Kete Kōrero
A MAGAZINE OF THE CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF HAMILTON
KARAKIA MAY - JULY 2022
MAY - JULY 2022 PUBLISHER: Catholic Diocese of Hamilton, New Zealand DIRECTOR: Alex Bailey alexb@cdh.org.nz EDITOR: Samuel Harris samuelh@cdh.org.nz ART DIRECTOR: Taila Burton-Gollop tailabg@cdh.org.nz WEBSITE: ketekorero.cdh.nz EMAIL: kete@cdh.org.nz PHONE: 07 856 6989 POSTAL ADDRESS: PO Box 4353 Hamilton East 3247 ISSN 2357-2221
COVER: PRAYING IN THE GARDEN, HAMILTON BACK COVER: ST PETER’S, KAWHIA CONTENT PAGE: TYBURN MONASTERY, NGAKURU PHOTOS BY TAILA BURTON-GOLLOP
CONTENTS LETTER: FR LEONARD DANVERS 03 BASKET OF STORIES: HOW DO YOU PRAY? / OUR CONTRIBUTORS 05 PROFILE: RESPONDING TO HUMAN BROKENNESS 09 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE: KEEP THE SILENCE / FR JOHN JOLLIFFE, SM 13 MARRIAGE & FAMILY: PRAYER IS CONVERSATION WITH GOD / MARCEL & STEPHANIE BORMANS 15 PASTORAL PLAN FOCUS: FACILITATING AN ENCOUNTER WITH CHRIST / ALEX BAILEY 17 CALLED TO SERVE: RURAL SUPPORT SOUGHT / BETTY-ANN KAMP 19 ART AND CULTURE: REVIEWS: PANES BY THE SATIONS / SHAKESHAFTE & OTHER PLAYS 21 OUR CHURCHES: KING COUNTRY / TAILA BURTON-GOLLOP 25 NEW CATHOLIC WEBSITE SAINTS & SOLEMNITIES QUOTES KIDS’ PAGE QUIZ
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WHO PICKS BISHOPS? FR LEONARD DANVERS, DIOCESAN VICAR-GENERAL
In these past couple of months, I’ve been asked several times, “Who picks bishops?” The short answer is the pope, but I think there’s another question really being asked: “What’s the process that’s followed for someone to become a bishop? • Peter – it’s Peter who authenticates the need and directs the process. • There is more than one candidate. • The drawing of lots as the means to choose the right man. • The choice fell to Matthias and he was added to the eleven. Over the centuries the Church has used different methods to choose bishops. There have been elections and appointments by secular rulers. Some results were good, others not so good. Some relatives of kings and emperors were named bishops and they were much more temporal rulers than priestly shepherds. Since that time there have been changes which resulted in a more “centralised” process. The process is shrouded in secrecy. This is to prevent “electioneering” and to preserve the reputation and rights of those involved.
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here have been a variety of processes over time. The Church’s first encounter with the need to “choose a bishop” is found in the Acts of the Apostles. There you read about the tragic situation of Judas’ departure and the desire of the infant Church to continue with “the twelve.” In Acts 1:15-26 we see some important aspects of the process of choosing a replacement for Judas. • Prayer – the infant Church gathered to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. • Suitability – the one chosen must have been a constant companion in Jesus’ ministry.
The bishops of the country or province draw up a list of those who are considered worthy candidates. So, what do they look for? Some qualities would be personal health and work capacity. Human qualities – are they practical, do they exercise sound judgement, do they have a sense of justice, have they the ability to relate with people from all backgrounds. Are they a person of prayer, faithful to the Church and her teachings. Pastoral abilities – are they able to preach well, are they a teacher with a concern for justice and the poor. Leadership qualities – have they the ability to analyse a situation, make a decision and act on it. Are they able to work collaboratively?
PHOTO CREDIT: PAUL HARING | CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE 03
Canon 378 of the Code of Canon Law states, among other requirements, these points: A good reputation, at least 35 years of age, ordained for at least five years. The priest may belong to the diocese needing a bishop or to another, and may be a member of a religious order. When a list has been drawn up it is sent to the apostolic nuncio, the diplomatic representative of the Holy See. He then conducts further inquiries based on a questionnaire. This may be sent to other bishops, priests, religious and laity. All who are consulted are asked to maintain strict confidentiality not only about the candidate(s) but also about their own involvement in the process. Once the nuncio has gathered this further information, he may add his own comments, and then sends the file to the Congregation for Bishops in Rome. They then make the final recommendation to the Holy Father, who makes the final choice. So, you can see it is quite an involved process. So let us continue our part and pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit on the process. The priests of the diocese were invited to offer a Mass on Sunday May 1 in their parishes especially for the election of a new bishop, and to include a Prayer of the Faithful for the same intention on the Feast of St Peter Chanel, our diocese’s patron saint, on April 28.
Prayer for a New Bishop: Praise to you, Lord our God, Our eternal shepherd and guide. In your faithfulness, grant to the Diocese of Hamilton a shepherd whose watchful care and kindly zeal will continue the good work of his predecessors. In your love for us, give us a shepherd, one who will lead us in being Christ’s heart of mercy, voice of hope and face of your compassion for our world today. Help him to fill our hearts and minds with the truth of the Gospel, the power of the sacraments, and the desire to build up your Holy Church. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.
EDITOR’S DESK SAMUEL HARRIS We’re moving through the joyful season of Eastertide to the big feast days of the Ascension of Jesus and the Descent of the Holy Spirit, and on into the long stretch of Ordinary Time through the middle of the year. In this issue we’re talking about prayer, which needs to be, for us followers of Jesus, part of our daily routine: a habit, an art, a discipline, and an ongoing conversation: a joy and a comfort. Fr John Jolliffe sm discusses directed retreats and their importance and benefits, Marcel and Stephanie Bormans talk about prayer in the family, and other contributors share something of how they pray. (Interestingly, some people are reticent about sharing their prayer life in this kind of forum - not wanting to appear proud or to turn the focus on themself rather than on God, perhaps thinking of the scripture about going to your room when you pray and closing the door. But they were willing to humbly share their thoughts with our readers, and I think you’ll agree that these writers’ words on prayer are inspiring, challenging and encouraging.) Mother Teresa spoke often on the importance of prayer. “Love to pray. Souls without prayer are like people whose limbs are paralysed; they possess but can’t control them. Prayer is nothing else than being in terms of friendship with God. It is putting oneself in the hands of God, and listening to his voice in the depths of our hearts.” This great “prayer artist,” great friend of Christ and of the broken people in her community, was often asked where she got her strength and life from. She replied, “My secret is simple: I pray.”
