Pope Benedict XVI has encouraged Catholics to bring the witness of their faith to the digital world and to embrace Internet technologies and social media in a way that enhances relationships and dialogue. He has done this himself with his website Pope2you.
‘Pompallier’s People’ is an online community which enables New Zealand Catholics to connect with each other and those interested in the Catholic faith. It can be explored on facebook, Twitter and the Blog on the website of the Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand.
We welcome comments on our social media – note that comments on the Pompallier's People - Blog will be pre-moderated. Posts that are obiously defamatory, vulgar, obscene, abusive, profane, or otherwise offensive may not be made public. See our Terms of Use for more information.
William Warren is a university student currently living in community with a group of young adults at Te Ahi Kaa (meaning the hearth place) in Palmerston North. Here William writes about what is at the heart of the Te Ahi Kaa and what it means to live in community.
The New Zealand Catholic Bishops wishes to see different policy options for food programmes in schools examined and debated, including those proposed last December by the Expert Advisory Group of the Children’s Commissioner, and the proposal in the private member’s Education (Food in Schools) Amendment Bill.
The popes have been giving great examples of what we can do to implement ecumenism and to reach out to other denominations. Many Catholics have been implementing this new spirit of Vatican II for years. One example is the Ecumenical Good Friday Walk in Beach Haven and Birkdale, on Auckland’s North Shore.
However unusual Papal resignation may be there is widespread recognition throughout the Church that Benedict’s decision is a fitting and courageous one, given his nearly 86 years and increasing physical frailty. The Conclave of 2005 in which I took part, and the Conclave a few days from now differ in a number of respects.
One of the puzzles for Catholic theology is that Jesus chose to be baptized by John the Baptist. We know baptism washes away sin, but Jesus was without sin. We know baptism makes us a child of God but Jesus is already the beloved Son of God.