Category: Featured

New Zealand’s Catholic bishops want the politicians elected on 14 October to focus on issues that matter instead of the trivia and scandals that dominate public debate.

The episcopal ordination of the most Reverend John Adams took place on 30 September 2023, by Stephen Lowe (bishop of Auckland) as Principal consecrator and Owen Dolan coadjutor bishop of Palmerston North (1995–2004) and Peter Cullinane, first bishop of Palmerston North (1980–2012) as Principal co-consecrators.

New Zealand’s Catholic bishops have updated and expanded for the 2020s, an important 1997 document that inspires the active protection and promotion of all life. NZ Catholic Bishops Conference President Stephen Lowe, the Bishop of Auckland, says the revised and expanded version of Te Kahu o te Ora – A Consistent Ethic of Life reminds us that all life is a gift of God.

The latest issue of WelCom is available to read here.

In his 2023 message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, 1 September, Pope Francis appeals for a renewal of our relationship with creation. His message focuses on the theme, ‘Let Justice and Peace Flow’, inspired by the words of the prophet Amos: ‘Let justice flow on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.’

The gifts we have as Catholics are not just to build a stronger church but to help build a better world, says visiting Australian religious educator Professor Br David Hall fms.

The nature and scale of abuse set out in the report, released 2 August 2023, from the Royal Commission on Abuse in Care is abhorrent and should never have happened, says Archbishop Paul Martin sm, General Secretary of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference.

The 37th World Youth Day Catholic festival in Lisbon, Portugal, 1–6 August 2023, got underway with Mass celebrated by Cardinal Manuele Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon.

The latest issue of WelCom is available to read here.

The Diocese of Palmerston North’s primary and secondary school faith leaders – principals and directors of Religious Education – gathered at the diocesan office and at Hato Pāora College near Feilding, for a two-day conference in June.