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BASKET OF STORIES Prayer remains at the heart of the Church. It is our life-blood. In its various forms, prayer is at once praise and thanksgiving, an appeal for mercy and our hope in time of need. Prayer is a doorway to personal and community renewal and also to the tranquillity challenged by the world. - Prayer in the Busyness of Life (2008), NZ Catholic Bishops Conference. We asked our contributors and other people in the diocese to speak to the question, “How do you pray? What is something you use to help you pray?”
ANNA TUFFERY - PARISH OF ST PIUS X, MELVILLE A great way to catch up with a friend is to have a coffee together. Each morning I have my “coffee with Jesus” while reading the daily Mass readings from my missal. The missal is a great way to get a sense of movement through the liturgical seasons while holding the Word of God in your hands. Sometimes when I am struggling for a sense of connection with God (this is often), I try and just sit with my hands on the open pages of my missal and think, “I’m touching the Word of God.” What a great privilege! I do try and meditate on the daily Gospel reading and try to receive what God is offering me for the day. The missal has really helped me to grow in love of God’s Word and to know Jesus better. I read somewhere that Christianity is not a set of rules to be followed, but rather a person to be loved. This is so true, and to love someone, we need to get to know them. The missal is a great place to start.
TERRY VICKERS - ST JOSEPH’S, TE PUNA, IN THE PARISH OF ST THOMAS AQUINAS Each morning about 5.30am I pray a devotional prayer to Our Lady, a version of St Louis de Montfort’s Prayer to Mary, followed by a prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe. This is followed by Lauds, or Morning Prayer, from the Liturgy of the Hours, which I get from the Universalis website. Later
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ANNA’S MISSAL AND COFFEE TERRY - AN IMAGE OF JESUS GIVEN TO US BY A YOUNG MAN WE BILLETED DURING WORLD YOUTH DAY 2008 ONE OF BERNADETTE’S FAVOURITE PLACES TO PRAY: THE SACRED HEART ALTAR AT TYBURN MONASTERY
in the morning on weekdays we pray the Rosary in front of a tabernacle, usually before daily Mass. Once a month is First Saturday devotion to Our Lady, along with the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I also try to get some quiet time without structured prayer for a few minutes just to have a chat to Our Lord and Lady (and my guardian angel). Seems a lot but it actually doesn’t take long and has in many ways become as much a habit as a blessing.
BERNADETTE NAIR - ST THOMAS MORE IN THE PARISH OF ALL SAINTS BY THE SEA, PAPAMOA COAST As I’m maturing in life, with work, my own health issues, and added responsibilities of caring for elderly parents, I’ve found prayer times are now boundless. They can now be at church or chapel or monastery, places around the home, lying in bed, at the meal table, gardening, outside in nature, driving, serving parents, or customers at work, even whilst washing and cooking. I’m learning to embrace God in every area of my life. There are many ways that I pray at different times: reciting the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, a novena, morning and evening prayers, a kind deed, smile, or word (especially in this stressful Covid time), at adoration, grace before meals, singing or listening to hymns of praise and worship and attending Mass. Other times, prayer is just enjoying the beauty of silence sitting with and in God’s creation, or serving at mass as an extraordinary minister
of Holy Communion or as a reader. Participation in groups like Dove, Aglow, RCIA and Alpha has become difficult with changes in life but as we all know there’s seasons for everything. I make use of apps like Laudate, YouTube, Spotify, Formed and Universalis. I use my Bible, rosary beads, booklets and prayer cards, talk to and pray with other people like priests, religious and friends, in person or via messaging apps. At home I have various sacramentals placed around the house so that prayer can be a part of my daily life. The benefit of this is that I have to intentionally check my thoughts, words, and deeds. This means a change in attitude, which in turn, I pray, creates positive responses and vibes around me. I want prayer to be “in action.” It’s difficult to put into words, but my intention is that any activity, thought, or action should be turned into prayer. I haven’t perfected this and I never will because to make this change will be a lifetime effort. If someone can read the Bible in my actions, in the way I serve and live my life, then that would be the greatest gift of prayer from God to me! I hope that these thoughts about prayer might be an inspiration for any reader so that he or she may love prayer not as a plea from a beggar to a cruel king out of fear, but as a conversation between two friends, or between a child and a loving father.
CONTRIBUTORS: Fr John Peter Jolliffe sm was born and raised in Christchurch, New Zealand. He studied at “The Mission” Marist Seminary, Greenmeadows, Hawkes Bay, was professed a religious of the Society of Mary (Marists) on January 14 1967 and was ordained priest on July 3 1971. He served for 18 years in the missions, in the SM Oceania Province, principally in Samoa and Tokelau Diocese (as it was then), as parish priest. For four years he served full time as National Director of Marist Third Order giving school and parish retreats throughout that diocese. After so many Samoan priests were eventually ordained and wanting parishes, most expatriate priests returned to their home provinces. Fr John returned to New Zealand and served mostly in South Auckland Marist parishes (since he spoke Samoan) and in the Logos Youth Ministry. During his first two sabbaticals overseas he was trained in giving spiritual direction and leading directed retreats,
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Stephanie and Marcel Bormans have been in the Diocese of Hamilton for some time. They belong to the St Matthew’s, Silverdale parish. Marcel works at St John’s College as director of Catholic character and a teacher of religious education while Stephanie is a real estate agent with Harcourts, Hillcrest. They have five children, a dog and a cat. Music is an important part of their prayer life. Steph writes: my favourite song is Jesus Lover of my Soul. Jesus is my closest friend, my rock and foundation. No matter what is happening in life, I can always turn to him and know that he is my strength and I can do all things through him who strengthens me. I always think it important to thank and praise God no matter what circumstances you are going through, be they good or bad times. The song says, “Though my world may fall I’ll never let you go.”
and after completing his second stint as parish priest of Manurewa in early 2016, he had a renewal sabbatical in Chicago where Bishop Steve met him and talked about his desire to send his priests overseas for ongoing spiritual formation. As a result, Fr John volunteered to be appointed to the locum supply ministry. As locum, he looks after parishes for one to three months while also concurrently giving workshops on scripture and prayer for parishioners and school staff. Most of his locum supply work is within the Hamilton Diocese (because they get in first!). He also helps lead silent directed retreats at Ngakuru.
