Welcom Archive 2007-2026

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).

Mary for today 4 – compromise at Vatican II

Columns Kieran Fenn fmsMay 2012 No text could satisfy both sides of the council discussion. The group that saw Mary as a type of Christ continued to define her as mediatrix or, at least, as mother of the church. The title of the chapter on Mary shows the compromise, ‘The Role of the Blessed Virgin […]

Read more

Editorial: Paid parental leave and bonny babies

Cecily McNeill2012 Almost doubling the period of paid parental leave as Labour MP Sue Moroney’s bill promises could in time improve this country’s poor performance with children. An international trade union conference on maternity protection in Singapore last month has adopted the extension of paid parental leave to 26 weeks as a priority for the […]

Read more

Editorial: Immigration law changes draconian

Cecily McNeillMay 2012 When it became known that Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui was in prison for more than a year without charge, there was a clamour for his immediate release. Zaoui had the misfortune to arrive in New Zealand as western countries were tightening their borders against terrorists 15 months after the 9/11 attacks. The […]

Read more

Be thankful for what we can count on

Columns Fr Kevin Neal2012  About once a month, I usually make a quick run through to Napier to catch up with my friends the Frechtlings and to quite often enjoy some sun. Last summer this last part wasn’t quite true since it seemed to be always raining, but that is the exception, I hope! Whatever […]

Read more

Death seen as simply a passage to a new life

Column Fr Kevin Neal2012  Recently I had the privilege of blessing the gravestone of Kathleen Barry in the cemetery in Hastings. It was exactly a year since she died. The immediate families gathered with close friends. We followed more or less the prayers and readings outlined in the Pukapuka Karakia. It’s very similar in prayer […]

Read more

Beaten but unbroken in a Burma jail

World News Tara Bahrampour2010Just 18 days ago, Nyi Nyi Aung didn’t know whether he would live to see his home again. Imprisoned in the Burmese jungle, he’d been beaten, forced to sleep in a kennel in his own excrement, denied medical treatment and told by captors that his US citizenship didn’t matter. At times, it […]

Read more

Archbishop’s column: gratitude and signs of hope in examen

Columns Archbishop John DewSeptember 2012 Last weekend, the archdiocese held its second Stewardship weekend, beginning with a day of prayer at the cathedral. For me, it was an opportunity to reflect and share on a practice that I learned as a seminarian, and which has become one of the foundation stones of a pastoral spirituality. […]

Read more

Reflections on the Gospel – 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

Reflect Veronica M Lawson RSM30 August 2012Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 After our lengthy detour into John 6 with its focus on Jesus as the Bread of Life and the Bread of Wisdom, we return to Mark’s gospel and a legal dispute about ritual purity. The parties to the dispute are Jesus, the Pharisees, and some […]

Read more

One door closes, another opens

Eugene Crosby30 August 2012 The last mass to be held at a packed St John’s, Ngaio, was on Sunday, May 20.For over 100 years, the church has served Ngaio and Crofton Downs. After six years of discussions and planning, on Sunday October 16, 2011 the last Mass was celebrated in St Benedict’s in Khandallah. Having […]

Read more

Church leaders’ vision for a fair society

Features Rodney Macann9 November 2011 Church leaders are calling on all political parties to acknowledge their shared responsibility to provide a just share of society’s wealth and resources for all its citizens, especially the most vulnerable. This includes adequate income for everyone, fair taxation policies, access to good healthcare, affordable housing and provision for sustainable […]

Read more