Kete Korero May 2016

ketekorero May - July 2016 1

Storing for goodSt Mary’s Chapel ConservationParishes take up conservation challengeTokanui Catholic dead rememberedLand deal signals more growth in Tauranga

Parish secretaries

The official publication of the Catholic Diocese of Hamilton

2 ketekorero May - July 2016 In this issue...Read it online!

www.proudtobecatholic.org.nz

Kete Korero Magazine C-/ 51 Grey St, P.O. Box 4353, Hamilton East 3247

Editor: Michael R. Smith, P.O. Box 6215, Whakarewarewa, Rotorua 3010 Tel: 07 349 4107, [email protected]: http:/tinyurl.com/ketekorero

Sponsorship and advertising:David Barrowclough, C-/ Chanel Centre 0800 843 233 Fax 07 8567035 or email: [email protected]

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ISSN: (print) 2357-2221 & (online) 2357-223X

Cover PhotosFront page: Mike Rolton, general manager of St Vincent de Paul, Hamilton in the newly opened storage facility..The panel: Students march in Rotorua to support Caritas Challenge; Pilgrims from Whakatane to the Ngaputahi; and Fr Joe Stack with the Tokanui Hospital Cemetery memorial. Lydia Whitely, Jan Baker and Jill Seerden.

The Kete Korero is an official publication of the Catholic Diocese of Hamilton.

Deadline for contributions to the next issue is 11 July 2016

Bishop’s MessageListening to the risen Lord 2

Parish NewsA pilgrimage to Ruatahuna and back 4Rotorua pilgrimage to Door of Mercy in Te Puna 4What the eyes don’t see, the heart can’t feel 5Successful Knights’ conference in Hamilton 6Bishops receive university’s highest honours 6Council challenged to form a welcoming community 7Pancakes �y during Shrove Tuesday 10Secretaries at forefront of parish changes 11

FeaturesStoring up community good 3St Mary’s Chapel transforming into a place of solace 8-9 Father Patrick Keane re�ects on a life of service 14Sponsors’ role recognised 15

School NewsStudents march in Rotorua for Caritas challenge 12Land purchase for future Tauranga growth 13Long-serving trustee positive about tomorrow’sschools 13

bishop’s messageListening to the risen Lord

The Gospel readings of the risen Lord appearing to his disciples after his resurrection contain some of my favourite Scripture passages. The encounters recall the first disciples’ grief, fears

and despair turning to joy as they recognised the risen Lord. Often this “recognition” took time – only after he had disappeared did the disciples in Emmaus recognise Jesus realise that their hearts had been burning within them as he had walked and talked with them on the road. Our faith is based on their experiences of the risen Lord that they wrote down.

In our time the risen Lord Jesus continues to walk and talk to us.

Like the first disciples, we need to learn to recognise his presence among us. I witnessed a great example of this last year in Whakatane. I had read in the St Peter Chanel School’s Catholic Character Report about the children doing meditation. So I made sure that when I visited the school I was there for meditation. The student that led the guided meditation did a great job and at the end of it she said, “Now take out your prayer journal and write down what you experienced.”

On 21 April 2016, Pope Francis suggested we should do something similar, when in

his daily homily he said, We must memorise the beautiful deeds God has worked in our lives… for… our faith is made stronger when we recall all the key moments and signs in which God has been active and present for us. The Holy Father urged those present to ‘store’ these wonderful memories, as they demonstrate how God always accompanies us and is not frightened off by our wicked deeds. Just as the Church describes the Sacrament of the Eucharist as a “memorial,” and in the Bible, the book of Deuteronomy is ‘the book of the Memory of Israel, we similarly must do this in our personal lives. It’s good for the Christian heart to memorise my journey, my personal journey… We must memorise our past and be a memorial of our own lives and our own journey. We must look back and remember and do it often. ‘At that time God gave me this grace and I replied in that way, I did this or that… He accompanied me.’ And in this way we arrive at a new encounter, an encounter of gratitude. Christian hearts must give rise to a sense of gratitude towards Jesus who never stops accompanying us ‘in our history.’ “How many times, he admitted, have we closed the door in his face, how many times have we pretended not to see him and not believe that He is by our side. How many times have we denied his salvation… But He was always there.” Memory makes us draw closer to God, especially “the memory of that work which God carried out in us, in this recreation, in this regeneration, that takes us beyond the ancient splendour that Adam had in the first creation.” Memorise what God has done for you.

So maybe you and I need to follow the advice of the school girl at Whakatane. Write

down how the risen Lord has touches you. So how have you experienced him or his blessings, his help or his word, his correction or love in the last day? Let’s notice and give thanks.

In this issue of Kete Korero

The ongoing growth and development of the Catholic faith is a feature of this edition of Kete Korero.

The faith is expressed in many ways by many different people. Read on how the important role St Vincent de Paul plays in the Hamilton community has seen the need for a dedicated storage facility.

Parishioners have taken to heart Bishop Steve Lowe’s call for pilgrimages during the Year of Mercy (Page 4). At

the same time, we remember those lonely ones who passed and are buried at the Tokonui Hospital Cemetery (Page 5). We report on aspects being discussed by the new Diocesan Pastoral Council (Page 6).

St Mary’s Convent Chapel in Hamilton is set to be transformed to a place of solace with a range of uses (Pages 7-8). The Knights of the Southern Cross of New Zealand conference in Hamilton is report on Page 9, along with new of Emeritus Bishop Denis Brown’s honour from Waikato University.

Parishioners in Whakatane celebrated Shrove Tuesday in style this year (Page 10). Find out how the work of parish secretaries is changing (Page 11).

Students from throughout the diocese joined a Caritas Challenge march in Rotorua (Page 12).

A land purchase sets the scene for a new primary school and church in the rapidly growing Tauranga area (Page 13). Lyall Thurston, one of two school trustees still serving since the arrival of “Tomorrow’s Schools”, talks of the important roles parents

play (Page 13)We celebrate the life of

Father Patrick Keane, the last of the Irish-born diocesan Catholic priests who has retired (Page 14). Where would we be without our sponsors – we celebrate them on Page 15.


feature

The opening of a new storage facility marked a milestone for St Vincent de Paul

Hamilton.The purpose-built 18 metre by

12 metre building is located behind the large, busy shops in 222 and 224 Commerce Street, Frankton. Other shops include on located near the Westfield Shopping Centre in Lynden Court, Chartwell and another inside the Glenview Shopping mall at Glenview Hamilton.

As detailed in an article in the August 2015 edition of Kete Korero and highlighted on Page 15 in this edition, St Vincent de Paul runs a busy operation throughout the region. However, with so much being donated, goods have had to be stored at various locations throughout the city.