Marcel writes: one of my favourite hymns is God’s Spirit is in My Heart. Ever since singing it when a boy at Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish in Howick, Auckland, with Fr Peter Prendergast, it has thrilled me with Christ’s mandate to go out to everyone and share the joy that the Kingdom of God has come. The idea of reaching out, of expending oneself to bring joy to others, the truth to others, Christ to others, has always pushed me to try to live out the words in my own life - perhaps that is why I am a teacher of religious education. We are so grateful for the people who write articles for us. If you’d like to contribute, email us at kete@cdh.org. nz or samuelh@cdh.org.nz
He writes: I love praying with scripture because the Word of God is living and eternal. Because Jesus is both man and God, all his words and actions happened in time but are also not limited by time and space. We can participate now in each mystery, and in each Word he utters. When he says “Do not be afraid, I am with you,” he is speaking personally to me, now, wanting my personal response of love and trust. Companionship with Jesus in scripture is an amazing “adventure of the heart.”
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FR JOHN JOLIFFE SAYING MASS AT ST JOSEPH’S, TE PUNA STUDENTS AT ADORATION
WWW.TEARAAMARIA.NZ/EVENTS Hamilton 28 April - 5 May Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary Putāruru 08 May - 12 May St Patrick’s Morrinsville 15 May - 19 May Parish of the Holy Family - St Joseph’s Tauranga 22 May - 26 May St Mary Immaculate Rotorua 29 May - 2 June St Mary of the Cross Gisborne 4 June - 9 June St Mary, Star of the Sea Taupō 12 June - 14 June St Patrick’s - Tongariro Catholic 08
RESPONDING TO HUMAN BROKENNESS: JUSTIN MOURITS AS TOLD TO SAMUEL HARRIS
An ongoing series of profiles - part of our basket of stories - in which we talk to Catholic lay people in the diocese about their day-to-day life and work in light of the call of the laity to “consecrate the world itself to God, everywhere offering worship by the holiness of their lives” in “the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world” (Lumen Gentium).
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obody calls the police when they’re having a good day. And even when they’ve called us, it’s very rare that when we turn up people are actually happy to see us. But people call us because they do need help. I’ll go to work tonight, and I know that people will be depending on us to turn up and keep them safe in the midst of their bad day. That’s a privilege. One of the beauties of the job - and one of the hardest things too - is that you’re with people in their worst moments, and the way that you interact with them can make a huge difference to the outcome of those situations. Becoming a police officer was something I’d thought about on and off over the course of my life. I’ve always reckoned
there’s something in a name; me and Ally, my wife, have talked about this a lot regarding our kids’ names. I’ve always had this thing about justice, and that’s connected to my name, perhaps - “Justin” means just, upright. Wanting things to be right, and not liking when they’re not right, or when someone’s not treated right. I wanted the kind of job that meant that when I came home from work each day I knew that I hadn’t just gone to work for the sake of making money, but I’d done something worthwhile. I also liked the idea of not being stuck behind a desk, and that I’d be doing something different every day. So it was something I’d thought about for a long time, but the timing never seemed right. I had a bit to do with
the police through my old job, and a senior cop, someone I had a lot of respect for, asked me one time if I’d ever considered applying, and encouraged me - that’s what got the ball rolling, really. It was this conversation with him that made me think, “Is this the Lord leading me? Maybe I should consider this more.” I started training in February 2019. The training’s intense, Monday to Friday, 7 till 7, for four months. You go in with about eighty people on your wing, and you live and breathe it every day with these people. It’s tough being away from family for that long period of time, but definitely worth it. Something that struck me about the training was the value Police placed on our individual differences, on who we were as people. They emphasised that from early on: “We don’t want to get to the end and spit out a bunch of identical police robots.” It was like, “The differences make you who you are and we want you to be who you are because you’re a reflection of the community - we want you to look and sound like the people you’re policing.” It reminds me a bit of that Pope Francis quote about the shepherds - priests and bishops - needing to smell like their flock. There isn’t this hard line of “enforcing the law”: the police in New Zealand avoid the term “law enforcement” for a reason. Enforcement of the law is one aspect, an important aspect, but probably sixty or seventy per cent of the job is not about enforcing laws at all, it’s about helping people with the issues in front of them - mental health issues, relationship breakdowns … communication! Sometimes we find ourselves counselling couples about how to communicate with each other - so that we don’t have to keep coming back. I don’t know that we got trained for this exactly, but we got prepared for that eventuality - and your skills come out of your own experience too. We did get trained on a range of “tactical options” - things we can use to keep ourselves safe and to keep other people safe, and one we spent a lot of time on was communication - how to de-escalate situations, how to speak to people without being overly accusatory. Three years in, is the job what I expected? Yes and no. I have days when I get home at 3am and crawl into bed next to my wife and she says, “How was your day?” and
I can say, “Yeah, it was good, we got the bad man today, the world’s a little bit safer because of what we did at work today.” But it’s not always like that of course. There’s a lot of reporting, a lot of banging our heads against brick walls dealing with the same people doing the same things over and over again, and a lot of fighting a system that’s just not designed to help people - particularly around mental health. Family harm and mental health - that ‘s eighty per cent of what we do I reckon, and in a lot of that we’re not acting as police officers, we’re acting basically as social workers. We’re dealing with the social issues people have and then the outcomes or actions that arise out of those issues - lack of housing, lack of food, cost of living, the pressure that puts on people - unhappiness, alcohol and drug abuse. We deal with the symptoms but we cant do anything about the causes. Something I didn’t really expect is how much Police cares for its people. It has become a bit like a family to me. The people you work with day by day are very good at looking after each other - it can be a dangerous job and you place a huge amount of trust in the people that you sit next to every day. You put your life and safety in other people’s hands, and you experience some pretty horrific things together at times, so you become very close,
PHOTOS SUPPLIED. THIS PAGE: JUSTIN AT WORK; P12: ONE OF JUSTIN’S FAVOURITE PLACES TO DECOMPRESS AFTER WORK
