For the 75 people who showed up to share a bowl of rice with a spoonful of veges, it was more like fasting or a serious diet than a banquet. The idea, of course, was to make us aware of the plight of millions of poor people all over the world, many of whom would have been lucky to enjoy such a meal.
The gap between rich and poor in New Zealand is growing. According to Make Poverty History, the proportion of all children in severe and significant hardship in New Zealand has increased from 18 to 26 percent since 2000.
The Golden Jubilee of religious profession of Sr Peter Chanel Hoban RNDM was held March 9-11 at St Patrick’s Parish, Napier.
Two creative women with many years experience and flair in their respective fields are featuring at the Josephite Retreat Centre, Whanganui, in the next few weeks.
Cecily McNeill
3 April 2007
Fr John Dear has been travelling through Australia with his impassioned message modelled on Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, speaking out against the ’35 wars’ throughout the world, in all of which America is involved. His protesting has led him many times to the Pentagon with friends to carry out such creatively nonviolent actions as sitting on the floor in the foyer outside the lifts and reading aloud the names of those who have been killed in the Iraq war.
World News Robert Mickens, Mark Brolly, Christa Pongratz-Lippitt, Graham Keeley3 April 2007 Large numbers of dissenting voices around the world responded last month to the Vatican’s recent judgement on works by the Jesuit theologian, Jon Sobrino. The Vatican, for its part, went out of its way to engage with the media and explain the reasons […]
3 April 2007
Controversial Swiss theologian and papal critic, Fr Hans Kung, says that he has a right to be part of what he describes as Pope Benedict’s ‘loyal opposition’. Canadian Catholic News reports that Fr Kung says that he has a ‘right to be in his holiness’ loyal opposition’, representing thousands of liberal-leaning Catholics who remain disappointed the Second Vatican Council renewal did not go far enough.
High speed internet access is being provided to schools in central Wellington using City Link in a venture called the Wellington Loop Project. The enterprise was launched last month and St Mary’s College Year 13 student, Miria Royal, told the gathering that the students of today are ‘digital natives’ being the first generation to be brought up digitally. ‘We are multitasking, multiple goal orientated, parallel processing, hypercommunicators.
An increase in government spending on rest home workers and overseas aid, as well as concern for a range of social issues were part of a two-day annual conference last month of the more than 90 Catholic Women’s League members from Wellington Archdiocese.