During the month of November 2024 Pope Francis’ intention is: for anyone who has lost a child. We pray that all parents who mourn the loss of a son or daughter find support in their community and receive peace and consolation from the Holy Spirit.
I write this editorial comment to you from Rome [in September] where, along with Bishop Richard Laurenson of Hamilton, I am attending a course for new bishops.
New Zealand, still considered a missionary country, is under the care of the Dicastery for Evangelisation. Consequently, new bishops from New Zealand gather with other missionary countries from around the world for this programme.
In October 2002, Pope John Paul II added The Mysteries of Light to the Rosary. His initiative was almost 600 years after the original set of Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries became the points of meditation in this classic Catholic devotion.
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – Mark 10:2-16 2 Some Pharisees approached him and asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ They were testing him. 3 He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ 4 They replied, ‘Moses allowed us to draw up a writ of dismissal in cases of divorce.’ […]
A recent enquirer said she felt uncomfortable confessing to her parish priest, who she knew well. The thought just made her cringe, especially when it had been such a long time since her last confession.
During the month of October 2024 Pope Francis’ intention is: for a shared mission. We pray that the Church continues to sustain in all ways a Synodal lifestyle, as a sign of co-responsibility, promoting the participation, the communion and the mission shared among priests, religious and lay people.
The Vatican’s top doctrinal office published a new Declaration, on 8 April 2924, on the theme of human dignity. Entitled Declaration Dignitas Infinita, on Human Dignity, the Declaration from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, addresses a range of contemporary moral and social issues.
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time – Te Rātapu Rua tekau mā rua o te Wā Noa
‘I no longer believe!’ The words were shouted. And the voice was angry.
But if the statement was meant to shock me, it didn’t. I simply asked the person to tell me what they no longer believed, and the following conversation unfolded.
The number of people contacting us at the Catholic Enquiry Centre with questions about the Catholic faith is increasing. These are often former protestant Christians who find themselves drawn to Catholicism for a variety of reasons, yet they struggle with aspects of Catholic belief.