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you’re bonded by the experiences, good and bad - it’s not something I expected, but it’s been a really nice surprise. It keeps me sharp too, makes me want to do the best I can so that when the proverbial poo hits the fan, I can keep myself and my mates safe so we can go home to our families at the end of the day. One of the things that’s difficult about the job - one thing I wish people remembered more often - is that first and foremost we’re people before we’re police officers. We have families, I’m a brother, son, husband, but because we wear a uniform we’re painted with a brush that says we’re all the same and all act or think the same. It’s a job we’ve chosen to do, sure, but we’re people first. It’s hard for people to understand what we do without context - the public doesn’t have the full picture. There’s a lot of comments about us in the news and on social media, and events that happen elsewhere, in the US particularly, reflect on us here, even though it’s a very different set-up here. People I know, that I’m friends with, suddenly start saying things, or sharing things on social media, “Police this” or “Cops that,” and I think, “Is that honestly what you think about me? Is that honestly what you think I go to work to do?” People don’t realise how much that can affect the people doing the job. That’s the bad side of social media, of thirty-second out-of-context viral video clips - we’ve become obsessed with the idea that everyone can express an opinion and disseminate it on the internet instantly and that every opinion is worth something, and people can share anything without any consequence at all. And this kind of stuff doesn’t just affect me, the person doing the job, but the people around me - my wife sees these things, reads them, hears them, and that affects her because she knows it affects me. It affects my kids too - my kid’s classmates tell her wild things about what they think her dad does as a policeman. That’s one of the challenges; another, one of the biggest, particularly in terms of faith, is being faced with the reality of human brokenness on a daily basis - not just facing it but being confronted by it, being in it: tasting it, seeing it, hearing it, smelling it. That’s confronting from a faith point of view because you’re dealing with people in their absolute brokenness and
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you’re trying - as a Catholic Christian having faith in this God who knows you and loves you - to see hope and love in situations that seem completely void of those things. It’s hard to reconcile the promise of hope and love of God with the reality of human brokenness - how do I make those two make sense? How do I go from here - from the house where there’s no food in the cupboards, mum and dad are both on meth, and the kid’s sitting there in a dirty nappy - and the hope of that kid’s life, the promise that God has for them: how do I make that make sense? That’s certainly been confronting to me - it’s made my faith more real I guess; I have to own it and know why I believe what I believe, because those things are not so easy to see in the world I get into on a daily basis. It’s about being really honest with God, brutally honest: “I don’t know what you’re up to, I don’t see it.” I’ve had times in the last few years when I’ve let things get on top of me and felt distant from God. A trap is that sometimes I think I don’t have it figured out and I have to have it figured out before I bring it to him. Nope, I just have to bring it to him with honesty. Sometimes I get angry with him: “I don’t know what the hell is going on, what you’re doing, or how you can be this benevolent loving God when this is the reality.” Because if I start hiding that from him, that’s when I stop going back to him. I’ve talked to people about all this and it’s helped me remember that the reality is that God’s not scared of our doubts, he’s not scared of my anger or my lack of understanding. He wants to receive that and help me make sense of it, but he can only do that if I’m taking it to him. If I’m taking it to a bottle or to the TV screen he can’t help me. And that’s the challenge - not finding ways to medicate that pain or anger or confusion but trying to bring it to him and say, “I don’t understand.” It’s in doing that that he can turn it into motivation to do something positive, to do what I can. And that all sounds very nice and tidy, but it’s not the problem solved! I have to work at it, at applying it. Sometimes the way for me to work through this is just to be very practical - making sure a person is safe right now. What can I do here in this moment to ensure your safety? Can I take you somewhere, can I remove someone else from the situation, can I take some drugs off the street so they don’t get into the hands of mums or kids and put them further behind. A question people often ask me is, “How do you deal with
a person who you know has done horrific things?” Whilst I have a view, an opinion based on what the piece of paper says you’ve done or who you are, if you treat me with respect I’ll treat you with respect - because everyone has that basic human dignity. A big thing I’ve learnt is that it’s not about what I personally think about what you have or haven’t done, or who you are or aren’t as a person. It’s about trying to - I say trying because it’s not always easy - to recognise the inherent dignity of each person despite what they’ve done. There’s good in each person even if it’s very hard to see. I try to make that front and centre of my mind when I’m working with people who’ve done some horrible things - or are treating me or other people on the scene horribly. And trying to have a focus on people - my job isn’t to enforce laws every time they’re broken; I don’t go to work looking to lock as many people up as I can. I go to work to hopefully make a safer community, for me, for my family, to exist in. (Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I take great satisfaction in locking someone up - a dangerous person who’s hurt people, and will likely carry on hurting people - but it is never the primary goal.) You talked about the laity “bringing light” to their workplaces - I like that idea. There’s the opportunity to live my vocation by being who I am in these situations and hopefully bringing some light into them. There’s a lot of just trusting God, you know. I walk away from some jobs and think, “I don’t know what you’re going to do about that, God” but I’ve got to trust that he’s there somehow. It’s easy to take on a saviour mentality, thinking “How do I get in here and fix everything?” and the answer is you can’t fix everything, so there’s a lot of trust in God. I haven’t answered all those questions. You have to know yourself you have to find ways of taking the unanswered questions, what you’re feeling and seeing every day, processing it, and getting rid of it, clearing it from your brain. Being a Catholic in the workplace is more about who you
are than about what you say. It’s about your actions. In this job there’s very few opportunities to use your words to share the Gospel, there might be the odd occasion but generally it’s not appropriate, not the right time or the right place, but how you behave and how you act is the way you might do that, just treating people with dignity and respect, acting with integrity. The job has made me think about how we as Christians respond to the brokenness in the world. I don’t know if we ignore it or don’t want to see it because it’s ugly, but I feel like a lot of the time we forget that a lot of people have really difficult lives. We have to acknowledge people’s experience of brokenness and what that means for them for their experience of God and their experience of the Church. I know a guy who runs a ministry in Australia working with homeless people, giving them a safe place to eat and shower and hang out, and I’ve never felt more aligned with the way he is church for those people than since I’ve started this job. For me now, that’s where we need to start - with those basic human needs of food, shelter, community. From that comes the other aspects of the Church, but if we can’t provide for the broken people in our world those basic things then are we doing what Jesus asked of us? Because that’s where he started - with feeding people. Going out to people and being with them. The Church is perceived by a lot of people as having a lot of rules and regulations and tight structures, and it’s a challenge for us as a community to make ourselves welcoming, be a home for the broken - within the goodness of the structures, the order, that we’ve been given. It’s not an easy task, but we have to do it. Do you know someone with an interesting story who’d be willing to be interviewed for our profile? Suggest it to them, and drop us a line.
KEEP THE SILENCE FR JOHN JOLLIFFE, SM
A “silent directed retreat” is our response to Christ’s many invitations to accept his companionship: “Then he said to them, ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’” (Mark 6:31), and ‘“Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). It is an act of hope and trust in him about whom the prophet says, “He will bring us back to life ... that he will come is as certain as the dawn” (Hosea 6:2-3).
