In January, the Nicaraguan dictatorship of Daniel Ortega released and sent to the Vatican two imprisoned bishops along with 15 priests and seminarians. In tears, Managua Auxiliary Bishop Silvio José Báez, exiled due to persecution by the Ortega dictatorship, confirmed the news of the release of Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa and Bishop Isidoro Mora of Siuna and the remaining priests and seminarians: ‘Our pastors are free.’
Oscar winner Martin Scorsese has confirmed a script for his new movie, A Life of Jesus, is now finished. Scorsese said he plans to shoot it later this year. The film will be based on Shūsaku Endō’s book A Life of Jesus. Scorsese said the film will focus on Jesus’ core teachings in a way that explores the principles but doesn’t proselytise. ‘I’m trying to find a new way to make it more accessible and take away the negative onus of what has been associated with organised religion,’ Scorsese said.
The Church will celebrate its first World Day of Children in May 2024, Pope Francis has announced. The Church’s first children’s day will be held in Rome and the Vatican is expecting thousands of girls and boys from all over the world to travel to Rome for the event with the Pope. According to Vatican News, the event was inspired by a 9-year-old boy named Alessandro, who proposed the idea to the Pope to have an international event like World Youth Day (an international gathering for young people ages 16 to 35) for younger children.
To connect with God, Christians must disconnect from the ‘pollution of vain words and chatter’ that reach them through social media and instead seek silence in the desert, Pope Francis says. He said the desert is ‘the place of silence and essentials, where someone cannot afford to dwell on useless things, but needs to concentrate on what is indispensable in order to live.’
Catholic Social Services are part of a collaboration that provides household goods and pantry packs to help in the settlement of newly arriving refugees. We can do this because of the generosity of our parish communities and others who have donated household goods, pantry packs and turned empty houses into homes.
When Gabrielle Carman was invited to a friend’s place for lunch last November, she was surprised to find out just how many other people there were there when she arrived.
Most of them were from St Vincent de Paul where Carman volunteers in New Plymouth.
Greenstone Doors has been helping pregnant women and their whānau in the Hutt Valley for over a decade – and now they are making a move.
Celebrating Eucharist at 5.30pm Mass followed by a shared meal on Sunday 26 November 2023, were among the highlights marking 125 years of Catholic faith shared by early settlers to present-day parishioners at Eketahuna’s Sacred Heart Parish in the Tararua District.
Fr Philip Gibbs SVD, OBE, President of the Catholic Divine Word University in Madang, Papua New Guinea, was visiting family in Lower Hutt over the summer break. He caught up with WelCom to talk about his missionary life as a priest of 50 years in PNG, and his work leading the university there. Through its Catholic faith-centred, integrated and holistic approach to educating ‘the whole person’, the university is transforming the lives of its students and their communities.
Bern Atkins was a man of great exuberance and warmth, who brought a rare vitality to the many spheres of his life. His sudden passing, aged 67, while on a cycling trip in Northland was a huge shock to his family and wide circle of friends.