November 2014 Feature Fr Patrick Bridgman The Sacrament of Confirmation – but how can an eight-year old understand what they are doing? This question is common when people hear some dioceses have transferred the age for the reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation from the teens to a time before Holy Communion. Surely children are […]
October 2014 Insight Archbishop John Dew ‘At the heart of the Catholic Character of a school are the Catholic hearts of those who work in the school – the principal, teachers, chaplains and other staff. They are witnesses to the students of a mature faith, and an integration of faith with life.’(NZ Catholic Bishops) Since […]
October 2014 Wellington Olivia Webb Wellington’s St Mary of the Angels Church has been closed to the public for over a year following the Seddon earthquakes in July 2013. While the church suffered no structural damage, it was identified as earthquake-prone and ‘yellow-stickered’ by Wellington City Council in April 2012. The parish supported the decision […]
October 2014 Education Jenny Gordon When people think of Catholic education, nine times out of ten, their first thought is of Catholic school education. This is certainly true and we can be justifiably proud of our Catholic schools. Our schools embody both an authentic Catholic faith encounter for all, within the provision of holistic education […]
October 2014 Profile Annette Scullion Robin Hammond, 39, is a photo-journalist originally from Wellington and now based in Paris. Robin has dedicated his career to documenting human-rights issues around the world, especially in Africa. His work gets published in international newspapers and magazines including National Geographic, Time Magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine, The New York […]
October 2014 News Bioethics and prayer National Day of Prayer to Respect Life, 12 October 2014 John Kleinsman The idea that we should ‘respect life’ is something that most people can commit to. In this sense it is like the injunction to love; we all want to do the most loving thing but we do […]
October 2014 Feature E ofo atu manū i le ‘au faitau ae maise le pa’ia o Samoa tulou! O outou sa ma faigata o le ‘a le o’o i ai sa matou fa’amatalaga, o Samoa ua uma ona tofi. Ae nu’unu’u atu pa’ia o le Atua i le Aufaigaluega pa’ia o lo’o talafa’auto ma fa’afale […]
October 2014 News Sister Catherine Jones, smsm ‘The joy of the Gospel is born of the encounter with Christ and from sharing with the poor.’ These words from the message of Pope Francis for Mission Sunday on 19 October 2014 challenged me to reflect on how the encounter with Christ is linked to sharing with […]
October 2014 Feature Fr Patrick Bridgman Is that the way we do things in the Church now? I thought confirmation came after First Communion. Why was a priest celebrating a wedding in the park on Saturday? Yes, times have changed, as they always do, and as we saw when Pope Francis officiated at the marriages […]
October 2014 Feature Bishops from throughout the world gather in Rome usually every three years for a Synod. This year, Pope Francis has called an Extraordinary Synod gathering to be held over several days in Rome during October. The meeting is to talk about marriage and the family – particularly the pastoral challenges of the […]