NEW CHANEL CENTRE STAFF

L-R: DANIELLE MOURITS, CONOR CROKE, MARIAN GREENE

CONOR CROKE,

PARISH PROPERTY SUPPORT MANAGER

Conor is originally from a town called Portlaoise in the centre of Ireland. He moved to Australia almost 12 years ago, for a one-year working holiday, but the sunshine and meeting Malesa, his “beautiful South Waikato wife”, enticed him to remain for another eleven years. After living in Emerald, Mackay, Sydney, Wollongong, Bundaberg and completing an outback adventure covering 15,000km, they made the decision two years ago to move “home” to Tirau.

Conor and Malesa have four children, all under 8. The older two attend a local Catholic primary school, the third is in preschool and there’s a 6-month-old at home. Conor enjoys historical movies, documentaries, books, trail running and mountain biking, and likes “to finish the weekend with Country Calendar”. He says that he is “a tragic rugby fan. Nowadays conversation has grown round the Chiefs, Mooloos and Putaruru, but I can still be heard talking about Irish and Munster success over the All Blacks.”

Conor is qualified in horticulture, but over the years has transitioned into the property/facility management space, previously being responsible for maintaining property and assets for the Australian Department of Defence, Queensland Rail, and the City of Sydney.

He says, “Having spent many years in these commercially driven environments, I began to seek out a role not only measured by ‘the dollar line’ but one that could also benefit the people (the core to any organisation). Within days of discussing this with my wife, we stumbled upon an advert for this role and we believed it was something I had to apply for - and here I am.”

He says that he’s keen to bring to this role the skills he’s learnt along the way and to help the diocese continue to provide as best we can for our people. “For me it’s less about telling people how we do things and more about

bringing parishes on a journey, so together we ensure we provide the best and safest facilities to our people.” Conor’s looking forward to meeting the priests and people of the diocese and assisting where possible, helping the diocese and parishes in feeling confident with the property-based decisions that need to be made, assisting priests and parishes by “giving them comfort in the ‘bricks and mortar’ decisions and in turn allowing them more time on our core values and with our people”.

“A typical Irish Catholic family,” is how Conor describes his upbringing. “I was an altar server and my schooling was through both Christian Brothers and Patrician Brothers. My mother always said, and still says, ‘Don’t underestimate the power of a prayer,’ and I have carried that with me always. As a family, we do our best to continue our parents’ mission and bring our kids up with our Catholic faith to the fore. I have always found comfort taking prayer time alone in an empty church. It helps me with clarity, anxieties, perspectives and gives the opportunity to hit the pause button, especially when our day-to-day life can engulf us.”

Asked how the people of the diocese could support him in this role, he says, “If you see me around, say hello, put a face to the name, and feel free to share a hidden talent or skill set you might have that may assist me - and don’t be afraid to ask questions.”

MARIAN GREENE,

MANAGER OF THE CATHOLIC DEVELOPMENT FUND

Marian is originally from County Antrim, Ireland, her family emigrating to New Zealand when she was ten. They settled in Cambridge and Marian lived there until she moved to Hamilton in 1989. She describes her household as “two awesome daughters, two dogs and one husband!” She’s an avid sports fan. Her sport of choice is netball but she also enjoys football, tennis, cricket and athletics “with a bit of golf and rugby thrown in to keep my husband happy!” She has spent the last thirty years working in private law practices specialising in property and commercial law.

Marian says she was contemplating a job change when she saw the position advertised in the parish newsletter. “I thought it would be a great opportunity to use my skills in a different way and to engage in a more ‘service type’ role. I have always enjoyed being part of and giving back to my community and in the past this has been largely in the form of voluntary coaching and board positions.”

Marian says that “this role being with the Catholic Church is the icing on the cake. I was born and raised in the Catholic faith and have spent my life surrounded by a huge extended family to whom faith is important. My personal philosophy towards my own faith is that Jesus is my friend, a friend who is always close by, walking beside me, and who is the reason for everything that happens in my life. Therefore, he accepts me every day just the way I am, which to me means that I can talk to him any time - and not necessarily in a ‘formal’ sense. Thanking my God for the little things, like the traffic lights turning green just when I need them to, or a loved one returning safely from a journey, helps me to stay close to him throughout my daily life.” Marian values authenticity, humility and honour, saying that “actions speak louder than words” in the Christian life. “Paul encourages us in his letter to the Philippians to ‘do nothing selfishly but to always consider others more than ourselves’. Living out your faith means being a friend who strives for humility and love over selfishness”.

