I loathe practical jokes. They’re bullying in disguise, they’re always hurtful and they’re sometimes criminal. Think of the recent trial of the teenager who set fire to a guest at his birthday party and thought it was hilarious. He doesn’t now. Worse, you’re supposed to be jolly about being humiliated because of some dim, ancient Read more
The United States Supreme Court has a history of playing a pivotal role in emotive cultural debates including, for example, abortion (Roe v Wade), racial segregation (Brown v Board of Education) and the death penalty (Roper v Simmons). Marriage equality will now join this list. In a much anticipated move, the US Supreme Court announced Read more
Powershift – a beacon of hope and light in a world gone blind to any value other than greed, and an addiction to the car. It hasn’t always been like this. Up until the late 1940s, towns and even cities were compact, with trams and trains as the main means of public transport, with bicycles Read more
Near the bottom rungs on the ladder of rectitude, just above criminals, used to be the space occupied, in the common mind, by politicians and used-car salesmen. That position has now been seriously threatened and overtaken by people euphemistically calling themselves “developers”. What that moniker frequently amounts to is simply the blatant destruction of buildings Read more
Watching the final of TVNZ New Zealand’s Got Talent I was surprised to see a fifteen year old girl singing a lament for love. Here was the voice of a heartfelt cry. Poetic words with beautiful music evoked the existential pain of longing for relationship that would transcend the passing distractions from personal identity and worth. On Read more
The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination, with more than a billion members worldwide. Its Latin Rite (there are several others) is the only organized branch of Christianity to expand substantially beyond Europe. However, this globalization is relatively recent. Yes, there were Franciscans with Marco Polo on his 13th century journey to China. Read more
A proposed law to improve the lot of our youngest and most vulnerable workers deserves support. Parliament will this week debate whether working children aged 16 or younger should be regarded as employees rather than contractors, when Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene’s private member’s bill is introduced on Wednesday. Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, the Read more
How ironic that as the Church of England was voting against women bishops, I was trying to buy Divine Women; a series for television by historian Brittany Hughes who dares to consider when God was a girl. Whilst some must have been celebrating at the result, others were distraught. ‘I’m ashamed to be part of the Read more
The Liverpool Care Pathway has been used for years, “So what has caused the current hysteria,” asks Dr. Kate Granger. “I seem to recollect that a few years ago the approach was criticised by some eminent doctors in the national press but after a couple of articles and a little disquiet the debate simmered down Read more
Last Sunday, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (formerly Christ the King), marked the end of the Latin Rite’s first year using the Roman Missal (formerly the Sacramentary) translation (formerly in English). Befitting a translation that despite papal calls for opposition to “relativism” begins the Church year by slavishly following Read more