September 2014 News Mieke Davies St Mary’s youth group in Blenheim has been sponsoring Joseph in Emali, Kenya, for about 12 years. After I visited there in 2012, our group wanted to do something significant for his family. We started raising $9000 needed to build them a well. My brother Karl viewed the well’s […]
August 2014 News Annette Scullion The ministry that chaplains carry in our communities, particularly those of the military, was honoured at services at Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington and at St Mary’s Church, Foxton, last month to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of World War One. Archbishop John Dew of Wellington Archdiocese and Bishop of […]
August 2014 National Vocations Awareness Week3–10 August 2014 National Vocations Awareness week is an annual event, set aside by the Bishops of New Zealand Catholic dioceses, dedicated to promoting all forms of vocation in the Church. The week earmarks time for parishes and schools to consider their role in promoting vocation through prayer and education. […]
August 2014 News Gerard McKee The four parishes of the Southern Hutt Valley have embraced Archbishop John’s call to become ‘One Parish – Four Churches’. Over 200 parishioners from four parishes – Sacred Heart, Petone, San Antonio, Eastbourne, Our Lady of the Rosary, Waiwhetu and St Patrick’s, Wainuiomata – came together to reflect and to […]
August 2014 Perspectives Archbishop John Dew I had a conversation recently with someone who was commenting on the gift we have in our Lay Pastoral Leaders. The part of the conversation I thought the most important was the comment that the lay pastoral leader’s role is a response to a calling. This person went on […]
August 2014 Election 2014 Susan Wilson For democracy to work, people need to be involved. At the very least this means people need to vote at general elections. Did you vote in the 2011 elections? If you are over 65, the answer is probably ‘yes!’ because 94.4 percent of people in your age group […]
August 2014 Reflection Kieran Fenn fms It is easy to imagine Mary as a young woman, soon to be married to Joseph, dreaming of a loving marriage, a family, a home in the village among the people she knew. She would lead a quiet life far from the gaze of the Roman occupation. She would […]
August 2014 Perspectives Annette Scullion Vocations is the central theme in Wel-Com August 2014 issue, with Vocations Awareness Week running from 3 to 10 August. We are each called to respond to God with discernment throughout our lives. This is eloquently referenced in Kieran Fenn’s article ‘The Annunciation: A Call to Vocation’: ‘God sought the […]
August 2014 News New Zealand Faith Community Nursing Association (NZFCNA) is a national Christian organisation that equips nurses to serve in their communities. NZFCNA is holding its 2014 conference, ‘Sustainability of Practice’, in Wellington, 11–13 September, at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul’s Loaves and Fishes Cafe. Registration after 1 August is $200. Contact the National […]
August 2014 Pastoral focus Michael Noonan ‘Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs, is people who have come alive.’ This encouraging statement came from Howard Thurman, an African-American philosopher and theologian influential in the formation of leaders of the American Civil […]