Palmerston North
4 March, 2013
Palmerston North Diocese’s four religious houses with trainees and five diocesan seminarians showed vitality in the Church, ‘for which we should give thanks to God and, in this Year of Faith, joyfully celebrate’, Bishop Charles Drennan said.
Bishop Charles visited the Sisters of Compassion in Upper Hutt last month and met two junior professed Sisters.
‘I was delighted to meet two such enthusiastic, cheerful and dedicated young women and to learn that there are another three in formation at the novitiate in Fiji.
‘Our diocese is greatly blessed by the witness of the Compassion Sisters who walk in the footsteps of Suzanne Aubert, serving the sick, elderly and imprisoned, nursing and working with Maori, and living among families especially those struggling in various ways.’
Bishop Charles said it was heartening to know that another generation of Compassion Sisters was in the making.
The Cistercian Abbey at Kopua, the Marist Fathers seminary at Highden, the Josephites in Whanganui, and the Sisters of Compassion all have people in formation.
‘As people come to know this good news, I am confident that they will accompany those in formation with prayers of support and that other young men and women experiencing a call to serve the Church and the world in this way will be encouraged to take the next step.’