WelCom February 2021
Sr Judith McGinley OP
Thursday 18 February 2021 will mark 150 years since ten Dominican sisters arrived in Dunedin from Ireland to begin the congregation in New Zealand.
The sisters have enjoyed warm friendships with religious, laity and clergy of the Archdiocese of Wellington since 1944, when St Dominic’s School for the Deaf was opened in Island Bay. A huge amount of goodwill, hard work and generosity surrounded the sisters and the school in Island Bay. This same generous support continued when St Dominic’s moved to Feilding in 1953.
While ministry with the deaf called us to the lower North Island, since the 1980s sisters have also been involved with campus ministry, spiritual direction, retreats and the Pastoral Centre in Palmerston North; and with adult education, pastoral ministry, Challenge 2000 and L’Arche Kapiti in Wellington. Friendship and collaboration have been at the heart of our life and work in all these dearly loved places.
The Dominican Sisters are taking the opportunity provided by our 150th Jubilee to remember with gratitude those who have enabled and supported our life in this country: family, friends, women who have shared our life, pupils and former pupils, parishioners, benefactors, supporters in prayer and ministry and members of the wider Dominican Family.
A Mass will be held at St Mary’s Church, Mosgiel, west of Dunedin, 10am, Saturday 20 February, to which all are welcome.
In the spirit of gratitude, the sisters are not holding expensive celebrations but hope to mark the 150 Jubilee by donating to three specific charities:
- the Rosary Sisters of Jerusalem who work in Gaza, Aleppo, Syria, Jordan, for their support after their hospital was destroyed in the Beirut explosion;
- the Jane of Aza Project run by the Dominican Sisters in the Solomon Islands to provide safe accommodation for young women studying in Honiara; and
- Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand’s project to support local communities to settle above-quota refugee families in New Zealand.
If you would like to join us in passing on of gifts received please do so through account number: 01 0902 0058666 000. Please enter your name, ‘Jubilee’ and, if you wish to specify one of the charities, add ‘Jerusis’, ‘Aza’, or ‘Caritas’.
A Pastoral Letter from the Catholic Bishops of Aotearoa New Zealand (extended version)
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