members of the Victory Christian Church, a Pentecostal church that has a subsidiary branch called New Zealand Campus Ministries Trust. University spokesperson James Gardiner said concerns over the members’ behaviour have been raised over several years Read more
The parents of two pupils from St Bede’s College in Christchurch have been granted a High Court injunction allowing their sons to compete with the school’s Maadi Cup rowing team after they breached Auckland Airport security. The parents’ lawyer, Andrew Marsh, said a temporary injunction allows the boys to participate in the competition “while we Read more
Last December Cardinal John Dew attended the Santa Marta Conference on Human Trafficking in London. Police chiefs and Church representatives from across the world gathered in London alongside Home Office ministers for a Conference aimed at developing strategies to combat human trafficking. Cardinal John said he felt both privileged to attend and horrified at what he Read more
Father James Joseph McMenamin paid the ultimate sacrifice as a Catholic chaplain to the Armed Forces in the Great War. He endured the dreadful conditions to give spiritual aid to the New Zealanders. Chaplain captain McMenamin landed at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915 to serve at the frontline. Later he went to the Western Front. Read more
Former members of a Palmerston North parish were told they would be “cursed by God” if they didn’t give money to the church, even if they weren’t in a financial position to do so. More than half a dozen people with connections to the Palmerston North Victory Church have come forward following a story linking Read more