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he fundamental reality is that our capacity to exist at all is only because God first loved us into life and loves us still. So to live within that love is our basic existence, our true identity, our inner peace. The old catechism taught that God made us “to know him, to love him, and to serve him in this world, and to be happy with him forever in heaven.” St Augustine experienced the reality that “our hearts are restless until they rest in God.” A basic truth is that God is love, and so God acts in love, and therefore God loves us into life and loves us still, whether we accept it or not. Our inner peace grows when we re-centre our lives to be led by that core reality. Our dis-ease comes when we live contrary to it and to who we really are as people continually loved by God. A retreat provides freedom of space and time for us to humbly ponder that amazing mystery of God’s love, to appreciate its life-giving truth, to regain our confidence both in God’s care for us and in our ability to directly respond to him, and to choose to refocus the direction of our lives to live more freely and happily in God’s love. In a retreat we bring ourselves to our loving God just as we are. We come with our griefs and sorrows, hopes and anxieties, joys and worries. We may be seeking to regain confidence in ways of prayer. We may be seeking to work through some grief or turmoil, a struggle or sorrow. We may be wishing to deal with an area of sinfulness or to rediscover hope and our basic goodness. Our personal needs, and our active desire to ask God’s help, are starting points of our retreat journey closer to God. The retreat will
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PHOTOS: TYBURN MONASTERY, NGAKURU BY TAILA BURTON-GOLLOP
adapt to such personal needs and requests. However, a retreat does not lead inwards to trap the retreatant’s energy into a cycle of woes, but rather leads outwards onto God as the one who can heal and love us back to the fullness of life. Spiritual direction is not a directive or counselling session but aims at helping us in our prayer relationship with God. A silent directed retreat is a time to “retreat” away from the distracting daily worries and concerns of life in order to regather our energies, build up our inner-life resources, and refocus our lives. We choose to “keep the silence” to better hear the voice of our loving and merciful God speak to our hearts and lives and to honestly notice our responses. A spiritual director helps us learn to discern the signs and direction of the movements of our inner spirits away from and towards God. By learning those patterns within us we can more readily avoid traps that lead us away from God and have more confidence in following the inspirations that lead us to God. Some things a retreatant can expect in a silent directed retreat at Cor Iesu Fons Vitae Monastery, Ngakuru: • A private room with ensuite. Main meals daily. Daily Mass. Much unregulated silent reflection time. • An expectation that we all respectfully keep the silence and honour the prayerful reflection space. • Prayer time priority is given to set periods of individual silent prayer based on Scripture, each one followed by the individual’s prayer review journaling.
• A daily opportunity for spiritual direction with a Catholic priest experienced in giving spiritual direction. That will be for about 20 – 30 minutes, based on what happened in our prayer. • The spiritual director can listen to our sharing on the area of life we wish to bring to the Lord for help. • He can help us discern the “desired grace gift” the Holy Spirit is leading us to seek and pray for during the retreat, and can offer us suitable scripture passages as God’s Word leading us towards that grace. • He can help us become more familiar with ways of silent prayer that help us listen productively to God. • The Catholic priest directors are also available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Some ways to prepare before our retreat. • Free ourselves of other commitments and worries so we become more free to respond to God’s graces. • Spend time in prayer asking God to enlighten us. What graces does God want us to seek and ask for? • Pray for the courage to open our hearts to God’s grace with humility, repentance, faith, trust and love. • Bring our Bibles. A retreat is quality time for rejuvenating our “adventure of the heart” with God, our wonderful opportunity to develop a greater friendship with he who loves us and seeks to lead us to the fullness of life, inner peace, and ultimately eternal happiness with him. - Scripture references from The Jerusalem Bible.
PRAYER IS CONVERSATION WITH GOD MARCEL & STEPHANIE BORMANS
“Prayer is conversation with God”: this is my favourite description of prayer. Why? Because it is simple, both as a sentence and as a concept. Yet how difficult it can be – the difficulty not so much in finding particular words and formulas that suit us, but more so in the effort of making time for regular prayer.
M
y wife Steph and I have found that established prayer times are a simple way to foster prayer in our family, the habit starting from before our children were born all the way through until it was time for our children to take ownership for their own prayer lives. It is great when the prayer times we have established are mirrored in wholesome TV and movies, our children recognising that prayer was not just a Mum and Dad ordinance: “Look, it’s happening on screen as well.”
The easy prayer times to establish seemed to be prayer in the morning, prayer before bed, prayer before meals, and Sunday Mass. Led by us but with the encouraged input of our children, we’d have both of us praying together with them or we would take turns to pray with our children so that they would see the way Mum prayed and the way Dad prayed and recognise that while we may pray differently, it is okay and normal. We are sure that these early experiences of prayer are what will remain in the
memory of our children and what they will take with them into their own marriages and family life. I mentioned earlier that prayer can start with your child while in the womb, but let me go back further. To pray for your children before you are pregnant, before you are married, before you even have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, that is a good thing, because God is outside of time and space. For him it is no problem to hear and answer our prayers no matter when they are sent. Steph and I also went through a period of time, while living in Te Awamutu and then in Dargaville, where we had many of the praise and worship songs from the CD series “Worshipping Under Southern Skies” printed out in large print on A3 paper. We used this for leading children’s liturgy at church on a Sunday but we also used it at home and would gather the kids, put on the CD, and together sing the songs. It was a lovely and innocent time (and a bonus was that it helped our children with their reading). There is no doubt that music uplifts the soul in a different way to spoken prayers. Exposing our children to this type of prayer was important because we know that not all of us pray in the same way, so this opened our children’s understanding to a different form of prayer. We also went through a phase of praying the Rosary. This wasn’t the easiest, keeping the kids still and focused. Sometimes, similar to when we were taking our kids to Mass, we wondered if it was worth it because the distractions were so great and the frustration on our part could become so present that a serene and meditative mindset was nowhere to be seen. As a couple, Steph and I have always said our night prayers together in bed after we have prayed with our children at their bedsides. Having five children, I would take care of the three boys and Steph would take care of the two girls, with some interchange as mentioned earlier, and some prayer with both of us present at the same time. And then there were times when one of the children would say, “Mum (or Dad), I haven’t had my prayers said yet” - but they had; they wanted the other parent to also pray with them.
Father, Hail Mary, the Rosary, or informal and spontaneous prayer, prayer at the bedside, in the lounge, around the dinner table, in the car (always before a trip out of town), with candles, without candles, with a prayer focus set up or with nothing, prayer has so many forms but always it ought to be that “conversation with God” because then our children (and ourselves) can see that God is not a distant God but a God who is able and willing to help us, to bother with us, to share in what we are going through, as someone real and close to us. Steph likes to read scripture, to meditate, to sing praise and worship songs when she has her personal prayer. I like to attend daily Mass and to contemplate the mystery of the Eucharist in Eucharistic adoration.