Following a powhiri, Bishop Steve Lowe addressed those attending on 14 April and noted that this was the Year of Mercy and that Jesus identified with those who were hungry, homeless and imprisoned.

“He invites us to recognise Him in those people of need. In the same way, he invites us to be like Him and carry those people on our

shoulders, like the good shepherd carries the lamb on his shoulders.

“That is the work of St Vincent de Paul – to be Christ to others and to recognise Christ in those who serve. How can we think of going to heaven if we ignore people?”

The hands of Jesus were those that reached out and touched lepers, that reached out and embraced sinner, blessed children and were the ones who feed the hungry.

“Jesus is the one who gives of himself – surely that is at the heart of humanity. We know that, although we do not do it for reward, the more that we give, the more that we receive.

“As we gather today in this new storage facility, let’s pray that it is a place of blessing for those who will work here and for those who will benefit from it, and remind us that we have to keep in mind the needs of the poor.”

Brian Bennett, the president of the Hamilton area council of conferences, said it was a big day for the organisation at a time when the world was moving and things were changing.

“We at St Vincent de Paul have to change with the way the world is

going today.”Founder Frederic Ozanam would

be looking down and saying “this is exactly what I wanted you to do.”

St Vincent de Paul had been looking for a suitable building for some years because its work was getting bigger and had outgrown existing buildings.

The storage facility cost under $180,000 and has been named after Gertrude Hannah Alexis Kelleher, who left a legacy enabling the building to go head, with Versatile Buildings doing the construction.

Rob Pascoe, a Hamilton City Councillor and chair of Catholic Care, which has a close relationship with St Vincent de Paul, and had at one stage been a chartered accountant with St Vincent de Paul as a client.

“The council recognises the huge amount of work that volunteers do in the city. We acknowledge that there is much suffering and poverty, even in cities like Hamilton, which is affluent by New Zealand standards.

The council wanted to make sure that volunteer groups were able to function efficiently and help those people who are in need.”

Anne-Marie McCarten, the

Wellington-based National Executive Officer for St Vincent de Paul, said it was important to support the people in Hamilton and their work with the new facility.

The growth in demand for the St Vincent de Paul’s work in Hamilton was reflected in other areas, particularly those with high levels of poverty.

Everything had changed in recent years for organisations, with new levels of compliance, safety requirements, human resources and the Charities Act.

She said it was wonderful to see the support for Hamilton during the opening, from the young volunteers and the other St Vincent de Paul councils in the areas.

Left: Mike Rolton, general manager, St Vincent de Paul Hamilton pictured with donated goods. Above (from left): Ian Ridgeway Building projects Manager Versatile Buildings; Anne-Marie McCarten, National Executive Officer for St Vincent de Paul; Bishop Steve Lowe; Rob Pascoe, Catholic Care and Hamilton City Councillor; Brian Bennett St Vincent de Paul Hamilton area council of conferences president.

Bishop Steve Lowe addresses tangata whenua during the powhiri.

Brian Bennett, the president of the Hamilton area council of conferences, and Anne-Marie McCarten, the Wellington-based National Executive O�cer for St Vincent de Paul.

Storing up for community good

4 ketekorero May - July 2016

parish news

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On 27 February 2016, fifty-two of us boarded a bus bound for the Urewera National Park. Our purpose, on this

warm summer’s day, was to revisit missionary sites in the park. Our intrepid tour leader and historian was the Reverend Robert Bruere, Vicar of the Anglican and Methodist Church in Whakatane. His commentaries were well researched and timely extracts from the bible were food for thought.

Our party were mostly from the vicar’s church and the general public, but there were 15 parishioners from Saint Peter Chanel. The Presbyterian missionaries were strong in this area. Notably Sister Annie Henry, who taught and nursed in Ruatahuna for over 40 years, and the Reverend John Laughton, who served at the historic Pa of Rua Kenana at Maungapohatu. We also visited the CMS (Anglican) mission site of James Preece at Ahikereru.

Our last stop was at the Catholic Church, Hato Paora at Ngaputahi. This church was built in 1943 at Te Whaiti and was moved to Ngaputahi in 1996. Brother Vincent Jury from Murupara holds a Liturgy of the Word and Eucharistic service each month here and Father David Gledhill sm celebrates Mass once every three months. For over 20 years, this Catholic Community has mostly taken care of their

A pilgrimage from Whakatane to Ruatahuna and backown spiritual needs, prayed the rosary and kept their faith.

The image of the Sacred Heart has a particular significance for the Tuhoe people. The Catholic Church at Murupara is named for the Sacred Heart and many marae in the area have pictures and wall hangings of the Sacred Heart. Hato Paora Church has a statue of the Sacred Heart in the sanctuary and a big picture of the Sacred Heart above the entrance door.

On the way home the mood of the pilgrims was very buoyant, even though some jokngly complained about their homework.

Everyone on the bus answered the quiz questions and matched about 30 pictures with 30 statements that had been part of the commentary of our intrepid leader. We all agreed that this was very worthwhile experience.

This is the Year of Mercy and we have been encouraged to make a pilgrimage by Pope Francis. This was our ecumenical journey and we enjoyed the shared experience. The photo taken by Neil Robert Hutton shows the pilgrims outside the Church of Hato Paora, Ngaputahi, in the Urewera National Park.

A group of about 25 from Rotorua made their Year of Mercy pilgrimage to the Te Puna, where Bishop Steve Lowe had consecrated a Door of Mercy earlier in the year.

Francie Watson, one of the Rotorua parishioners, said a group had been to a seminar in Auckland earlier in the year to a Divine Mercy Seminary.

“When we saw a notice regarding Te Puna in our local newsletter we thought it would be nice to go, but the numbers just grew.”

Timing is everything and it helped that former local parish priest Mark Field was able to welcome the group and undertake the Mass near the time of his birthday.

Francie said the group were struck by the

beauty of St Joseph’s Church and its location overlooking the Tauranga Harbour.

“It’s a beautifully carved door, with beautiful carvings in the church and lovely leadlight windows showing the Risen Christ.”

Fr Mark provided a booklet that included prayers based on the corporal works of mercy and prayers based on spiritual works of mercy.

“God Our Saviour, make us patient to guide the sinner. Give us wisdom to instruct the ignorant,” were parts of the latter Francie recited.

“You know, we’ve all got whanau who don’t go to Mass anymore and we get a bit hōhā with them.

“It is just making you sit down and think about being more merciful, because we can be quite judgemental. Everything is instant and if it isn’t done instantly, something is wrong.”

Francie said the pilgrims enjoyed the beautiful day.

