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Te Kahui o te Ariki member, Tui Cadigan RSM, who represents Māori women religious on Te Runanga, said it was important for the first peoples of this nation to have a voice at the bishops’ table. ‘When we lost our bishop it was a huge blow. Even though he tried, it was not possible to get around the country as the people may have wished. It is hard to encourage Māori to go where they are ignored. The other bishops will hopefully be prepared to bend over backwards to support Māori in their desire for a bishop of Māori descent.’ As an agency of the New Zealand Bishops’ Conference, the runanga has a specific role of pastoral care for Māori. Each bishop has two representatives and there are representatives for the Māori priests and for the Māori religious women. ‘We need to have a Māori sitting at that table to signal recognition of the Treaty relationship and the Catholic Church. If Takuira’s appointment was just a token gesture, that’s not good for Māori. My understanding was that it was more than that.

Many wage earners in this country need all the extra benefits on offer to meet their family’s needs, according to a Newtown budget adviser. And Jeff Drane SM says bus drivers and cleaners in Wellington are among the lowest paid and an unexpected event such as a death in the family or even just someone coming to stay can throw the household finances into crisis.

When the district health boards and three of the companies agreed at the beginning of July to pass on $16 million of government funding to a new improved wages structure for low-paid service workers in hospitals, Lalopua did not have time to celebrate. One of the contractors, Spotless, refused to agree.

The new director of the Catholic Enquiry Centre, Fr Alan Jones SM, visited Whanganui’s St Mary’s and Holy Family parishes last month to talk about the centre’s work.

The warmth of Whanganui Faith and Light group’s welcome was infectious when I visited a regular meeting and I can understand why Pope Paul VI told pilgrims in 1975 how much ‘God loves you as you are’.

Outdoors on a beautiful winter’s day, Kaumatua Morvin Anatipa Simon reminded Ngapaerangi hapu of Kaiwhaiki Marae, who gathered to celebrate the rites of baptism for their mokopuna, that Te Awa Tupua o Whanganui was ‘our first highway, our first pharmacy, our first larder, our first washroom, laundry and our first baptismal font’. This korero was backed up by the Waiata ‘E Rere Te Awa Tupua’.