WelCom March 2021 Michael Fitzsimons Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has welcomed the Climate Change Commission Report which calls for ‘transformational and lasting change across society and the economy’ to address the climate crisis. Caritas, the New Zealand Catholic Bishops’ Agency for justice, peace and development, urges widespread Catholic involvement in making submissions on the report, […]
WelCom March 2021 On 1 November 2020, Typhoon Goni struck the north-east areas, bringing catastrophic rain, volcanic mudflows and violent winds gusting 280km/h. It was the most powerful typhoon to hit the Philippines last year, killing more than 20 people and destroying thousands of homes. Bishop Colin Bagaforo of Kidapawan Diocese and National Director of […]
WelCom March 2021 With St Patrick’s Day coming up on 17 March, it makes us mindful of the enormous contribution that Irish people have made and continue to make to New Zealand. On 29 January this year at Parliament’s Grand Hall, the Irish Embassy in New Zealand launched a landmark study of Irish people in […]
WelCom March 2021 Anne Powell RC Children as young as 12 years old are picking cocoa in West Africa to make the chocolate we eat. Some of these children are trafficked. Most are forced to pick cocoa from an early age for minimal or no wages, for long hours, in dangerous working conditions, without any […]
WelCom March 2021 The Wellington Archdiocese Ecology, Justice and Peace (EJP) Commission made a written submission to Parliament supporting the proposal to increase sick leave. The Holidays (Increasing Sick Leave) Amendment Bill is being considered by the Education and Workforce Select Committee. If passed, it will double the minimum amount of sick leave available to […]
WelCom March 2021 Groups of the Archdiocese of Wellington have formally opposed proposals for a system of youth justice demerit points, in the Oranga Tamariki (Youth Justice Demerit Points) Amendment Bill, currently being considered by the Social Service and Community Select Committee of Parliament. The Archdiocesan Ecology Justice and Peace Commission and Wellington Catholic Social […]
WelCom March 2021 Last month, Pope Francis appointed two women to Vatican posts previously held only by men, giving women more empowerment in the Holy See. He appointed Nathalie Becquart, a French member of the Xaviere Missionary Sisters, on 6 February 2021, as co-undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, a department that prepares major meetings […]
WelCom March 2021 A newly-released report from the Salvation Army says that inequality, already entrenched in Aotearoa, was magnified and exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The fourteenth annual State of the Nation 2021 report from The Salvation Army, ‘Disturbed Present. Better Future?’ points to serious, embedded and ongoing hardship for many in our communities. The […]
WelCom March 2021 The number of women employees in the Vatican is on the rise, according to research carried out by Vatican News for International Women’s Day, 8 March last year. The findings also show the number of women in positions of authority in the Vatican and the Curia has also increased. International Women’s Day […]
WelCom March 2021 Breaking with tradition and opening a new door in the synodal process, Pope Francis has appointed a woman, Nathalie Becquart, a member of the Xavière Sisters, Missionaries of Jesus Christ, in France, as one of two new undersecretaries for the Vatican’s office for the Synod of Bishops. As such, she will have […]