Signalling the Vatican’s growing engagement in efforts to ensure the ethical development of new technologies, the Vatican has announced ‘Artificial Intelligence and Peace’ will be the theme for the next World Day of Peace, on 1 January, 2024. ‘The remarkable advances made in the field of artificial intelligence are having a rapidly increasing impact on […]
Themes of wrongdoing, repentance and reparation weave seamlessly through Wellington author Kate Mahony’s newly published novel, Secrets of the Land. The author, a former reporter/feature writer for Catholic newspapers, Zealandia, NZ Catholic and WelCom has set the story in Taranaki, the region where Kate grew up, on a farm in Hawera.
A new Religious Education curriculum is being introduced to Catholic schools in New Zealand. By 2026 all primary and secondary schools will be using the new curriculum throughout their Religious Education teaching programmes. Colin MacLeod, Director/Kaitohu Te Kupenga – National Centre for Religious Studies, explains.
WelCom’s Journey of Faith continues this month to Lower Hutt’s Catholic Parish of Te Awakairangi – a diverse community in ethnicity, age, spirituality and interests. Formed in 2015, the parish is composed of the churches of St Michael’s, Taita, St Bernadette’s, Naenae, St Martin de Porres, Avalon and Ss Peter & Paul, Lower Hutt.
Catholic Social Services (CSS) is the social outreach agency of the Archdiocese of Wellington. Its mission includes social work, clergy healthcare, short-term therapeutic interventions, prison chaplaincy, hospital chaplaincy, support for refugee resettlement, community advocacy and support for people going through loss and grief. All are welcome and services are available to people of all backgrounds and beliefs.
The World Day of the Poor is a Catholic observance established by Pope Francis in his Apostolic Letter, Misericordia et Misera, issued on 20 November 2016 to celebrate the end of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. The Pope asked for the Catholic Church to set aside a Sunday every year and ‘reflect on how poverty is at the very heart of the Gospel’.
It’s a fundamental principle of Catholic Social Teaching that, as Vatican 2 said, ‘God intended the earth and everything in it for the use of all human beings and peoples. Thus, under the leadership of justice and in the company of charity, created goods should flow fairly to all’.
Every year Pope Francis calls us to encounter with the poor; to be with the poor. In his World Day of the Poor message this year, he calls us again to seek out, listen to, and befriend the poor.
Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand invites you to take part in the World Day of the Poor 2023 on 19 November, as an opportunity to reflect on and renew commitments to walking together towards a fair and just world.
Berrigan House, a Catholic Worker Youth Ministry, opened its doors in 2016 on the footsteps of Victoria University Wellington’s Kelburn campus. Its leadership has changed several times but the kaupapa [foundation, principles] has remained the same.