Left, the Rotorua pilgrims in front of St Josephs - the Mercy Door is pictured in the background of the photo. Right, the beautiful interior of St Joseph’s Catholic Church.


parish news

By Michael Smith

‘the last at last seen of himhimself unseen by himand of himself’

So wrote Samuel Beckett in his first novel, Murphy, first published in 1938. The words are spoken when Murphy is faced with the exacting “non-gaze” of an elderly patient in a mental health facility where he is working. Murphy has stared into the eyes of the patient and sees a “filigree of veins like the Lord’s Prayer on a toenail”.

The words are described as a “poem” born out of “prayer” in the “depth” drawn from the patient’s unseeing eyes.

Thoughts of Beckett/Murphy’s poem and the desperation of the asylum came to mind when standing on a hill in the grounds of the former Tokanui mental health institution near Te Awamutu on a lovely autumn morning.

We were overlooking a field unlike those surrounding it. The other paddocks were well-tended, being part of an AgResearch Tokanui administered property where experiments are conducted.

I visited the site with Fr Joe Stack, the parish priest for Te Awamutu, Otorohanga and Te Kuiti. Beneath us, in this field, were buried former patients at the Tokanui Hospital. Opened in 1912 and closed in 1988, only a lonely headstone commemorated these people until February this year when a memorial was unveiled listing 456 of those buried there between 1914 and 1964.

Among those known to have died and presumed buried are counted 69 Catholics, similar to the general population proportions.

The ceremony in February

provided some closure for the families involved but some questions remain, as a document compiled from death warrants by the Genealogical Society Te Kuiti branch in 1991 suggests. For example, information on the death register, which would have yielded more detail, was limited.

Questions remain for many, including: What were the circumstances of their deaths? How did they die? How were they buried? It is known that the burials were carried out by patients and staff, but who conducted the rites for the Catholic dead?

Fr Joe was the parish priest at nearby Kihikihi during the latter years of this period and visited Tokanui as a priest, without ever having conducted a burial on the land. The society’s list, however, indicates most of the Catholic burials ended in the early 1950s (see list below).

In the context of the time, with “madness” being expressed in the way it was at that time, locking people away “for their own good” was a common occurrence.

“It is tempting to see people being sent here as being estranged from their families. They may have wanted to come back to their families but those families may not have been able to cope with them.”

The First and Second World Wars placed an unbearable mental burden on some soldiers, with the resulting trauma not well understood at the time.

Fr Joe recalled a farm worker telling him how staff tried to keep stock from wandering over the field but were not always able to prevent them from feeding on the land. The worker admitted that they did not always give the area the respect it deserved.

The memorial was donated by James R Hill, the Hamilton funeral directors, and is an impressive wall. The back of the memorial includes a picture of a rural scene. Its polished surface reflects the rolling farmland.

A dawn blessing ceremony and blessing by local iwi was followed by a shared breakfast and then the official unveiling ceremony. The memorial includes a plaque remembering 15 war veterans.

Today, a few uniform marker sticks indicate the plot locations of some of the buried. One plot has a more distinct marker, with flowers. It is the burial plot for Bridget Nolan, one of the Catholics on the list (see photo below).

It is possible now to wonder who looked in the eyes of those patients, and who said the prayers for them as they were buried and returned to the Lord.(Source: : Murphy in The Letters: The Subject of Encounter and a Quest for Impeccable Figurality. Arka Chattopadhyay, University of Western Sydney, Writing and Society research centre, Doctoral Candidate.)

The names of the Catholics buried in the Tokanui Hospital Cemetery between 1913 and 1964 are as follows (by surname and Christian name):BARRETT Norah – 1946 BASEL Mary – 1952BOISEN Frances – 1936CASSIDY Edward – 1938CHAMBERS Jane Ann – 1924CHEEVES Annie – 1945CLAYTON Annie Elizabeth – 1951CLEMENTS William – 194COONEY Beatrice Mary – 1931CORCORAN Matthew – 1935COUSINS Muriel – 1954DARE Philip Samuel Archibald – 1935ENWRIGHT Annie – 1952ERCEG Luka – 1944

GAGEN Margaret – 1943GARDINER Elizabeth – 1925GRAY Mary Eleanor – 1936GREENISH Enid Clunie – 1947HAMBLING Margaret Mary – 1942HANDLEY Thomas – 1938HANNAH Anthony – 1953HUNTER Mary – 1935HURLEY Frances Josephine – 1938JACOBSEN Hilda – 1945JONES Mary Ann – 1930JURIN Joze Eugcich – 1925KENNY Thomas – 1939LAVARY James – 1937LEAHY Michael – 1924LEONI Angelo – 1947LICHTWARK Mavis Minelita – 1937LONGMORE James John – 1927LOVETT John – 1929

LYNCH Simon – 1947McALLEY James – 1924McCUSKER Francis David – 1954McFADYEN Hannah, McGOVERN Phillip, 1945McINERNEY James, 1944MACKAY William, 1934McLAUGHLIN Cornelius Patrick, 1954MALCON Edward Henry, 1950MECHAN Thomas, 1942MILLER Margaret, 1928MULLENS Thomas, 1949MURPHY Denis, 1929MURPHY James, 1948MURPHY Jerimiah, 1948NAYLOR Mary, 1935NOLAN Bridget, 1939O’KANE Mary, 1933

OSBORNE Mary, 1931PERVAN Mate, 1955PETERS Alice Lydia, 1950READY Elizabeth, 1937REILLY Frank, 1938RILEY Alice Maud, 1937ROSS Hugh, 1924SHANNON Phillip, 1938SINCLAIR Margaret, 1951SMITH Bertram Isaac, 1945SPARKS Agnes, 1948STUART John George, 1939THEODORO Joseph, 1934TOAL Rose, 1950TOMLINSON Richard, 1950WALKER Mary Ann, 1931WALSH Peter, 1933WHITE Frederick, 1934

NOTE: Hamilton Diocese Catholic Development Fund Manager David Barrowclough tells his family’s story at stuff.co.nz - Dignity restored to Tokanui-Hospitals lost souls.

Above, Fr Joe Stack (above) and (below) the group of religious performing duties at the ceremony. Courtesy of photographer Peter Kirby.

What the eyes don’t see, the heart can’t feel

Fr Joe Stack with the memorial erected to those buried in Tokanui Hospital Cemetery.

Catholics buried in the Tokanui Hospital Cemetery


parish news

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Family Support was the theme of a successful annual conference The Knights of the

Southern Cross of New Zealand in Hamilton in April.

Success was due in large measure to the hospitality and support of Hamilton Bishop

Steve Lowe, Emeritus Bishop Denis Browne and diocesan staff. The conference was attended by Knights from around New Zealand and international observers.

