Catholic priest Father Merv Duffy argues a change is wrong, dangerous, expensive and unnecessary while Presbyterian minister Margaret Mayman says it is equality that most New Zealanders, gay and straight, want. Father Merv Duffy: I oppose the proposed re-definition of marriage in Labour MP Louisa Wall’s bill before Parliament because it is wrong, dangerous, expensive and Read more
A Catholic priest has suggested that Satan may have driven accused killer James Holmes to open fire at a Colorado cinema, continuing the religious debate over a shooting that claimed 12 lives and wounded 58 more. “Was he demon possessed? Maybe. It happens,” the Rev. Dwight Longenecker wrote at the Patheos website, where the Catholic Read more
The recently completed “Nuns on the Bus” tour garnered a great deal of publicity for the sisters involved, who claimed they were making the trip to protest proposed federal budget cuts they say would hurt the poor. However, there were many more undercurrents to the nine-state, two-week trip than most people realize. The giant banner Read more
A frenzied media and a disturbed angry lone assassin in search of massive attention have coalesced in a Colorado cinema like a perfect storm. This is not the first, nor will it be the last time unfortunately. The ghastly details of the tragic slayings in Colorado are now common knowledge. Yet many experts agree that dramatic, hysterical publicising of the perpetrator Read more
Warm, fuzzy media headlines are the order of the day when Police dogs or All Blacks visit hospital patients. Try introducing a trial of alternative therapies like Whanganui District Health Board is doing and the headlines become accusatory and dismissive. A range of therapies including Reiki, Christian prayer, Maori healing and massage will be on offer to Read more
Since my ordination to the priesthood 12 years ago, the millstone of sexual abuse revelations within the Catholic Church has weighed heavily. Indeed, such is the extent of the crisis, that in some circles priest and paedophile have become interchangeable words. It is as if we have moved from an unhealthy ‘A priest would never do that’ to an Read more
“Every country has, along with its core civilities and traditions, some kind of inner madness, a belief so irrational that even death and destruction cannot alter it.” That was my colleague Adam Gopnik commenting the other day on America’s attitude toward gun laws. Having read some of the comments on my own post about President Obama’s failure Read more
The Church’s handling of sexual abuse claims has been back in the media spotlight. Following the 4 Corners program ‘Unholy Silence’ which exposed the dastardly deeds of ‘Fr F’ in the diocese of Armidale during the 1980s, the bishops of Armidale and Parramatta, seeking to be completely transparent, have appointed a respected lawyer, Tony Whitlam QC, to Read more
Before the dead had even been carried from the cinema in Colorado on Friday afternoon a CBS broadcaster said in a solemn radio editorial: ”We’ll eventually find out who James Holmes is, but he’s not a terrorist, we’re told, and thousands of other showings were peaceful, so really we have to start seeing these things as Read more
Distances and demographics combine to tell the story. Three-quarters the size of the United States, Australia is mainly uninhabited except along its coastline. While the U.S. shelters close to 313 million people, latest Australian census statistics report only 22 million persons on the continent’s nearly 3 million square miles. Australia’s Christians — mainly descendants of Read more