Station XV: Episode 92 — Francis, Feminism and Francisco
Pope Francis is front and centre again in this month’s episode of The 15th Station. He’s a feminist. Or is he? He has an “Effect” named after him, which is pretty impressive. In other news, the NZ bishops are concerned about attempts to change euthanasia and assisted dying conventions, lay Catholics are trying to oust an American Archbishop and an Auckland Catholic man is none too pleased with a large statue of a Hindu deity at a house across the street. Join James, Don and Gavin for another bumper episode of The 15th Station.
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Station XV: Episode 85 — Synod, Saints and Sunday Surprises
The Synod on the Family — and the various reports coming out of Rome — dominate the first half of this month’s episode, with New Zealanders’ views on family life, Archbishop John Dew’s opinion and the thoughts of an Australian couple making headlines. In other news, Don, James and Gavin discuss the effect of migration on the Church in New Zealand, efforts to advance the cause of the woman who could become New Zealand’s first saint and an initiative in the United States to inject life into parishes with dwindling numbers.
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Station XV: Episode 84 — Matrimony, Electioneering and Technology
The Pope conducting a mass wedding ceremony is usually grounds enough for big news, but when some of the couples are announced to have been cohabiting and having had children before tying the knot, it creates even more headlines. Lucy, James and Gavin are on the case, wrestling with the tricky issue, as well as looking at Archbishop John Dew’s reflection on the state of New Zealand politics, a willingness for more NZ victims of clerical sex abuse to come forward and Pope Francis’s latest first — an international Google Hangout with a group of young people. The show concludes with an uplifting story of grace under difficult circumstances. Enjoy the show.
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Station XV: Episode 82 — Victims, Venerable, Villains and Victors
In the July 2014 episode of The 15th Station, Lucy, James and Gavin venture from the sad to the joyous, the sacramental to the sporting, the saintly to the shady. Pope Francis’s meeting with sex abuse victims, the promotion of Baptism for students in Catholic schools and the Pope’s excommunication of the mafia are all covered in this show. The panel also covers the papal World Cup Final — between Benedict’s Germany and Francis’s Argentina — and discusses the efforts that may lead to New Zealand’s first saint. Learn more about the film How Far is Heaven by clicking here.
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Station XV: Episode 77 — Il Papa was on Rolling Stone
Pope Francis continues to be a media darling, with Rolling Stone magazine the latest publication to run a glowing piece on the Pontiff as he approaches the one-year anniversary of his election. But, as this article from The Week explains, there were quite a few errors and exaggerations in the article. Pope Francis has also been in the news with his appointment of his first group of new cardinals, and he’s also talked of the Internet — our medium of communicating with the world — is a “gift from God”. We find it hard to disagree with him. James, Shannon, Don and Gavin also talk about the death of a New Zealand bishop and a survey of Catholics in Germany and Switzerland. Enjoy the show.
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Station XV: Episode 68 — Church expands, and so does definition of marriage
In the May 2013 episode of The 15th Station, James, Helen, Don and Gavin talk about the latest statistics that show the Catholic Church is growing faster than the rate of population growth, and the number of seminarians, priests and bishops is growing with it. Another thing that’s growing is the number of relationships New Zealanders can consider marriage, with the passage of legislation allowing same-sex marriage. Some of the arguments against such moves are outlined in this piece, What is Marriage?, which Don mentions in the show. The panel also discusses Pope Francis’s upcoming trip to South America, the Church’s view on economic matters and the story that’s gone viral — a three-year-old Colombian boy who celebrates Mass.
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