WelCom is the official monthly newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington and the Diocese of Palmerston North and is free in all parish churches and schools in the two dioceses.
As well as reporting on activities that occur in the two dioceses, WelCom aims to present educative and thought-provoking articles about the Church in the world.
WelCom June 2018: Cardinal John Dew, Archbishop of Wellington In our communities and workplaces there are well-established relationships within organisations. There is often a board, a chief executive and a management structure. The board’s role is governance, which involves making ‘big picture’ decisions about the direction of the organisation, strategic planning, overseeing its finances and appointing its
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WelCom June 2018: On World Refugee Day, we commemorate the strength, courage and perseverance of millions of refugees. This year, the UN World Refugee Day also marks a key moment for the public to show support for families forced to flee. In Aotearoa New Zealand our Day of Prayer for Refugees and Migrants is Sunday 17
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WelCom June 2018: In this month’s Catholic Thinking article, Fr Bernard Teo CSsR responds to David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill. Dr Bernard lectures in Christian Ethics at Good Shepherd Theological College, Auckland. Becoming an Easter People Together A Catholic Response to David Seymour’s ‘End of Life Choice’ In December 2017, New Zealand tabled in
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WelCom June 2018: Jeff Drane sm Every year, the United Nations’ International Mariners Organisation (IMO) observes 25 June as the Day of the Seafarer. The goal is to highlight just how important seafarers are to everyone as they transport all over the world the items, commodities and components vital to our daily lives. Social justice is
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WelCom June 2018: “The major award – the O’Shea Shield – was shared by Sacred Heart College Lower Hutt, and St Catherine’s College. The fact that winning the O’Shea Shield was a shared result, and that the Bishop Viard Memorial Trophy for Runners-up was shared by three schools: St Patrick’s College, Wellington; St John’s College, Hastings;
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WelCom June 2018: The Law Commission is reviewing New Zealand’s abortion law at the request of the Justice Minister, the Hon Andrew Little. In February 2018, the Minister advised that the Government is considering how to ensure New Zealand’s abortion laws are consistent with treating abortion as a health issue. The Law Commission has asked for
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WelCom June 2018: Te Rūnanga o te Hāhi Katorika ō Aotearoa have refreshed their website’s face, name and content. Te Rūnanga is the national Māori advisory group appointed by the bishops. It advises the bishops on the pastoral care of Māori. Rūnanga members are appointed to represent the six dioceses of New Zealand. The revised website
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WelCom June 2018: Annette Scullion Long-standing and recently-retired leader for New Zealand Catholic Schools Education, Sir Br Patrick Lynch KNZM QSO, was heralded at a reception in the Grand Hall of Parliament, Wellington, 2 May 2018. The occasion was the launch of his memoirs: Sir Brother Patrick Lynch – A Life in Education and New Zealand’s
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WelCom June 2018: Te karanga ta te Karaiti: kia arohaina, kia ora, kia tina – Christ’s call: to love, to be, to do. Susan Apáthy Teachers and other Catholic education leaders will meet in Wellington this month, 13‒15 June, for the triennial New Zealand Catholic Education Convention. On offer is a full and stimulating programme of
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WelCom June 2018: Support for many, but social services will continue to struggle Community social-services organisations say they welcome the Budget initiatives, announced 17 May 2018, to address poverty, health services, learning support and family violence, but that the Budget bypasses essential and intensive community-based child and family services in urgent need of more funding. “This
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WelCom June 2018: Annette Scullion As part of its ‘New Beginnings’ programme, St Francis of Assisi Ohariu Parish hosted a packed venue in Johnsonville on Sunday 6 May, for a community discussion about climate change and what to do about reducing carbon emissions to ‘protect our common home’. Jonathan Boston, Professor of Policy Studies at Victoria
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WelCom June 2018: Michael McCabe Our Lady of Kāpiti parishioners gathered recently to consider the concept drawings for their new Parish Church and Centre. These buildings are to be built adjacent to Our Lady of Kāpiti School, blessed and opened by Cardinal John Dew on the feast of St Patrick 2017. Our Lady of Kāpiti Parish
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WelCom June 2018: Joy Cowley My spiritual journey is held and nourished by my Catholic faith; a favourite metaphor being that religion is the map and spirituality is the journey. When we are young, our religious tradition gives us that map for our faith journey. The map is crisp, new and it carries clear instruction. As
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WelCom June 2018: How we might pray Elizabeth Julian rsm ‘Down in adoration falling …’: Pray before the Blessed Sacrament. ‘Nothing. I just look at Him and He looks at me.’ Apparently, St John Vianney said this when asked what he did sitting in the church. This article will recall briefly why we pray and how
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WelCom June 2018: Mark 14:12-16, 22-26 12 On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, his disciples said to him, ‘Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?’ 13 So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the city