‘There were times when one of the children would say, “Mum (or Dad), I haven’t had my prayers said yet” - but they had; they wanted the other parent to also pray with them.’ It is fair to say that our children have all responded to prayer in different ways. From being respectful and getting involved through to being disruptive during prayer time and claiming that it is a waste of time. This causes us some pain but we also recognise that it is part of growing up. While Steph and I have, at times, become very frustrated with these attitudes and I have raised my voice more than a few times, we always have the hope and expectation that our children, through what we have instilled in them through our example and our practice, will use prayer, will see prayer as normal, will return to lives of prayer when they are ready. We recognise that our children have to return to prayer in their time and to not have it forced upon them. We do not want to push them away from God and, to be quite frank, we know that God will touch them and they will respond in due course. We never stop praying for our children and they know it. We never stop praying for each other, and they know it. We never stop conversing with God in our preferred way, and they know it. The seeds are sown but it is God who makes those seeds grow. To other families, I’d say this: take courage, take heart. Give a good example of prayer and love. Trust God with everything else.
Reading of scripture, song, formal prayers like the Our PHOTO: LEFT TO RIGHT - NATHANIEL, STEPHANIE, MARCEL, TYLER, LUKE, LISA, MICHELLE. SUNDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2022. FAREWELLING NATHANIEL FOR HIS OE, AT AUCKLAND AIRPORT.
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FACILITATING AN ENCOUNTER WITH CHRIST ALEX BAILEY
‘Evolutionary Leap’
W
hether it was in Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, House, Scrubs, St Elsewhere, Doogie Howser, or some other riveting medical series, CPR is something you have definitely seen dramatised. Perhaps you have completed a St John first aid course and practised CPR on a training manikin? No doubt some readers will have also encountered a real person in need and performed CPR. I can only begin to imagine the grief or relief that might accompany this experience. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is something we are generally familiar with but never wish to perform. On the opposite side of things, perhaps you know a relative or friend with a DNR (do not resuscitate) order in place? Whichever way we look at it, a real encounter with someone who requires resuscitation is a serious and grave thing. Praise God for
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the skilled medical staff and technology that increases the likelihood of success if attempted. “Now it must be acknowledged that if in Jesus’ Resurrection we were dealing simply with the miracle of a resuscitated corpse, it would ultimately be of no concern to us,” says Pope Benedict XVI in Jesus of Nazareth, Book II. For even today, it seems more than likely that, right this minute, somewhere in the world someone is being resuscitated. But Jesus’ resurrection is different. Jesus’ resurrection changed the course of the world. For his resurrection, as Benedict continues, “is not an isolated event that we could set aside as something limited to the past, but it constitutes an ‘evolutionary leap’ (to draw an analogy, albeit one that is easily misunderstood).” At this point, perhaps the
reader might accuse this article of becoming out of touch with “real life,” of using unrelatable language, or of aiming too high. In this light, a question arises: what does this “evolutionary leap” really look like? “But their eyes were kept from recognising him” (Lk 24:16, RSV). Consider the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who knew what Jesus really looked like but who could not see Jesus’ resurrected body. Consider Thomas who did not see until Jesus said “put your finger here, and see my hands” (Jn 20:27, RSV). The answer to the previous question cannot be contained in a straightforward written description or even in a piece of artwork or icon. Nevertheless, it can be answered. Ceaselessly, Mass is celebrated every day throughout the world. Weekly we participate in Mass, some of us more frequently. Those familiar bells chime and we lift our gaze to adore and look upon the white host, the real presence. Do we really see the body and blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ? “Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (Jn 20:28). The liturgy of the Eucharist is an encounter with the risen Christ. I am told that at the time of consecration in some Argentinian churches the congregation spontaneously exclaims aloud “My Lord and my God.”. While this isn’t common practice in our diocese, it is perhaps worth imitating, albeit silently. The 2022/2023 theme of the five-year Strategic Pastoral Plan is: Facilitating an Encounter with Christ. From Pentecost 2022 through until Pentecost 2023 this theme will be unpacked. Here’s a couple of suggestions of activities the people of the diocese could begin with. Watch - Presence: The Mystery of the Eucharist on Formed Read - The Lamb’s Supper or The Fourth Cup - Scott Hahn Attend - a silent retreat at Ngakuru Monastery or the Cluny Retreat Centre - details available at cdh.org.nz/events Attend - Te Ara Maria event in your parish or neighbouring parish. Visit tearaamaria.nz/events. If you don’t have access to Formed or you can’t find the book in your parish library simply email alexb@cdhorg. nz and I’ll arrange one for you. Why not get a few friends together and make a book club or watch party? In the same way, if you are having trouble booking a retreat send an email and I’ll do my best to assist. PHOTO SUPPLIED - ROAD TO EMMAUS ICON. 18
RURAL SUPPORT SOUGHT BETTY-ANN KAMP
Donating a calf or lamb.
F
or over a decade a well-supported livestock scheme, where farm animals were sold and the proceeds donated, operated within the Diocese of Hamilton for the benefit of what was formerly Catholic Care, now Common Good Foundation. Funds raised were channelled through grants and distributions to the vulnerable or those in need in communities throughout the region. Unfortunately with the arrival of mycoplasma bovis several years ago, a bacterial disease affecting cattle, the scheme was temporarily halted. Common Good Foundation is now motivated to reintroduce a variation of the old livestock scheme and is seeking the support of our rural community throughout the diocese to once again partner with us. With the autumn season now upon us and winter calving and spring lambing not far off, Common Good Foundation would like to promote a new scheme whereby farmers and lifestyle block owners can donate the value of a calf or lamb directly to the Foundation. The new calf/lamb rearing scheme is simple by nature
and avoids the need to move stock between rearers and finishers. A farmer can pledge to raise a calf or lamb on their property until such time as they decide to sell them and then donate the proceeds to Common Good Foundation. Alternatively, a virtual calf or lamb donation to the market value of an animal (or animals) would also be gratefully received. Common Good Foundation are asking farmers and lifestyle block owners throughout the diocese to please consider supporting the scheme. Rural communities have some of our greatest needs and your direct support allows us to address these priorities. Many wonderful farming families have partnered with us in the past and we are extremely grateful for their support. Hopefully you may consider joining this amazing rural network in promoting Catholic care in action. Please contact Betty-Ann Kamp at admin@commongood.org.nz for more information.
