From WelCom Issue 5 – October 2025
I hope that this month of October has been a graced time for you and that you have been able to experience the power and comfort of intercession to Mary through the rosary.
At the beginning of the month many priests and a number of parishioners throughout the archdiocese participated in the Hope and Renewal Summit. This gathering, hosted by the diocese of Palmerston North, drew upon the experience and learnings from the Divine Renovation movement. Fr James Mallon from Halifax Canada, from whom this parish renewal programme evolved, was present along with a variety of other speakers.
To be at a gathering with 520 others who are interested and committed to parish renewal was a real privilege. To pray together, especially calling on the gift of the Holy Spirit to empower the Church, and to hear from others what they have been doing to strengthen parish life was a reminder that God is truly at work in our Church and in the world.
The priests of the Archdiocese have been working through Fr James’ book Divine Renovation: From a Maintenance to a Missional Parish over the last year. My hope is that more and more of our parish communities will investigate how this movement may be helpful in enriching our parishes so that we may be communities more focused on the mission of the Church, to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to others and to be communities of faith that can support one another in this calling. I encourage you to check out what is available about this on our Archdiocesan website and with the links that are available there.
I want to commend to you Bringing the Word to Life, a book of reflections for Advent and Christmastime which has been prepared by Fr James Lyons with contributions from a variety of members of our Church community in the Archdiocese and beyond. They are only $5 a copy and the reflections help us to make the most of the Advent season, which can often pass us by in the busyness of the end of the year.
This month I celebrated Mass marking the closure of Cardinal McKeefry school Wilton and next month I will do the same for St Bernard’s Brooklyn. Both these schools are in Wellington. It is never easy to say goodbye to places we have loved, where Catholic education has been so well taught and passed on, and so people are rightly saddened to see them come to completion in this way. However the legacy of these schools lives on in the pupils, staff and families who have been there. We give thanks to God for these schools and all who have been involved in them. Fortunately there are other Catholic primary schools that young people from these areas can attend and I know they will bring the fruits of their experience to their new school communities.
As we approach the month of November we pray in gratitude for the holy men and women who have gone before us who are Saints and for the Holy Souls whom our on-going prayers assist in coming into the fullness of God’s presence.