Stimulating and Challenging InputBishop Lowe gave a challenging address

entitled ‘Time for a Change’ regarding the need to face the reality of change. The KSCNZ Chaplain, Fr Bernie Thomas, led us in prayer and spiritual reflection and also celebrated Eucharist with us at Chanel Centre. Hamilton Catholic Family Support Services Director John Kavanagh spoke on support for families.

A number of Hamilton Catholic men and spouses attended a social gathering where they met the Knights and heard Bishop Denis speak.

Br Colin Walsh, Deputy President of the International Alliance of Catholic Knights (IACK), updated us on some international trends, and Br Brian Cooper, Supreme Knight of the Knights of the Southern Cross of Australia, gave us insights into issues in Australia.

We were privileged to attend Sunday morning Eucharist at Hamilton’s beautiful Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and we appreciated our welcome there by Fr Richard Laurenson and other priests and Pastoral Assistant Andrea Savage.

A Challenge and an Opportunity NZ Supreme Knight Br Richard Harward

described the purpose of the conference as both a challenge and an opportunity, two sides of the same coin.

He noted the need to refresh our spiritual base, reflect on our founding spirit, and review progress in putting into practice our mission statement, principles, objects and pledge, as set out in our constitution. (These are best read as a whole and can be seen at www.kscnz.org.nz)

The constitution highlights the importance we place on praying and working for social justice in the light of Catholic social teaching with its call to protect human life, oppose poverty, and care for creation and the environment.

Our aim is collaborative, to work with others, bishops, priests and laity, in the Church’s mission. This can include assisting in advocacy for families in need through, for example, parish and diocesan justice and peace groups and Caritas.

This includes specific pro-life work against abortion and euthanasia, as well as supporting parish and diocesan charity efforts in person, in kind or with fund-raising. We have also been supporting efforts against human trafficking. Supplied

Successful Knights’ Conference in Hamilton

Pictured from left to right, Knights of the Southern Cross Brothers: Brian Cooper, Supreme Knight Australia; Richard Harward, Supreme Knight New Zealand; and, Colin Pratt, a Past Worthy Knight of Auckland Branch New Zealand.

Congratulations to Dr Theo Van Der Nest who recently completed his PhD through the Australian Catholic University. Theo began his studies in New Zealand with the Wellington Catholic Education Centre (now The Catholic Institute) then went on to complete his Masters and PhD with ACU. Along the way he also became a Catholic. Dr Theo is now the Head of the Religious Education Faculty at St John's College, Hamilton. He is pictured above with the principal of St John's, Shane Tong.Cynthia Piper

Theo Van Der Nest PhD

Emeritus Bishop Denis Browne has been recognised by the Waikato University. Bishop Denis (right), along with Anglican Archbishop Sir David Moxon, received Honorary Doctorates at the university graduation ceremony in April. The university described both men as “community leaders” and they were “recognised for their outstanding leadership and contributions to the Waikato community.”

The university said both had supported the university chaplaincy, and often led their communities in joint liturgical services – a practice that still continued with their respective successors. University of Waikato Vice-Chancellor Professor Neil Quigley says their honour is well-deserved. “Both David and Denis have worked tirelessly in pursuit of church and community wellness, in the Waikato region in particular, so it’s fitting they both receive Honorary Doctorates together.”

As Bishop of Hamilton he was committed to enhancing the educational performance of the schools in his diocese, and was instrumental in appointing high-achieving school leaders and upgrading facilities to meet community expectations.

Bishops receive university’s highest honour


parish news

Among the changes in the diocese agreed to and set out in “Who is my Neighbour?” was the formation of a Diocesan Pastoral

Council. The council was to be based on representation from each of the collegial areas and ethnic communities by lay people, as well as representation from the Priests’ Council, deacons and religious of the diocese. This new group has met twice since being formed late in 2015.

Bishop Steve Lowe led off the first session of the meeting of the Hamilton Diocesan Pastoral Council on a Friday in March on “how we might find God”. A beautiful time was spent of prayer and reflection on the vocation of the parish, which concluded with a challenge as to “what sort of welcoming community are we?”

The settling in of the collegial areas and the adjustments made at parish levels were understandably among insights shared at the meeting.

The Saturday meeting provided an opportunity to understand better the range and breadth of the diocese at the grassroots and some of the challenges being faced in parishes adjusting to working in closer collaboration with their neighbouring parishes, in their collegial areas.

Opinions varied among the council members as the experience of collegial areas was different

. While one council member noted that some felt the new parish did not feel like their own, and another said uncertainty remained how they would work, another said people were more mobile today so, particularly in urban areas, going by car to a church in another suburb was not unusual.

The meeting discussed the need for more priests in the diocese. Bishop Steve Lowe noted two of the overseas priests had been recalled to their home countries and replacements had been difficult to find.

Added to the need for more priests, was the concern among Maori regarding the need for a Maori bishop. Bishop Steve and the other New Zealand bishops are very aware of this concern. In the meantime Bishop Steve was heartened by the work of Whaia te Whaea the formation being undertaken of further Maori deacons and the development of lay ministers and catechists.

The increasing number of parishioners from overseas was a feature of discussions. Elmer Ersand, for the Filipino community, noted how this year he was involved in the official welcome for students to Waiariki Institute of Technology in Rotorua, where 68 Filipino students were now studying.

Rotorua currently had 15 Filipino families, so efforts were underway to include new arrivals and also to invite other ethnicities to participate.

The Filipino community celebrates the first Filipino saint St Lorenzo (Lorenzo Ruiz) by passing a statue from house-to-house. It is planned to extend to include new families. The festival for St Lorenzo will be held in the last Saturday of September. One concern raised was the difficulty Filipino families were having in getting their children into local Catholic primary schools given the over-subscription of places available.

Peter Shin for the Korean community said a special Mass attracted 123 people. The main periods for the community to celebrate were August-September and during the February Lunar New Year period.

Father Joe Stack for the Council of Priests, reported that the Council have discussed Catholic funerals, and that the NZ Bishops’ Conference is shortly to release a document on this subject.

Bishop Steve spoke of the revised process for Marriage Annulments. Fr Joe noted how in some parts of the world it can take seven years, but it is now a relatively short process in New Zealand comparatively. To assist with the development of collegial areas, a draft document on the process to be followed for the formal merger of two or more parishes is with the Bishops advisory bodies.

Joe Kilkelly, from Rotorua, said it was important to have finance committees combined early in the process to avoid later problems. Vicki Surrey, Waikato Central, suggested people throughout the diocese be encouraged to pray for the success of collegial areas.

Diocesan Pastoral Council meeting at the Chanel Centre, Hamilton, in March.