PHOTO SUPPLIED BY BETTY-ANN KAMP
NEW CATHOLIC WEBSITE www.catholicdiscovery.nz A new Catholic website has been created as a “welcome mat” taking the depth and richness of the Church’s teachings to everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand, especially non-Catholics seeking the peace and comfort that faith brings. The website – www.catholicdiscovery.nz – is the work of the Catholic Enquiry Centre, which traditionally used booklets and postal correspondence to reach people interested in the Church. Catholic Enquiry Centre Pastoral Director, Father Neil Vaney, SM, says the website takes a new direction in communicating with non-Catholics. “The digital age has seen us adapt some of our approaches,” Fr Vaney said. “Our traditional booklets are still popular but modern audiences are hungry for interactive content. We also know that people are looking for spiritual guidance. We have been careful with what we communicate in the website and the language we use. It’s not us just simply saying this is who we are – we want to better highlight the peace, comfort and sense of truth that faith brings.” The Catholic Discovery website offers information, motivation and prayers for different audiences looking at choices in faith. It presents videos, podcasts, pages and links that offer an introduction to Catholicism. Catholic Enquiry Centre engagement manager Joe Serci says it offers easy-to-access information with short articles in plain English. “Catholic Discovery is a welcome mat to the Church,” he says. “The aim is to provide interesting insights on a variety of topics. People are encouraged to contact the Catholic Enquiry Centre should they want more details and to have an initial discussion on Catholicism. “Globally, the Catholic Church is increasing its focus on digital communication. We know we need to develop and share content that shows the depth and richness we bring as a community. Please do visit our new website. We are building our library of articles, videos and podcasts. If you would like to share your story don’t hesitate to contact us at
info@catholicenquiry.nz or phone 0800 328 437 to leave a message.” Catholic Enquiry Centre: Established in 1961, the Catholic Enquiry Centre is an agency of the NZ Catholic Bishops’ Conference that promotes the beliefs and practices of the Catholic faith. It partners with local dioceses, parishes and schools to produce resources that help promote Catholicism to new inquirers, former Catholics and for members of the Church involved in evangelisation work. Media release from www.catholic.org.nz/news/media-releases/ cathdiscovery-website/
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COLOURFUL AND HONEST: MUSIC REVIEW DANIELLE MOURITS
The Sations’ debut album: “Panes”
The album unpacks our need for God in every season of our life. The Sations have seamlessly married our very human experience with the Divine who comes to meet us exactly where we are. Songs like Prayer for Right Now lead the listener to take up the invitation to daily encounter with God: “Give me grace / Give me strength / Give me faith / Give me focus / ‘Cause I need you in this moment / Cause I need you all day long.”
P
anes is as colourful and reflective as its title suggests.The latest album by the widely acclaimed Auckland band The Sations is beautifully raw, honest and hopeful, both lyrically and musically. The album draws on themes of pieces of our humanity and need for God, using it as a lens to see his mercy and love in action. Opening with Belong, a sing-along-as-loudly-as-youcan-in-the-car kind of song, Panes makes friends with the listener from the start. The punchy drums overlaid with upbeat guitar and folky violin sets the foundation for a bright song that will surely be stuck in your head for the rest of the day: “I belong to your body / To the people you call / I belong to them all / … I know I belong.”
While being widely accessible to all, there are distinct hints of The Sations’ Catholic foundation through moments such as the inspiration of the old hymn St Patrick’s Breastplate in Let It Be Christ - “Christ before me / Christ behind me / Christ within me / Christ beside me / Christ above me / Christ below me / Christ who leads me / Christ who shows me,” and Pax, which draws from both the words of the Mass and the Peace Prayer attributed to St Francis, highlighting a soaring choral melody singing “Donna nobis pacem,” instantly transporting the listener to a grand cathedral or to the heart of the Mass itself, echoing our prayer during the Lamb of God. Listening to Panes on my daily walk was the perfect way to set the tone for the day ahead. The soaring melodies lifted my head far above the mundane and daily tasks and drew me up into a vision of a life where God sanctifies the ordinary. This album is a sanctuary for the listener, drenching us in peace and prayerful lyrics. Soak in it over your cup of coffee, daily commute or evening walk. Cannot recommend it enough!
PHOTO: WWW.THESATIONS.COM 21
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ALL THE PATHS LIGHT UP: BOOK REVIEW RICHARD TURNBULL
Shakeshafte & Other Plays, by Rowan Williams. Slant Books: 2021, 156pp, from USD$9.99 at slantbooks.org
R
owan Williams was the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 – 2012. In retirement he has written three plays with Christian themes: Lazarus, The Flat Roof of the World and Shakeshafte. In each he explores a shattering event that changes everything.
life after the war. He is haunted by the image of bodies hanging on barbed wire. In this he glimpses a connection with Christ hanging on the Cross. Life, he declares, is “dying, surviving. Waiting.” The sequence is instructive.
What if the immortal is returned to mortality? This is the question at the heart of Lazarus, a short play with three Voices. Williams fuses the story of Lazarus found in John’s Gospel with a contemporary story of a 17 year old who is critically injured in a motorcycle accident and dies after two weeks in intensive care. During those weeks the boy keeps asking, “He coming then?” But He never comes. At the funeral a man asks the vicar to explain the reference to “the resurrection and the life” but he is unable to do so. Two female Voices describe a visitor who arrives too late, who weeps and cries out in pain, who goes to the grave and calls Lazarus out, and who sits down and dines with Lazarus and the family. The meal is silent: all have been robbed of speech by the incomprehensible shock of what has just happened – a man raised from the dead. There is only the silent communication of Jesus and Lazarus looking into each other’s eyes - as if sharing a secret. And so the play ends with the last words in John’s Gospel: “...even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” In The Flat Roof of the World Williams explores another shattering experience, that of five years spent by David in the trenches of WWI. David cannot adapt to normal
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The war killed meaning and purpose, post-war life is a chronicle of wasted time, and he waits for a death that may restore a glimpse, no matter how fleeting, of a pattern and a harmony. Suddenly he remembers seeing a few weary soldiers in a barn in the war zone, and in that barn a priest offering the Mass. It was, he says, “…a pattern where all the paths light up and the whole thing – breathes, or whatever.” Everything in “normal” life, he realises, is made for something, like a career or a marriage; but the value of this religious service is intrinsic, not instrumental; its value lies simply in what it signifies. Williams hints that David’s purpose, like that of the Biblical prophets, and like that of Christ himself hanging on the barbed wire of no-man’s land, is to pay witness to the truth of suffering, death and redemption.
doing they create a gracious harmony. Men who choose a part in another play (such as the Church of England) are like a musician in an orchestra who chooses to play from an alien score: disharmony ensues. “Some voices are going to be out of tune forever. Leave them,” says Campion. Shakeshafte wishes not to take sides but to see all sides; in the other voices, he argues, are found other harmonies and out of all these God can create a fuller, richer tune. You make a choice, for Catholicism or for a new Protestant religion and that choice confers truth upon the object of your allegiance. Not so, says Campion: you do not choose truth, rather truth chooses you and the only correct response is submission. But, says Shakeshafte, suppose you are chosen by a different truth, suppose you are called to submit to a multitude of voices?
The longest play is Shakeshafte, set in Tudor England in 1581, the year the Jesuit priest Edmund Campion was martyred. Its central scene is a dialogue between Campion and Shakeshafte (Shakespeare).
