Principals on Pilgrimage Written by James Murray, Principal, St Mary’s Tauranga and Helen McGuigan, principal, St Mary’s Gisborne
Our Hamilton Catholic Principals’ Association had a three-day Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Hiruharama, Whanganui at the beginning of March 2020. Our spiritual leader, and facilitator for this hikoi, was Father David Gledhill sm. Twelve of our Principals from the Hamilton Diocese attended along with Dianne Porter, Religious Education Advisor, from the Diocese. This pilgrimage was a long time in the planning to coincide with the new Suzanne Aubert school opening in our diocese in 2021. This was to give us an understanding of Suzanne Aubert’s journey and her strong relationships and connections with local Māori. The pilgrimage also immersed our group of Catholic leaders in ‘Te ao Māori’, the Māori world, as we explored the interconnectedness and interrelationship of all living & nonliving things, including spirituality, from
... HELPS US APPRECIATE THE DEPTH AND BREADTH OF OUR CATHOLIC COMMUNITIES AND THE HISTORY OF KATORIKA MĀORI IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MOTHER SUZANNE AUBERT. a Māori perspective. The sacredness and significance of the Whanganui river played a huge part in this learning as well as the work of early Missionaries along the river, both Catholic and nonCatholic.
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