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featureTransformation set for St Mary’s Chapel

A place providing a deep sense of contemplation and solace in a busy, modern city is an important driver for

those behind the conservation of St Mary’s Convent Chapel in Hamilton East.

The St Mary’s Convent Chapel Charitable Trust is raising funds to help meet the million-dollar cost of the work required to conserve and upgrade the historic building located in Clyde Street. To date the trust has received about half the required amount of funding, which is sufficient to start earthquake strengthening work, but is on a fundraising drive to complete the rest of the chapel transformation.

Tony Egan, the chair of the trust, says that one of the key drivers for the project is the need to reduce the level of earthquake risk for the chapel building. As consequence, this will lead on to the protection, improvement and restoration of the chapel, in line with the mission of the sisters who have been custodians of the chapel since 1926-27.

Hamilton Bishop Steve Lowe has helped the trustees put their work into the context of a wider mission.

“Bishop Steve took the trustees back to the Mission Sisters’ charism of ‘contemplation, communion and mission’. The motivation for renovating the chapel must be the same: to create a place of contemplation - enabling a deep communion with God - from which one’s clear sense of mission in the daily living of Christian life will emerge.”

“Here is a place in the middle of a busy city, in a world where everyone is tending over-rely on their smart-phones, that can take us back to the basics of what is at the heart of our relationship with God.

“The chapel will stand as a symbol of something special in a busy city that not only links the past

to the present but also provides a link into the future. This is not a church, but a chapel, and it has the ability to promote things like meditation and contemplation, and be a place where people can go to have a period of reflection.

The trustees took the mantra that came partly from the sisters and partly from Bishop Steve. They decided to not only improve an old chapel building but also give a new life to the building based on Mission Sisters’ theme and make it applicable in the modern world.

The transformation of the chapel site will extend and enhance the good work the sisters have done with a vision for the future. The chapel trust has been involved in a complex process involving Environment Court hearings, approval processes for the conservation plan with Heritage New Zealand, consultation and sign-off with iwi, and peer reviews and approvals by the Hamilton City Council.

At the same time, the trust has developed and launched a fundraising effort which is now showing signs of being successful.

“We are pleased to advise that already we are heading towards achieving half the total fundraising target required, and we are now at the stage where we can start earthquake strengthening work. We still need to continue with fundraising so that we can complete the remaining architectural and building services upgrading aspects.”

The first major milestone will be the completion of the initial earthquake strengthening works for the chapel building so that it meets new national earthquake standards. This work also needs to be done to protect the chapel from ground vibrations when Euphrasie House is demolished.

Once the initial work is done, the trust can then proceed with other parts of the project as funding allows. This work includes putting in a disabled accessway, a new accessible toilet and cleaners’ facilities, a new electrical switchboard,

St Mary’s Chapel Conservation Trust members meeting: Mike Hanaray, Julie South, Tony Egan (Chair), Bob Peacocke and Paul Honiss (absent: Greg Schmidt).

upgrading electrical wiring, extra lighting, fire protection works and heating facilities.

The trust is planning to go out to tender for the earthquake strengthening works soon, and hopes the work will be completed by the end of this year.

“The outcome of this work will be a historic building conserved and restored for use in the present world,” says Tony. “We will capture and preserve the heritage of the building, and the vision of the sisters and their commitment to Hamilton East over many generations. Through the sisters’ principle of contemplation and communion, we will also create the basis for the future use of the chapel.”

As a place of silence and solace in a busy city, people will be able to use the chapel not only for individual prayer, but also for retreats and potentially for inter-denominational events as well. The intention is that, although the chapel is a consecrated building, it will have a broad base of use from throughout the community.

The chapel offers a level of flexibility that makes it ideal for smaller weddings and funerals, where people feel that a more intimate environment would be appreciated. The chapel would also suit the celebration of Masses for specific, smaller groups thereby avoiding opening up Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Hamilton, or a larger local church nearby.

The chapel’s location in the vicinity of the Cathedral, Sacred Heart Girls’ College and Marian Catholic School in Beale Street effectively will help in creating a ‘Catholic precinct’ in the middle of Hamilton East.

“This is something for the whole diocese to be proud of in that the chapel is at the heart of the Diocese in the way the whole site comes together,” says Tony.

Trustee and professional engineer Bob Peacocke’s role as Project Director has been to engage structural engineers for the earthquake strengthening aspects of the project and to engage the architects for the upgrading work, together with a number of other consultants and advisors necessary for a successful project.

An important first milestone for the project was the production of a Conservation Plan as a condition of the resource consent issued by the Environment Court in 2014 for the structural strengthening works.

The Conservation Plan, produced by Ros Empson, of Pirongia-based Auburn Design, lays out the history of the land and the convent along with the details of architect and builder. A separate section describes “the building fabric” and provides detail of the chapel’s component parts, including the extensive amounts of decorative and exposed brickwork through to the detail of the doors.

Although the chapel building was designed to meet requirements set about a century ago, no settling or structural distortion is apparent. However, the structural strength of the chapel

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has been assessed as being at 11 per cent of the current National Building Standard.

The proposed strengthening works for the chapel are designed to increase the earthquake capacity of the chapel structure to 100 per cent of the National Building Standard. This work will extend the life of the Chapel building considerably.

An important factor in the strengthening work will be improving the connections of the gable-end walls to the timber rafters of the very steep roof.

The roof itself comprises concrete tiles supported on timber purlins and trusses, which in turn are founded on supporting members (corbels) built into the interior faces of the buttress columns.

In spite of the extensive seismic strengthening planned, the trust’s intention is to minimise any obvious changes to the chapel’s heritage fabric. The trust is taking positive steps to protect vulnerable items so that they can be retained in their original positions during the construction works.

Project Delights SistersSister Mary-Ellen RNDM and

Sister Colleen RNDM, who help keep the 90-year-old building clean and tidy, welcome the plans. From the outside, the chapel may look a little dilapidated, even somewhat under siege from the sounds of traffic roaring up Clyde Street beyond the wall and nearby construction activity.

However, on opening up the chapel’s curved-top door, the visitor is let into a building where an extraordinary life still flickers nearly a century later.

For Sr Mary-Ellen and Sr Colleen, the building has much more meaning than the architectural definition allows. They easily recall the days when the chapel was in

daily use by both the sisters and school boarders for formal and informal religious occasions.

Sr Mary-Ellen says she is thrilled that the Chapel is going to be restored and made comfortable, and made a place of contemplation.

The aspect of contemplation is an important component of the St Mary’s Convent Chapel Charitable Trust’s plans, and Sr Mary-Ellen expands on this important aspect of the work ahead.

