From the left: Bernadette Patelesio, Margaret Bearsley, Maya Bernardo, Jude McKee, Vicky Raw and Archbishop Paul Martin, SM.

Being a Lay Leader is a calling to a radical way of being and working in the Church. It is a special invitation to live out our baptismal call to be missionary disciples.

Te Hao Nui – Launch Out is the formation programme designed and initiated by the Archdiocese of Wellington for Lay Leaders of the Archdiocese. Candidates are prepared to be Lay Leaders or Lay Ecclesial Ministers.

Te Hao Nui – Launch Out has produced Lay leaders and ministers in various Catholic organisations and chaplains in the Archdiocese of Wellington. Several have worked in senior chaplaincy roles for the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference. Some of them have been also invited to work in other dioceses.

Click on this link to read the History of the Launch Out Formation Programme

2025 Launch Out Graduates

Margaret Bearsley-Margaret is originally from Waikato and now lives in Wellington. Margaret studied theology through Holy Cross College in Mosgiel in the late 1980s. After two years working at the National Centre for Religious Studies in Auckland, she returned to Hamilton to study law at Waikato Law School. When her husband died in 2011 after a long illness, she began to consider how she could again become active in parish life, initially beginning with involvement in St Vinnies. Her intentions in becoming a member of the Holy Trinity Parish Pastoral Council in 2019 were to help the amalgamated parish flourish as a united Catholic community and support parishioners’ spiritual growth and missionary outreach.  Undertaking the Launch Out programme provided many opportunities for her to discern her calling to support parish life and growth.

Jude McKee- Jude is New Zealand-born.  She has two older brothers and a younger sister.  She is a ‘professional’ aunty to her nieces, nephews, and also to a little great-nephew who is a grand wee man!  Jude cared for her mother, Terese, for some time in their home after her father died.  Terese is now in full-time care.  Jude recently took up the role of Executive Assistant for Archbishop Paul Martin – a far cry from her previous role in the rugby environment for over 24 years.  But Jude has 3 loves – her faith, her family, and rugby!  Jude saw the opportunity to immerse her administrative skills attained through rugby, and her training thus far through her Launch Out Formation programme, as a true gift from God. She came to ADW with the blessing of her family, friends, and previous employers who knew they could not compete!  In sharing of her faith, Jude is passionate about bringing people together to pray and share their stories over a meal.  She is very active within the Plimmerton Parish of St Theresa’s and has a special interest in ensuring the youth of the parish are actively involved in praise and worship.

Bernadette Patelesio– Bernadette has been living Wainuiomata for the past 25 years. Bernadette and her husband Peter have five children and 7 grandchildren. She has recently begun working as a piano teacher and has spent the last 15 years working in health and social services.  She is now working very part-time to focus on her Launch Out journey and being home for her elderly mother who lives independently on the same property. She is an active parishioner at St Patrick’s.  

Vicky Raw– Victoria (known by many as Vicky) is by nationality a Piwi – half a Pom and half a Kiwi –but she also has Portuguese heritage. Born in central London, she moved to Edinburgh to undertake her undergraduate studies in agriculture. Part of her studies took her to Angers, in the wine-growing region of the Loire Valley, France, where she developed her personal and professional interest in the wine industry and in particular in viticulture. Eventually, her work path led her to the Marlborough region where she has been based in Blenheim since 2000. During this time, the call to service both at the parish and local community levels has helped her to deepen her faith and put down roots in the Top of the South. Vicky rejoined Launch Out in 2000 as she firmly believes that we are all called to partake in active ministry in the church and where better to develop this than doing Launch Out. Undertaking the various study modules and attending prayer days and retreats have helped her to develop new areas of spirituality and theological, scriptural and liturgical understandings.

Who can apply?

  1. Baptised and Confirmed Catholics residing in the Archdiocese of Wellington
  2. Active in parish ministries for at least 3 years
  3. A person of good character
  4. Openness to go through pastoral, theological and spiritual formation

Description of the programme

The formation programme can last between 4 to 8 years, as the Candidates balances Te Hao Nui – Launch Out with the needs of their jobs and families. In the third or fourth year of their formation, the Candidates are asked to discern their specialisation. This would determine the direction of their future pastoral projects and the additional courses they will take when they graduate from Te Kupenga.

Candidates who satisfactorily complete the programme will be endorsed by the archbishop, and their availability for service will be made known throughout the Archdiocese. Although there is no guarantee of employment the Launch Out endorsement is highly considered by many Catholic organisations in looking for possible leaders for the different ministries.

The programme is an integration of three formation programmes, namely: Theological Formation, Spiritual Formation and Pastoral Formation.

Theological formation

Like most professions, being a Lay Leaders have its distinct qualifications. It is important to equip Lay Leaders with theological knowledge in running ecclesial organisations such as parishes, faith communities and the different ministries. This would entail the study of scripture, theology, and pastoral leadership.  A Launch Out Candidate will be required to finish the NZ Certificate in Christian Studies-Christian Ministry Strand (NZCCS-CM) and the NZ Diploma in Christian Studies- Christian Leadership Strand (NZDCS-CL) from Te Kupenga Catholic Leadership Institute www.ctc.ac.nz. The cost for the studies is to be shouldered by the Launch Out Candidates.

Depending on the specialisation a Candidate chooses, they will take up additional courses or take up professional development.

Pastoral Formation

Pastoral formation is the component that develops practical skills in leadership and pastoral care in a parish setting. Candidates are required to organise at least one pastoral project a year and at least a total of four pastoral projects during their formation. At the end of the year, around November, the Candidates present the outcomes of their projects to the bishop, different leaders in the Archdiocese, the Launch Out community and their families. We call this the Pastoral Presentation Day and it is the highlight of a Launch Out year. Examples of Pastoral Projects current Candidates ran: Organising the Order of Rite of Initiation (OCIA or formerly RCIA), engaging under 50s parishioners through shared meals, developing a database for parish roll, teaching senior parishioners the use of digital technology to cope with the lockdowns, organising lenten huis for tamaraki for a Maori community, developing and running an adult formation programme for lay ministers of the parish, etc.

Candidates are assigned Mentors, who are parishioners with strong mana in the archdiocese. These mentors journey with the Candidates as they navigate the intricacies of their pastoral projects.

Pastoral formation also includes a year when a Candidate, usually upon the advice of the formator, takes a year of reflection to listen to the Holy Spirit as it speaks to their own lives and the needs of the parish. In this year, they take time off from pastoral projects to deepen their prayer life and seek meaningful conversations with parishioners, priests and individuals about life and the role of the Church in today’s world.

Spiritual Formation

Te Hao Nui – Launch Out Candidates need to nurture a life of prayer. The Spiritual Formation helps the Launch Candidate integrate the lessons they learned from the Pastoral and Theological Formation, in the light of their discernment for ministry. Spiritual Formation nourishes their ministry and their personal lives.  The Launch Out Candidate will be required to see a spiritual director once a month for at least ten months in the year, attend three Prayer Days, and one Retreat in a year. The cost associated with these activities is undertaken by the Archdiocese.

How do I apply?

LAUNCH OUT IS CURRENTLY ON RECESS. EMAIL m.bernardo@wn.catholic.org.nz FOR DETAILS OF ALTERNATIVE FORMATION PROGRAMMES.

The Launch Out Programme produces a monthly publication called LOL (Launch Out Letters) which is the Archdiocese’s Journal and Newsletter for Lay Leaders and Ministers. LOL also offers resources that can be useful to parishes.