WelCom December 2016: Opinion David Mullin November’s devastating Kaikōura quakes have reawakened discussions on the ability of New Zealand society to maintain the buildings and infrastructure that we have. This concern, not necessarily new, has certainly grown since the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 and the quake sequence in Marlborough, 2013. In the dioceses of […]
WelCom December 2016: Features The following is a summary of the oral submission delivered in November by Dr John Kleinsman for the Nathaniel Centre – the NZ Catholic Bioethics Centre – to the Health Select Committee Inquiry into Ending One’s Life in New Zealand. It addresses four main points. Choices are shaped by the context in which […]
WelCom December 2016: Reflections Parishioner of The Immaculate Conception Parish Stratford, Tom Gibson, reflects on this Sunday’s Gospel. Gospel, Matthew 3:1-12 1 In due course John the Baptist appeared; he proclaimed this message in the desert of Judaea, 2 ‘Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand.’ 3 This was the man spoken of […]
WelCom December 2016: Reflections Following the announcement to award singer/songwriter Bob Dylan the 2016 Nobel Prize for literature, Fr James Lyons – writer, poet, former religious broadcaster, and parish priest at Wellington’s Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish – gave the following homily on Sunday 23 October, and drew from the Gospel Reading Luke 18:9-14 about the Pharisee […]
WelCom December 2016: Reflections Sharron Cole I was recently reminded it was a year to the day of the beginning of synod on the family when several of my fellow lay auditors emailed, recalling our weeks together and sharing what has been happening for them post synod and around Francis’ exhortation Amoris Laetitia – The Joy […]
WelCom December 2016: Diocesan News Bob Goodyear The idea for providing parish Community Meals in New Plymouth came from a Caritas Social Justice meeting last year. We had an amazing response to our request for volunteers. People came from St Vincent de Paul Society, Catholic Women’s League, as well as other parishioners, and students from Sacred […]
WelCom December 2016: Youth, Schools, Education Daniel Kleinsman, Challenge 2000 Some 60 people listened to experts debate raising the age from 17 to 18 or higher in New Zealand’s youth court. The evening event was held at St Joseph’s Church, Mt Victoria, on 17 November. The panel included: Steve O’Connor, Challenge 2000 director; Matthew Crooymans, a family […]
WelCom December 2016: Youth, Schools, Education St Mary’s College Rugby teams have delivered outstanding performances this year. The Premier One Rugby 15 a side team won the Wellington Premier One Competition; the Hurricanes Zone – the first Wellington girls school to achieve this; and were runners up at Top Four – Nationals. The Sevens team won […]
WelCom December 2016: Youth, Schools, Education Dave Lamont, Principal St Benedict’s School, Khandallah, has been promoting our school’s Gospel values during this Year of Mercy. Our four ‘EPIC’ values are: Empathy; Perseverance; Integrity; and Creativity. We’ve been encouraging students to demonstrate these in their daily lives wherever possible. The O’Styke family gifted us an ‘EPIC Eddie’ trophy […]
WelCom December 2016: Youth, Schools, Education St Anthony’s School, Seatoun, reached its maximum roll of 130 students in October for the first time ever and celebrated with students, parents and parishioners. Principal Jennifer Ioannou said, ‘This is a momentous occasion as in the 1980s the school was going to close because of the lack of students […]