“It’s a place where people from all walks of life can come and be alone with Jesus. We need contemplative people, because if we do not have contemplative people, we will not have Christianity.”

Sr Colleen says she is delighted that the Chapel will be a place where people can come to hold smaller weddings and funerals, so the chapel will not just become a museum piece.

“So it is going to be an ongoing part of the parish life.”

The chapel remains the place where the nuns made their final vows as Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions.

They have held jubilee celebrations in the chapel, and have bid farewell to their sisters as well.

“I think it will be a good thing to have in the Diocese because there are not too many places of quietness left in the city now,” Sr Mary-Ellen says.More details on the St Mary’s Chapel Conservation Project will be in future editions. For more information and to obtain a copy of the partners’ sponsorship document, please contact Julie South, Secretary, St. Mary’s Convent Chapel Charitable TrustEmail: [email protected]: 027 282 4155Postal: C/o Catholic Diocese of Hamilton, P. O. Box 4353, Hamilton.

Sr Colleen and Sr Mary-Ellen with professional engineer and the St Mary’s Convent Chapel Charitable Trust trustee Bob Peacocke.


parish news

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Pancakes �y during Shrove Tuesday

On 9 February St Peter Chanel Parish, Whakatane

celebrated Shrove Tuesday. Organised by Theresa and Ria Klaassen, the aim of the evening was not only to have fun, but also to support Louis Klaassen who will be going to World Youth Day in August.

Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday, is celebrated in many countries around the world, often with a different name, such as Vastenavond, the last day of Carnival, or Mardi Gras. It is the day before the season of Lent starts, and traditionally the day where people used up all the foods they were not to eat in Lent, such as eggs, butter, meat, and so on. We copied the British tradition which centred on pancakes. It was in that country, in 1445, that a woman was so busy making pancakes she forgot the time until she heard the church bells ringing for the service. She picked up her apron with one hand and the frying pan with the other and raced out of the house, still

tossing the pancake to prevent it from burning.

Close to 70 people, the young and not so young, gathered outside the church, where we started off with the great pancake race(s). Five races were run. The rules were strict: contestants had to toss their pancake at both the start and the finish, as well as wear an apron and a scarf or bonnet. The participating men also had to dress up with a bonnet or scarf, and an apron, with some surprising results.

Our next goal was to see how quickly the more than 200 pancakes could be reduced to nil. People had brought in their own toppings to share; there was lots of variety. Maple syrup was

most common, but cream and fruit also looked delicious!

We followed this with indoor games, namely pancake decorating, pass the pancake (using skewers), pancake tossing (using pikelets and saucers), and an informative quiz centred around pancakes and Lent. It was all hilarious, and a delightful way to bring the various traditions from around the world, and the various customs and stories from the past to our present-day Shrove Tuesday.

Louis closed the evening by outlining his journey to World Youth Day so far. Support for his trip was far greater than imagined. Ria Klaasen

Whakatane Lenten displays

Peter Lander contributed these pics of Lenten creations on the altar of St Peter Chanel Church in Whakatane.

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Some had fun in the pancake tossing race; others enjoyed the end result.


Lydia Whiteley - FranktonThe Frankton parish is part of the

Waikato Central collegial area that includes all Hamilton parishes plus Raglan, Ngaruawahia and Huntly, through to Te Kauwhata. Lydia started at Frankton in 2007 and, like other secretaries, she says the best part of her job is the interaction with people.

“It is amazing the variety of people who come through the office. Some want to chat about their problems. It’s not always something they think warrants a priest, so it’s the secretary who steps in and does that.”

When she first started, the role was more like a receptionist: putting out the newsletter, doing the prayers of the faithful and arranging appointments with the priest.

However, expectations of what the secretary could do had evolved to include more requests around the community, such as people wanting food or wanting directions to somewhere where they can get help, like St Vincent de Paul.

parish news

Parish secretaries have highlighted the changing roles they are playing as new collegial areas are bedded in throughout the Hamilton Diocese. The annual Parish Secretaries/Administration Day brought together 14 secretaries from a range of parishes across the Catholic Diocese of Hamilton. As the area parish priests now cover has widened, so has the breadth of the tasks being undertaken by secretaries. Kete Korero took the opportunity to talk to three secretaries: Lydia Whiteley, Frankton; Jan Baker, Mount Maunganui; and Jill Seerden, Tokoroa.

“You need to have your own ideas or books and references to be able to guide them to the right place. So it’s not always the spiritual concerns that come up – people talk to that with the priest – but we get the more day-to-day problems.

“I enjoy that part but it is challenging too, because it is not always easy with the people coming in through the door. It stops you from getting your work done, and there is nobody else to do the work and it remains on the back burner until you have dealt with the people.

“That is the challenge of being a secretary – finding that balance because there are only so many hours in the day,” Lydia says.

Jan Baker – Mount MaunganuiJan has been in the job at

Mount Maunganui for 18 years. “I absolutely love it,” she says.

“I love getting up and going to work, because of the interaction with people and the great team of people I work with.’

Jan says she gets a bit of a thrill when people ring up inquiring about baptism for their children, obtaining school preference cards or marriage preparation because it shows they value their faith and want to nurture it in their families. It is also a chance to evangelise and encourage them in their faith.

“Sometimes, people say ‘oh do I have to do that course?’ but once I explain the reason it’s great, because they will say they understand and are generally happy to attend.”

The role is a busy one, changing from doing the general office work to becoming more managerial.

“You are trying to manage everything, because the priest has got so busy and we are having to pick up the slack.”

Kete Korero noted that Mount Maunganui had gone through an outstanding growth, bringing with it increases in population and changes in demographics. So how did this change the work?

Jan said the Mount still had many elderly people in the parish but more and more young families were moving in. As well as the school next to the church, a new primary school is planned at Papamoa East.

“We’ve got phenomenal growth happening in our area and we’ve got to think about catering for those people. The demographics are changing and we have to plan for the future but it is great that the area is growing and people are interested in the Catholic faith.

Jan says the most difficult part of the job is getting everything done, especially around Christmas and Easter, end of year financials and sometimes it can get a little stressful fitting everything in with the normal workload.

“However, it is all part of the joys of the job and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” says Jan.

Jill Seerden - TokoroaJill Seerden started in St Pius X

Tokoroa by taking over the parish newsletter 11 years ago and this led to the role of Parish Secretary. Jill carries out a somewhat different role to many secretaries. The work involves a major pastoral component which has come about as St Pius X Parish shares the parish priest with St Patricks in Putaruru where he resides.

