WelCom is the monthly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Wellington. Print copies of the eight-page newsletter are free and available in parishes, and sent to parishes and schools in PDF form. The archive contains WelCom stories published from 2007 to 2026 (May).
WelCom September 2022 Stephanie Harris-Stevens Hato Mere (St Mary’s) Pukekaraka Parish in Ōtaki, was delighted to see two of their younger members receive the Sacrament of Confirmation from Archbishop Paul Martin sm, at the 10am Mass on Sunday 24 July. It was very moving to see Ella Clarke and Felix Lewin come forward and ask Archbishop […]
WelCom September 2022 St Joseph’s School, Upper Hutt, has launched a new book created especially for the students about the history of St Joseph’s church and the school as well as the local environment and the Catholic values that underpin the school community. ‘The Church that Joseph Built’ tells the story of how Joseph, the father […]
Luka Binniyat, a Catholic human rights reporter, is facing prison after writing an article in which the Nigerian government was criticised for its inaction in the face of an ongoing threat to Christian communities. Binniyat reported on the mass killings of Christians by armed herdsmen in two Southern Kaduna villages last year.
WelCom September 2022 The Pope says the Holy See’s Provisional Agreement with the People’s Republic of China ‘is going well’ and that he hopes it can be renewed in October. Thanks to the Provisional Agreement signed in 2018, the text of which is currently confidential, the situation of the Catholic Church in China was remedied by […]
WelCom September 2022 Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that he has spoken with Pope Francis over the phone and thanked the Pope for his prayers and humanitarian support. In a tweet posted on August 12, Zelenskyy said: ‘Our people need support of world spiritual leaders who should convey to the world the truth about acts […]
WelCom September 2022 Community and charity groups in Australia are dealing with declining rates of volunteering. Reports compiled by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) show the number of volunteers has been falling steadily in recent years. It estimated there were 3.3 million volunteers in 2020, and the census found just over 2.9 million people […]
WelCom September 2022 Pope Francis has called on Catholics to counter toxicity in social media, and to engage in dialogue and education to help deal with ‘lies and misinformation’. The Pope has addressed this message to the participants of last month’s 2022 World Congress of SIGNIS in Seoul, South Korea. The 2022 Congress explored the theme […]
WelCom September 2022 The Vatican’s top body on life issues has caused a stir for suggesting that one of the Church’s most influential and controversial magisterial documents, Humanae Vitae, is not covered by papal infallibility. A tweet sent from the Pontifical Academy for Life’s official Twitter account suggested that St Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical was […]
WelCom September 2022 The Church’s falling support in Australia is a ‘wake-up call’ for Catholics, says Archbishop Timothy Costelloe sdb, Archbishop of Perth and president of the Australian Bishops’ Conference. Catholicism is battling to balance its convictions with the realities of an increasingly secular nation. Forty per cent of the population identifies as having no religion […]
WelCom September 2022 Eighty years after Edith Stein’s death at Auschwitz, August 9, 1942, a Vatican cardinal has said Mass in her honour near the former death camp. Raised as a Jew, Stein was an atheist philosopher who converted to Catholicism in 1921 when she was 30. She became a Discalced Carmelite nun in 1938 and […]