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WelCom June 2018: In Aotearoa New Zealand Matariki celebrates people, culture, language, spirituality, history and respect for the environment. Matariki is the Māori name for the small but distinctive cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades. It disappears below the horizon in April and reappears in the north-eastern pre-dawn sky in late May or early
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WelCom June 2018: ‘A one-size-fits-all church doesn’t work for individual cultural needs.’ The Archdiocesan Synod 17 has committed to deepening our bicultural and multicultural relationships. Go, you are sent…to deepen your bicultural relationship. Go, you are sent…as members of the One Body. Jim Davis discusses inculturation within our global church. The very first use of the
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WelCom June 2018: The Perfection of Sound – a special pre-launch recital featuring Chris Hainsworth on the Maxwell Fernie Organ will be at St Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott St, Wellington, 7.30pm, Friday 15 June. The Maxwell Fernie Organ at St Mary of the Angels, was revolutionary in its time and has a special place
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WelCom June 2018: ‘Women Welcoming Change’ Christine Paterson About 150 members of the Catholic Women’s League of Aotearoa New Zealand – from all six dioceses – will gather in Wellington from 25 to 28 July for their biennial National Conference. It is at the Brentwood Conference Hotel in Kilbirine. Cardinal John Dew will celebrate the opening
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WelCom June 2018: Wayne McTague Every two years, a marriage training weekend is held to form and encourage those involved in the ministry of marriage education in the Catholic Church in Aotearoa-New Zealand. An initiative of the Catholic Network of Marriage Educators (CNME), the training weekend seeks to form and encourage those involved in marriage
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WelCom June 2018: Worldwide Marriage Encounter, the largest pro-marriage organisation in the world, will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year at its June 22‒24 convention in Chicago. Worldwide Marriage Encounter is also celebrating 40 years in New Zealand this year by offering a weekend for married couples, 11‒12 August 2018, in Palmerston North. The emphasis
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WelCom June 2018: David Olivier Catholic Social Services has appointed three new lay Catholic chaplains to hospitals in the Wellington region to provide ministry. Elizabeth Wootton has been appointed to Wellington Hospital. She brings experience in pastoral care for people in many contexts within the Archdiocese. Elizabeth has taken on significant training and study for
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WelCom June 2018: Anne Dickinson In the February issue of WelCom, Cardinal John Dew wrote about the possibility of lay people leading funeral liturgies that don’t involve a Requiem Mass. With fewer priests and with larger parishes, the number of funerals that some priests are being called on to conduct is becoming unsustainable. Funerals now
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WelCom June 2018: Members of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council have been working with parish leaders to develop a ‘self-review’ resource tool. The booklet aims to help parishes assess and review their own directions and outcomes from the 2017 Synod and to put into practice the missionary outreach of the Church. This includes transforming the messages
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WelCom June 2018: The seismic strengthening and upgrade of Wellington’s St Mary of the Angels Church won two awards at the New Zealand Master Builders Commercial Projects Awards. Entered in the Heritage and Restoration category, the St Mary’s project took out both Gold and Category Winner medals. The awards were announced on 18 May, at Sky
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WelCom June 2018: Engineers have told the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Wellington that it meets less than 33 percent of the new building standard. The 117-year-old cathedral has been evaluated by engineers in a verbal report and a brief written assessment. Sacred Heart Cathedral’s Fr James Lyons said beams in the roof needed to be strengthened.
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WelCom June 2018: NZQA’s biennial review of Scholarship, says Latin and Sculpture could be dropped because of a lack of students. It has also suggested that a new subject, Religious Studies, be included for the first time. The Qualifications Authority said one of the major reasons it is consulting on removing Latin and Sculpture from Scholarship
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WelCom June 2018: Mary Kleinsman-Powell On a small hill, overlooking the town of Foxton, stands the beautiful historic church of St Mary’s. This gem of a church, under the protection of Mother Mary and the Brigidine charism, is there as a visible sign of God’s grace and faith found in humanity. During the season of the
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WelCom June 2018: Maria O’Flynn Earthquakes, building strengthening and the 2017 demolition of our beloved Mission House have been unkind to the many and varied symbols of faith we have become accustomed to having around at Sacred Heart College. These events have wreaked havoc on some of the old and beautiful taonga, which have for many
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WelCom June 2018: Twelve senior students and two teachers from St Mary’s College, Wellington, have recently returned from a three-week trip to Europe. They visited museums, art galleries and culturally significant sites in Rome, Florence, Paris and London. They also visited Windsor, Bath and Stonehenge in the UK. Highlights were the opportunity to see ‘The Mousetrap’ a
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