Williams does not resolve this dispute; rather, he invites the reader to think more deeply about the questions it raises. Which is the more universal, he seems to ask: the Catholic faith, with “I was a stranger and you welcomed me”; or the art of Shakespeare for whom Art is everybody’s autobiography?
Campion argues for the idea that all men are summoned to play a part in one true, holy, Catholic play, and that in so
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OUR CHURCHES: KING COUNTRY TAILA BURTON-GOLLOP
This is a series featuring different churches around our diocese.
St George’s Parish was established in Te Kuiti in the early years of the twentieth century to be to be a place of worship for all Catholics in the district. In 1909, a parish was established in Te Awamutu which included Te Kuiti. In 1915 (until 1946), Te Kuiti became a separate parish which included Otorohanga and Piopio. The Mill Hill Fathers from Holland, Ireland and England were placed in Aria and surrounding areas until Diocesan clergy were available. Now the parish is included in the wider Te Awamutu parish once again.
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Otorohanga’s Our Lady of the Sacred Heart church, established in 1945. There is also one more church in this Amalgamating Parish of State Highway 3 (not featured in this spread) - and it is actually nowhere near State Highway 3! Our Lady of the Rosary sits in a paddock near the community hall and the primary school in Arohena. Mass is currently not said there and information about the church is hard to find, but we thought it deserved an honourable mention nonetheless.
St Peter’s in Kawhia was blessed and opened on the 23rd of March, 1930 by Bishop Liston. The parish priest was Fr E.B. Schoonhof, M.H.M., then stationed at Kihikihi. The church was built by Messrs Schultz, McMonagle and Scott with the help of other parishioners. The cost of the building was £500 and the church was opened free of debt.
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SAINTS & SOLEMNITIES MAY 1 - 3rd Sunday of Easter 2 - Saint Athanasius 3 - Saints Philip and James 8 - 4th Sunday of Easter 10 - Saint John of Ávila 12 - Saint Pancras 13 - Our Lady of Fátima 14 - Saint Matthias 15 - 5th Sunday of Easter 18 - Saint John I 20 - Saint Bernardine of Siena 21 - Saint Christopher Magallanes & Companions 22 - 6th Sunday of Easter 25 - Saint Gregory VII 26 - The Ascension of The Lord 27 - Saint Augustine of Canterbury 29 - 7th Sunday of Easter 31 - The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary JUNE 1 - Saint Justin 2 - Saints Marcellinus and Peter 3 - Saints Charles Lwanga & Companions 5 - Pentecost 6 - Mary, Mother of the Church 9 - Saint Ephraem 11 - Saint Barnabas 12 - The Most Holy Trinity 13 - Saint Antony of Padua 16 - Corpus Christi 21 - Saint Aloysius Gonzaga 22 - Saint Thomas More 23 - The Birthday of Saint John The Baptist 24 - The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus 25 - The Immaculate Heart of Mary 27 - Saint Cyril of Alexandria 28 - Saint Irenaeus 29 - Saints Peter And Paul
PHOTO BY UNSPLASH
JULY 4 - Saint Elizabeth of Portugal 5 - Saint Antony Mary Zaccaria 6 - Saint Maria Goretti 9 - Saint Augustine Zhao Rong & Companions 11 - Saint Benedict 13 - Saint Henry 14 - Saint Camillus of Lellis 15 - Saint Bonaventure 16 - Our Lady of Mount Carmel 20 - Saint Apollinaris 21 - Saint Laurence of Brindisi 22 - Saint Mary Magdalen 23 - Saint Bridget of Sweden 25 - Saint James 26 - Saints Joachim & Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary 29 - Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus 30 - Saint Peter Chrysologus This is not the full or official liturgical calendar for New Zealand - it’s a list of some highlights, some members of the communion of saints to pray with and be inspired by.
QUOTES What is God’s love? It is not something vague, some generic feeling. God’s love has a name and a face: Jesus Christ, Jesus. Love for God is made manifest in Jesus. Pope Francis Let us make up for lost time. Let us give to God the time that remains to us. St Alphonsus Ligouri “About half of them.” Pope John XXIII, when someone asked him, “How many people work at the Vatican?” Don’t stay away from church because there are so many hypocrites. There’s always room for one more. Arthur R. Adams We fear the future because we are wasting the today. Mother Teresa It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves. Edmund Hillary And my ending is despair / Unless I be relieved by prayer / Which pierces so that it assaults / Mercy itself and frees all faults. Prospero in Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest”. Thus to take up the Cross of Christ is no great action done once for all, it consists in the continual practice of small duties which are distasteful to us. St John Henry Newman Let us imitate the little birds in their joy, their freedom, in their confidence for the morrow. Ven. Suzanne Aubert
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PHOTO: MOUNT EVEREST, NEPAL - UNSPLASH
KIDS Did you know that May is the month of Mary?! To celebrate her, we’ve created some puzzles using words relating to her! Fill in the blank letters below, and then find those Marian words in the wordsearch! AN_EL ANNOIN_ED APP_RITI_N A_CENSIO_ AS_UM_TION C_MMUN_ON _OVENANT G_SPEL HO_Y IMMAC_LAT_
INT_RCESSIO_ L_RD M_RIAN _ARY MESSI_H MO_HER RO_ARY SAI_T SA_IOUR S_IRI_
QUIZ PROVIDED BY MR SEATON’S YR 13 RE CLASS, CAMPION COLLEGE, GISBORNE 1. Lapis lazuli 2. Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite (Judges 4:21) 3. Chapter 2 4. None - “For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled, ‘Not a bone of him shall be broken.’” (John 19:36, RSV) 5. Anne and Joachim 6. The heart of Jesus has a crown of thorns and a cross and the image of Mary has flowers and a sword piercing the heart 7. Peter 8. At the home of Thomas and Mary Poynton at Totara Point, North Hokianga, Northland, by Bishop Pompallier on January 13, 1838. 9. Joan of Arc 10. Ringo Starr and Stuart Sutcliffe QUIZ ANSWERS
1. Which precious stone with its famous blue colour is associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary? 2. Who famously planted a tent peg in the head of Canaanite army commander Sisera? 3. Pentecost happens in which chapter of Acts of the Apostles? 4. Name the bones of Jesus broken during his crucifixion. 5. By tradition, what were the names of Mary’s parents? 6. What are some differences between the traditional representations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary? 7. Who offered to set up tents at the Transfiguration? 8. Where was the first Mass in New Zealand celebrated? 9. Who famously said, “About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they’re just one thing, and we shouldn’t complicate the matter”? 10. Which members of The Beatles had a preferred first name which was/is not the name of a saint?
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CDH.ORG.NZ
