Catholic social teaching is an essential body of thought that offers some insight on how to think about today's social issues.

Social Justice Week runs from 6-12 September and is based on the theme of Catholic social teaching.

Caritas has created resources for parishes and communities and resources for schools that explore the principles of Catholic social teaching.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for people to learn more about how Catholic social teaching is so relevant to what we face in the world in 2020," said Julianne Hickey, the director of Caritas Aotearoa.

"The Church's teachings are a rich treasure that helps us to apply Gospel values such as love, peace, justice, compassion and community to today's issues, enabling us to work towards building a just and fair society," she said.

The theme for the resources is Easy as CST: Unlocking the Church's Potential/Mama Noa, Penei i te CST: Te Tuku i nga Pumanawa o te Hahi kia Whai Hua.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, communities are facing a time of challenge and change.

Pope Francis recently said, "We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and needed, all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other. On this boat...are all of us."

Parish and community resources are available to download.

Click here to learn about nine core principles of Catholic social teaching that guide our work, and how different communities are practicing them.

Click here to download school resources. Pages have been organised in different ways to help teachers and students use them in different ways. Pages have been arranged based on the relevant CST principle and also by type

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• Supplied

One for these people will be Gina Dao-McLay. She'll turn 18 on September 27.

She said she would be focusing her vote on climate action and poverty.

Dao MClay also said people were talking about the political parties' policies, and they were also very interested in the referenda on cannabis legislation and end of life choice.

She is co-director of a campaign group Make It 16 calling for a lower voting age.

"We should be able to have a say about issues which affect us like climate change. We are being overlooked in decisions being made," Dao-McLay says.

She has been campaigning for the change since she was a high school student attending St Mary's College in Wellington.

She was at the nation-wide campaign launched at parliament in September last year.

At the High Court in Wellington on August 24 Make it 16 requested Justice Jan-Marie Doogue make a declaration that the current voting age was inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act.

"Extending the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds would uphold human rights and give us a more representative, better democracy," Dao-McLay said before the hearing.

Doogue reserved her decision and said it would need considerable thought.

However, even if the declaration is made it would not change the law - Parliament would still need to do that.

That was the path taken to change the voting rights of prisoners. A small group of prisoners secured a declaration of inconsistency in the Supreme Court in 2018 before parliament changed the law so that prisoners sentenced to less than three years could vote.

Predominantly around the world, the voting age is 18.

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• newstalkzb.co.nz
• tvnz.co.nz
• stmw.school.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz

There was no change in the distribution of seats.

Mangere, Manukau East and Manurewa all stayed with Labour; Maungakiekie stayed with National.

Of 5 the general seats in which Labour won the party vote, 3 were in South Auckland - Mangere, Manukau East and Manurewa.

But Labour's share of the vote in these three South Auckland seats dropped by 5.3 percentage points, from 65.3 per cent to 60 per cent.

National Party's Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga, who was the Minister of Pacific island Affairs in the last National with a reduced majority.

Lotu-Iiga told the ABC's Bruce Hill it appears quite a few Pacific island voters abandoned their traditional support for Labour and supported National.

However Mangere MP, Su'a William Sio, said National's threat to take Pasifika votes away from Labour in south Auckland did not happen.

Sio retained his seat for Labour with a majority of 12,593 [2011 15,738].

He said National candidates, and some from minor parties, tried to stir up animosity toward Labour over the same-sex marriage bill.

Labour's new Manukau East MP and Parliament's first Tongan-speaking member, Jenny Salesa, won the seat with an 11,000 majority. [2011 15,838].

Louisa Wall retained Manurewa for Labour with a majority of 5213 [2011 8610].

The 2014 elections results are still provisional.

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• Radio Australia
• New Zealand Herald
• New Zealand Herald
• Image: Thedailyblog

St Peter's is located in the Epsom electorate.

Over the past three weeks there have been campaigns, and a leaders' debate.

In the mock vote National won the poll with 29.6 percent of the vote, followed by Labour with 18.2 percent.

National's Paul Goldsmith won, followed by Labour's Michael Wood.

More than 60 percent of students out of a roll of 1200 took part in the voting.

Year 9 students were the biggest voters, with 88 percent turnout.

The vote was organised using the Electoral Commission's Kids Voting Programme that provided voting materials to encourage them to practise voting using real parties, real candidates and real issues.

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• TV3News
• Screenshot TV3 News

He says it seems a National Party advocate has taken advantage of the community's deprivation.

"Congregation members are being approached by a person claiming to represent National who is convincing them to sign forms they don't fully comprehend.

"They are then being sent letters addressed to them personally saying they are now members of National and must now vote for them"

Sio said he has been urged by a junior pastor of the church involved - who wishes to remain anonymous - to warn Pasifika people about this.

Sio's allegation is disputed by Minister of Pacific Island Affairs, Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga, who says Labour has to produce one of these letters to back up its claim. he said that the National Party did not send out letters inviting people to join the party.

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• Scoop
• NewstalkZB
• Radio Australia
• Image: thedailyblog

He was speaking in the wake of disclosures made in a recently published book, Dirty Politics which is based on information contained in emails obtained by hacking the computer of a well known and controversial blogger.

Read the opinion piece in the New Zealand Herald

Dew says the disgust "shows that people have not yet become completely cynical and disengaged about New Zealand's political processes."

He said that Church leaders regularly engage with political leaders in different settings and on a wide variety of issues.

"It would be fair to say that we will not always agree on the priorities and policies of all parties."

"However, there is a great deal of mutual respect that occurs in recognising the deep commitment to serving the people of New Zealand that drives some of our best politicians."

Dew say the news media is one of the checks on the power of the state and so it is right that they bring unethical and immoral behaviour into the light.

"However, this focus can also contribute to a feeling of disenchantment by everyday people who can see no good in politicians."

"There is less news value in highlighting the everyday goodness of those who work tirelessly with patience and commitment to assist constituents through their dealings with ministers, government agencies and departments." he says.

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• The New Zealand Herald
• Wikipedia.org
• Image: I-graphix.com