WelCom February/March 2025
The February/March 2025 edition of WelCom is available here
Author: Rose Miller
Final edition: Bishops announce closure of WelCom
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
This edition of WelCom marks the end of the publication of this magazine as a collaboration between the Archdiocese of Wellington and the Diocese of Palmerston North. We are both aware of the rich heritage of this newspaper, firstly for the Archdiocese of Wellington and then latterly as a collaboration with the Diocese of Palmerston North.
Holy Year of Jubilee begins
Pope Francis opened the Holy Doors at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome on the evening of 24 December 2024, thereby officially inaugurating the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope. During his Christmas evening Mass, he reassured us that the Christ Child of Bethlehem offers the world infinite hope and joy.
Celebration of the Sacrament of Holy Orders
Deacon Matthew White was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Paul Martin sm, on Saturday 22 February. His was the first priestly ordination in the newly re-stored Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. As Archbishop Paul remarked, the day was ‘coincidently on the Feast of the Chair of St Peter’.
The end of an era, 1984–2025: WelCom bids ‘haere rā’
This edition of WelCom – the 430th issue since the newspaper began 40 years ago – is significant, being the last issue as the publication comes to a close. We have invited two former proprietors, Cardinal John Dew and Bishop Peter Cullinane, and some of our longstanding and regular contributors to share their reflections on WelCom for this final edition.
He Hīkoi Whakapono: A Journey of Faith
Eight years ago in February 2017, WelCom set out on a Hīkoi Whakapono: Journey of Faith, to visit all the parishes, schools and Catholic faith communities within our two dioceses of Palmerston North and Wellington.
New Zealanders called to educate themselves on gene technology
Christian bioethicists are encouraging New Zealanders to educate themselves about gene technology and genetic editing as Parliament considers legislative changes that better align with recent scientific and technological advancements.
State of the Nation 2025 shows serious challenges and falling living standards across Aotearoa New Zealand
Aotearoa New Zealand is backsliding on many areas of social progress, making life harder for people and their whānau across the motu, according to The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report. Titled Kai, Kāinga, Whānau, The Basics – Food, a Home, Family, the report was released on 11 February.
Remembering Dame Tariana Turia
New Zealand Māori rights activist and politician Hon Dame Tariana Turia DNZM died on 3 January 2025, aged 81.
Archdiocese EJP Commission views Treaty Principles Bill as ‘fatally flawed’
The Archdiocese of Wellington’s Commission for Ecology, Justice, and Peace was among the hundreds of thousands of groups and individuals who made a submission on the ACT Party’s Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill. The closing date for submissions was 14 January 2025.