Author: Jemma

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, 10 April 2022

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, 10 April 2022

WelCom April 2022 Palm Sunday is the final Sunday of Lent, the beginning of Holy Week, and commemorates the triumphant arrival of Christ in Jerusalem, days before he was crucified.  In the Gospels, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a young donkey, and to the lavish praise of the townspeople who threw clothes, palms or small branches, […]

Read more
A Good Friday reflection

A Good Friday reflection

WelCom April 2022 Fr Brian Fennessy, Parish priest, Selwyn Parish, Lincoln During the reading of St John’s Passion on Good Friday we hear Pontius Pilate’s comment to Jesus: ‘What is truth?’ This is also a serious contemporary question. The emergence of the milieu of ‘misinformation’ and the current rhetoric of President Putin of Russia brings […]

Read more
A grave injustice

A grave injustice

WelCom April 2022 The season of Lent is about change and a conversion of the heart. As a Lenten reflection and in preparedness for Easter, Fr Alan Roberts issues a challenge to the Church to improve our fluency and knowledge of te reo and tikanga Māori. “In celebrating Easter we are celebrating both the death […]

Read more
New chief executive for Caritas

New chief executive for Caritas

WelCom April 2022 Leadership coach Mena Antonio is the new chief executive – kaiwhakahaere mātua, of the Catholic social justice agency Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand. Mena has a deep understanding of the NGO sector including leadership in strategy, risk management, legal and financial compliance and people-management across highly regulated sectors. Caritas board chair Keith Wedlock […]

Read more
Prison chaplaincy ‘hugely important’

Prison chaplaincy ‘hugely important’

WelCom April 2022 Michael Fitzsimons Suitably qualified applicants are being sought for Catholic chaplaincy positions in Hamilton and Dunedin Catholic dioceses. The successful applicants will join an ecumenical chaplaincy team. Chaplains are pretty much all lay people these days and the positions are half-time. ‘The Catholic Church has chaplains in all New Zealand’s prisons,’ says […]

Read more
Dunedin Bishop failed to act on one abuse complaint

Dunedin Bishop failed to act on one abuse complaint

WelCom April 2022 Former Catholic Bishop of Dunedin John Kavanagh failed to act on a complaint of abuse against one priest but did take action appropriate for the time after a complaint was made against another priest, an inquiry process has found. Cardinal John Dew requested an inquiry in 2020 after a number of victims […]

Read more
Catholic Centre’s future in doubt

Catholic Centre’s future in doubt

WelCom April 2022 The Catholic Centre in Hill Street, Thorndon, the centre of operations for the Cardinal and a range of diocesan and national church offices, has been closed pending decisions on its future. People are working from home and from other locations around the archdiocese while alternative accommodation is being investigated. The decision to […]

Read more
Parliament grounds re-opened and blessed

Parliament grounds re-opened and blessed

WelCom April 2022 Parliament grounds were officially reopened to the public on 16 March, after being closed for two weeks while a clean-up occurred following the 23-day anti-mandate occupation. Representatives of Parliament and Te Ātiawa Taranaki Whānui with the Kiingitanga and the local Wellington community gathered at Parliament for Te Whakapiki Mōuri – a ceremony […]

Read more
For a Synodal Church – everyone has a part to play

For a Synodal Church – everyone has a part to play

WelCom April 2022 For a synodal Church – communion | participation | Mission. Pope Francis has stressed on several occasions the need for Synod 2021–2023 to involve everyone, and to reach out as much as possible.  ‘Everyone has a part to play; no one is a mere extra…The Synod is for everyone, and it is […]

Read more
Synod-related survey reaches beyond Church boundaries

Synod-related survey reaches beyond Church boundaries

WelCom April 2022 During March the Catholic Church in New Zealand invited people – Catholic or not – to fill in a survey and have their say on the future direction of the Church. The intention of the survey was to reach people who are not part of parish or Church communities.  Their feedback will […]

Read more