One way of putting faith into action, Marian says, might be to consider opening an account with the Catholic Development Fund (CDF) and in doing so be a part of CDF’s work of financially supporting the diocese’s range of activities and services. CDF has always contributed to the pastoral activities of the diocese. Money invested in the fund is used in a variety of ways such as loan funding to allow churches and schools to be built, and funding for diocesan-wide apostolates and ministries including the seminary, clergy training, youth ministries and prison, hospital and tertiary chaplaincies.

Marian talks about her passion for helping people to achieve their financial goals and about how she derives genuine pleasure from being able to support them on their journey. “The CDF clients are always such a pleasure to deal with and I love that we are part of a greater team working together and supporting each other. I am hoping to bring energy as well as fresh eyes to this role and so

far I am thriving on the opportunity to promote the CDF to parishes and schools within our diocese. I am also thoroughly enjoying the compliance and drafting work that my role entails as they allow me to use my legal skills to help others.” She aims initially “to raise awareness of the CDF and its products to enable more people to be able to take the opportunity to support the work of the diocese.”

The CDF offers four different types of accounts: funeral savings, educational savings, standard deposit and Board of Trustees investment. This range means there is something for everyone and their needs. CDF accounts are fees free and you earn money on your deposits.

Marian says, “I would love to encourage as many people as possible to deposit their funds with us so that we can work together for the greater good of our diocese. If you already have a CDF account, we thank you for your support and ask that you please tell your family and friends about us - your endorsement is the best possible advertisement and support we can ever have.”

DANIELLE MOURITS,

YOUNG ADULTS AND NET TEAM COORDINATOR

Danielle is Hamilton Diocese born and bred, and is happy to be home again after five years of mission overseas. Describing what drew her to that work, she says, “I grew up in a parish that really invested in its young people, so from a young age I was introduced to a personal relationship with Jesus and to the call to make this the foundation of my life.” After finishing high school in 2015 she volunteered with NET Ministries Australia for two years, serving in the Melbourne and Sydney archdioceses, and then stayed on for two more years working as a full-time staff member supervising the volunteer missionaries and assisting with their formation. Towards the end of this stint, after a two-week trip to Papua New Guinea, she felt what she describes as “a stirring to experience more tangibly the call to poverty of spirit as a missionary” and decided to move to Malawi, living and serving with the Canossian Daughters of Charity, Servants of the Poor for ten months. She then returned to New Zealand and is studying nursing at Wintec while working this part-time role. She likes to escape to the beach when she has a chance, and is a book-lover (“I am always after a good read, so if you have any suggestions I would welcome them joyfully!”).

Danielle says that when it comes to faith expression she’s “a bit like a mixed lolly bag.” After living in community with religious sisters in Malawi, she loves praying the Divine Office, but says, “having also experienced Jesus in the slums and on mountaintops I really just want to seek him wherever he can be found. I have a great love of charismatic prayer. Ultimately the Mass is definitely what grounds me in the faith.”

While working in Australia Danielle always had the dream to return to New Zealand to work in youth ministry, saying, “I always desired to give back to the place that gifted me the faith when I was young”. She describes this role working for the Church in her home diocese as “the greatest privilege!” and she has a clear vision: “I don’t want to just play it safe, but want to always be trying new things and taking risks. It’s important when working with young people to seek the face of Christ in each person, no matter where they might be at. I find it amazing how much better you can love someone when you try to do that. My real desire is to see young people and young adults awaken to their potential to renew the Church.” Young people, she says, have responsibilities and gifts that they need to own, and the Church, in its turn, needs “the vibrancy and adventurous nature of young people”. Her response to being asked about what the people of the Diocese of Hamilton could do to support her in the role was this: “Firstly, I would say to pray for the young people of our diocese! I know there is so much grace when someone prays consistently for someone else, and if we hope to reach out to those who aren’t in our pews on a Sunday, praying for them is a really good place to start. Secondly, say hi! I love meeting new people and I’ve been out of New Zealand for a little while, so it’ll be nice to put down some roots here and meet the diocesan whānau.”