The pastoral role means that Jill is local the person helping the priest when parishioners require assistance in various ways. It may be as simple as listening to someone who wants to talk or needs help. At other times, she assists the priest when arranging funerals. This includes visiting family members before or after the funeral. Other roles include making rosters and ensuring masses and liturgies (including liturgy leaders) are organised. She checks that readers, gift presenters and an overhead operator are present.

Jill coordinates the roster for Holy Communion to the elderly and sick and makes herself aware where parishioners may need special help due to medical or age problems and works with carers from other agencies and the parish for the assistance they may require. This is as well as the day-to-day tasks, such as receiving requests and arranging baptism certificates along with ensuring baptism and funeral records are maintained. Jill is also the Parish Council secretary.

Her role is voluntary, and she works from home for most of the time but visits the church office on a Friday morning to check records and do photocopying. Working from home is not a problem as people know where she is and contact her directly.

Tokoroa has shared the priest in Putaruru for some time now, but Jill says this, to some extent, gave the parish strength.

“I enjoy the role, and it is very rewarding even though it can be demanding at times. We have to do more and work together more. This can be rewarding but, at the same time, I know parishioners would love to have a resident parish priest,” Jill says.

From left, Lydia Whiteley, Jan Baker and Jill Seerden Parish secretaries gathered at Rotorua for their annual meeting.

Secretaries at forefront of parish changes


school news

John Paul College was delighted to be the launch school for the Caritas Challenge, in the

Hamilton Diocese for 2016.The students at John Paul College

have really got behind the previous challenges. In 2014, we supported the Solomon Islands with a walk for water. In 2015, we played a day of non-stop basketball to raise money for the Philippines and hosted a meal for the Filipino community, after a Liturgy in our gymnasium.

We wanted to do something really special this year to show our solidarity with the people of Cambodia, who are struggling with multiple issues, from being the victims of illegal logging to having land right issues and living a subsistence lifestyle in many rural communities. The key issues to focus on, we believed, were culture, faith and the environment.

All Catholic schools in the Hamilton Diocese and from our faith based community of schools were invited to participate in our challenge.

The Caritas leaders and Veronica Aislabie decided to complete a pilgrimage walk of 3.7 kilometres, to show our solidarity with the people of Cambodia.

We began our journey with a Powhiri at Tama-te-kapua Meeting house, Ohinemutu, to recognise our commitment to tangata whenua and our bi-cultural community. Our kaumatua Monty Morrison and the local iwi welcomed us warmly. Monty pointed out that Catholicism in Rotorua started at Ohinemutu.

We then walked up to St Michael’s Church for our Mass, prepared by Bernadette Fredricksen and celebrated by Bishop Steve Lowe, Father Eamon Kennedy and father Tovio Lusitino.

We were joined by students from St Michael’s and St Mary’s Primary Schools Rotorua, St Johns and Sacred Heart Colleges, Marian School, Hamilton, and St Mary’s Putaruru.

After Mass we gathered in the church carpark to receive pilgrim packs and a bottle of water, before setting off on our pilgrimage.

Our first Prayer Station was on Pukeroa Hill, where the first Catholic Church in Rotorua was built. Prayers were organised by Mrs Graham and her team of Caritas Leaders. Each station had a theme, and was dedicated to our founding charisms, St Mary of the Cross, Edmund Ignatius Rice, St

John Baptist de la Salle, and Pope John Paul II.

We stopped at three stations in Kuirau Park, praying for the Cambodian people. Our response at each station was

“Lord hear the cry of the earth and the poor.”

At our fourth station, we prayed before partaking of a tasty sausage sizzle prepared by Owen Kowaleski, Rose Florence and Caritas Leaders. This was an opportunity for the students to mix and get to know each other.

After we were well rested, we continued on our way, to finish the pilgrimage at John Paul College for our last prayer station. Here we said

a prayer to Mary, mother of young people, before saying farewell to our visitors.

Our group of 200 pilgrims raised money for Cambodia. Students took sponsorship forms and money is still coming in. We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our community and know this will make a huge difference to the lives of the people in Cambodia.

One day of difference will certainly make a lifetime of change for those who are marginalised and impoverished in Cambodia.

We highlighted many of the Catholic social justice principles with our challenge, including participation, association,

s o l i d a r i t y , stewardship, respect for human dignity and a preferential option for the poor.

Thanks to Gemma and Michael from Caritas for their support and Paul Shannon our secondary religious education advisor, who helped us on the day. Mrs Veronica Aislabie and the Caritas Leaders

Left, Students march up from St Michael’s Church Rotorua. Above, the students take part in their first prayer station on Pukeroa Hill, Rotorua Hospital. Below, the marchers prepare to cross to Kuirau Park to pray.

Students march in Rotorua for Caritas challenge

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Lyall Thurston, one of New Zealand’s serving members of a school board of trustees, is urging parents to pariticipate during the 2016 elections.

The triennial elections were being held throughout May, with voting papers sent to all parents/caregivers on 25 May and counting on 9 June.

As a Proprietor’s Representative on the John Paul College Board of Trustees, Lyall (pictured) does not stand for election, but he has done so in the past and is happy to encourage others to participate.

Lyall’s experience as a trustee goes right back to the Tomorrow’s Schools reforms introduced by David Lange in 1989. Lange, who was the Prime Minister, took on the education policy in his second term. The reform policy was aimed at shift decision-making to the school and parent-level and remove several bureaucratic layers. As far as Lyall is aware, he is only one of two remaining trustees from 1989.

“Tomorrow’s Schools has its critics,” says Lyall, “but I think the positives outweigh the negatives. It gives parents a much greater say in the management of their school and their child’s education.”

All schools must have a staff representative on the board. Schools with classes above Year 10 must also have a student representative. At JPC this representative is elected by the student body, and the student is included in all board meetings, including in-committee sections. The bishop can appoint up to four board members to oversee his interests.

Lyall says parents offering themselves for election must have a passion for education and for improving student progress and achievement.

They should stand because parents have an obligation to continue with the aspiration underlying the original intent of Tomorrow’s Schools to make schools self-managing entities. Trustees should offer themselves with a broad spectrum of experience and intentions, and a focus on a single policy area does not work.

“Being on a board is about collective decision-making and since 1989 I have rarely encountered a need for a vote to be taken – consensus is the operative word.” Very little had changed in plotting the strategic direction and long-term plans for the school since 1989.

Long-serving trustee positive for tomorrow’s schoolsThe rapid population growth and draw on

Catholic education resources has resulted in a $2.25 million purchase of land

adjacent to Aquinas College.The purchase was made by the diocese in

conjunction with the Parish of St Thomas -Tauranga Moana and was announced at a meeting at Aquinas College on 4 May, a parish statement says. A new Catholic primary school and church will be built on the one-hectare site on Pyes Pa Road.

