Columns Kieran Fenn fmsMay 2012 No text could satisfy both sides of the council discussion. The group that saw Mary as a type of Christ continued to define her as mediatrix or, at least, as mother of the church. The title of the chapter on Mary shows the compromise, ‘The Role of the Blessed Virgin […]
Cecily McNeill2012 Almost doubling the period of paid parental leave as Labour MP Sue Moroney’s bill promises could in time improve this country’s poor performance with children. An international trade union conference on maternity protection in Singapore last month has adopted the extension of paid parental leave to 26 weeks as a priority for the […]
Cecily McNeillMay 2012 When it became known that Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui was in prison for more than a year without charge, there was a clamour for his immediate release. Zaoui had the misfortune to arrive in New Zealand as western countries were tightening their borders against terrorists 15 months after the 9/11 attacks. The […]
Columns Fr Kevin Neal2012 About once a month, I usually make a quick run through to Napier to catch up with my friends the Frechtlings and to quite often enjoy some sun. Last summer this last part wasn’t quite true since it seemed to be always raining, but that is the exception, I hope! Whatever […]
Column Fr Kevin Neal2012 Recently I had the privilege of blessing the gravestone of Kathleen Barry in the cemetery in Hastings. It was exactly a year since she died. The immediate families gathered with close friends. We followed more or less the prayers and readings outlined in the Pukapuka Karakia. It’s very similar in prayer […]
Columns Archbishop John DewSeptember 2012 Last weekend, the archdiocese held its second Stewardship weekend, beginning with a day of prayer at the cathedral. For me, it was an opportunity to reflect and share on a practice that I learned as a seminarian, and which has become one of the foundation stones of a pastoral spirituality. […]
Reflect Veronica M Lawson RSM30 August 2012Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 After our lengthy detour into John 6 with its focus on Jesus as the Bread of Life and the Bread of Wisdom, we return to Mark’s gospel and a legal dispute about ritual purity. The parties to the dispute are Jesus, the Pharisees, and some […]
Eugene Crosby30 August 2012 The last mass to be held at a packed St John’s, Ngaio, was on Sunday, May 20.For over 100 years, the church has served Ngaio and Crofton Downs. After six years of discussions and planning, on Sunday October 16, 2011 the last Mass was celebrated in St Benedict’s in Khandallah. Having […]
Features Rodney Macann9 November 2011 Church leaders are calling on all political parties to acknowledge their shared responsibility to provide a just share of society’s wealth and resources for all its citizens, especially the most vulnerable. This includes adequate income for everyone, fair taxation policies, access to good healthcare, affordable housing and provision for sustainable […]
Features Jim Consedine1 December 2011 Greed is Good! Gordon Gecko’s famous declaration in the 1988 movie Wall Street has echoed through time. Greed is now in the very DNA of the global economic system at the heart of the financial crises of the past 20 years. It has become an accepted marketplace ethic shown in […]