WelCom is the monthly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Wellington. Print copies of the eight-page newsletter are free and available in parishes, and sent to parishes and schools in PDF form. The archive contains WelCom stories published from 2007 to 2026 (May).
WelCom April 2019: This Easter, Bible Society is giving away 85,000 copies of The Seriously Surprising Story, a new booklet in their popular children’s series. The story draws children into the biblical story of Easter as they walk in the footsteps of Jesus’ followers on the road to Emmaus. Children’s author Joy Cowley described The Seriously […]
WelCom April 2019: Thomas Saywell This year’s Palmerston North Diocesan Pastoral Day was held on 14 March at St Mary’s Church and Te Rau Oriwa Marae in Whanganui. The Diocese has set up annual Pastoral Days to offer a place of discussion for people from various ministries, communities, regions and walks of life, and give them […]
WelCom April 2019: Safeguarding is about ensuring we have a culture and environment where the safety of children, young people and adults is paramount. Safeguarding is about the physical, emotional, spiritual and sexual safety of everyone. A programme of workshops is underway in the dioceses. Brendy Weir Fifty-three people attended the Archdiocese’s first Safeguarding workshop held […]
WelCom April 2019: The Catholic Church in New Zealand’s National Office of Professional Standards (NOPS) has launched a new website (https://safeguarding.catholic.org.nz/). NOPS Director, Virginia Noonan, says, ‘This provides another channel for reporting abuse and information on safeguarding in the Church, including policies and protocols for this work. The site has downloadable guidelines, policies and standards for […]
WelCom April 2019: In his Letter to the People of God, 20 August last year, Pope Francis wrote to all Catholics about the crises within the Church and of the deep wounds and pain caused to victims of sexual abuse. Pope Francis calls on us to bring about change, a ‘conversion’ within the Church, and to […]
WelCom April 2019: On 5 March, Cardinal George Pell, 77, was sentenced to a maximum of six years in prison, with a non-parole period of three years and eight months. He was convicted of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys after Sunday Mass in the 1990s. One of them, ‘J’, is now aged in his 30s and […]
WelCom April 2019: Following news of Cardinal George Pell’s conviction in February this year, the Vatican confirmed it is investigating the disgraced cardinal over child sexual offences committed in Australia. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will handle the case, which could see Cardinal Pell defrocked. A Vatican analyst said it was a sign […]
WelCom April 2019: Following the news of Cardinal George Pell’s conviction late February, the Most Rev Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM Conv, Bishop of Parramatta, issued the following pastoral letter on 1 March 2019. Dear friends, The news concerning Cardinal George Pell and his conviction and incarceration on historic child sexual abuse crimes has dominated local […]
WelCom April 2019: The Vatican sexual abuse summit – the Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church – was a four-day summit meeting attended by almost 200 Church leaders from around the world, held in Vatican City from 21 to 24 February 2019. The decades-long sexual abuse scandal has erupted in various parts of […]
WelCom April 2019: Our Catholic Thinking articles about theology, morality, ethics and faith heritage, are written for WelCom by lecturers from New Zealand’s Catholic Tertiary Education Providers: Good Shepherd College – Te Hēpara Pai; and The Catholic Institute of New Zealand (TCI) – Te Pūtahi Katorika ki Aotearoa. Dr Christopher E Longhurst, TCI lecturer, revisits Catholic […]