A working group, formed more than a year ago to represent the parish, has been assessing and forecasting the future needs of the Catholic community along with the ability for the current church facilities to meet those needs. Similarly, the Diocesan Schools Office is constantly surveying the future needs of Catholic education, the statement says.

St Thomas Aquinas Parish Priest Fr Mark Field said the purchase was a unique opportunity. Settlement will take place on 31 August 2016.

“We already have capacity issues in our largest church building [on Cameron Road]. When the opportunity came up to purchase a parcel of land adjoining the boundary of our local Catholic College, in an area with an increasing concentration of Catholic residents, it was simply too good to pass up.”

A search for suitable land had not started before the purchase, with the owners at 205 Pyes Pa Rd approaching the parish/diocese with a first option to purchase when they decided to sell. Broad consultation was difficult due to the “very narrow” timeframe placed on the option. The Diocesan Finance Council – seeing the site as strategic - made a swift decision to purchase it at their first meeting of the year.

The decision was supported by the Diocesan Finance Council and College of Consultors, along with the Parish Finance Committee and Parish

Pastoral Council, based on the recommendation of the Redevelopment Committee to consider securing a site for future growth.

The diocese and the parish are set to embark on a site analysis and planning exercise to determine the best use of the property to meet the future needs of the Catholic community.

The site analysis will consider all resources available to the wider Catholic community, both now and in the future, and will include options concerning a house on the property.

Regarding any collaboration with Aquinas College, it’s reported all options will be considered, including facilities that could potentially be shared between the college, parish and wider community.

“The split and corresponding financial commitment required from the diocese and the parish will not be known until the site analysis and planning exercise has been completed. The parish has some funds set aside to contribute to the land purchase, and options for financing the balance will be considered once the settled price has been determined.”

Meanwhile, Aquinas College has announced the developers of a boutique subdivision to be developed next door have offered the school a discounted section and the opportunity to build and sell a house to raise funds for the school community.

Land purchase for future Tauranga growth

Parishioners hear of the plans for the land.


feature

By Kingsley Field

Father Patrick Keane, the last of the Irish-born diocesan Catholic priests still working

in Hamilton Diocese has retired.He has completed almost 55

years of service in the Auckland and Hamilton dioceses, and now, nearly 80 years of age, he says he has seen some extraordinary changes in society in New Zealand in his time as a priest.

He was born Patrick Gerard Keane on October 6, 1936, in County Clare in Ireland, the seventh child in a family of ten. His father, John, had been a teacher, but then took up farming on family land. Patrick’s education was through secular primary and secondary schools near his home, but he spent his final school year at the Christian Brothers School in Kilrush, 10 miles away. While English was spoken at home, his schooling was largely in Gaelic.

“I had hoped to be a teacher,” he says, “but providentially or otherwise a priest from Auckland was visiting Ireland and came to see my parents. When he learned I had been on a visit to County Tipperary with some other boys to join the Holy Ghost Fathers, he suggested I come to Auckland.

“Going 12,000 miles away was too far, I thought,” says Father Keane. “But the priest kept at me for a whole hour, and finally to please him I agreed to the Auckland diocese.”

His priesthood training was at Thurles in Tipperary, and much of the learning was conducted in Latin. Following six years at the seminary he arrived in New Zealand at the end of 1961. He was the second-last diocesan priest to come from Ireland for the Auckland Diocese, and was the youngest Irish diocesan priest. When he arrived, almost half of the Auckland/Hamilton diocesan

priests were Irish. Father Keane is now the last of them.

His early years were spent as one of three priests in the parish of Ponsonby, where he rapidly gained experience in a wide range of work – teaching in schools, holding funerals and weddings, visiting the sick and elderly as well as conducting regular Masses. They were often long days, beginning with a 6.30am Mass and concluding in late evenings after attending a youth meeting or giving marriage instruction to young couples.

From Ponsonby he was posted to the Waikato, working in parishes at Morrinsville and Te Aroha. After eight years in New Zealand he was given his first six-month home leave. On his return he began work in the parish of Pukekohe, where he was stationed for almost five years before being sent to the Hamilton Cathedral for a year.

“Then I got my first parish of my own, at Ruawai and Maungaturoto. I loved it up there,” he says. “It’s a different part of the country, and the climate is good and the people are special. I was there for only a few years before I got my next trip home.”

This was followed by five years in Taupo, and again it was a place he really enjoyed, working with many young couples in the town and also meeting a wide variety of tourists and visitors. There he was also required to write a weekly local newspaper column for four weeks every three months and also create a similar radio talk. As well, he was asked to chaplain at one of the large state schools.

“I really enjoyed all the public relations we had with other churches and the whole community in Taupo,” he says.

“Then I came back to the Waikato in 1984 and was posted to the Te Rapa parish where I spent seven years, and then moved on to Morrinsville for the next 11 years,” says Father Keane. “Then in 2002 I was given my final posting, working in the combined parishes of Ngaruawahia, Huntly and Te Kauwhata. I was based in Huntly, and stayed there until early 2016. I was very happy to remain there until I retired, now that I’m nearly 80.”

Working in organisationsAs well as his work in

parishes, Father Keane has been closely involved in a number of organisations associated with the church. For 18 years he worked in the Marriage Tribunal, dealing with marriage annulments; he was also a trained counsellor; he served for 14 years in charge of the Pontifical Missions Society, raising funds for overseas missions and the training of seminarians. He spent many years as a member of the Priests’ Council and Consultors for the Bishop; and assisted with the administration of the Clergy Trust Funds for 20 years. As well he taught Gaelic at Waikato University for a year, and was nine years with the university’s History Department, lecturing in Irish history.

But in his 55 years of service to his church, Father Keane has seen major changes in society, and these have sometimes caused him sadness.

“Both here in New Zealand and probably overseas too life has become very impermanent,

especially concerning jobs,” he says.“There was a time when people

held a job for life in almost any occupation, and they knew they had security. But young people today are facing a life of insecurity. I feel very sorry for many of them when they get their university degrees, find they have substantial student loans to repay, but they cannot get any security with their jobs and often find themselves working at something they’re not suited for.”

Security lacking in life today“I believe many people these days

are working in jobs they may not like and are not enjoying. There isn’t the same security for people these days. This makes people less able to cope with permanent relationships, in marriage or with friends or even with God. This constant insecurity affects their outlook on the permanence of things in life. It even affects executives in major businesses, who often fear their jobs may not be secure.

“When I first came to New Zealand there was a large number of small businesses, and there was always a choice of jobs available for young people leaving school. But then the big multinationals and conglomerates came in, and many of the little family businesses closed down. When people married, usually the girls stayed home and reared the children. But that’s not so any more – in many cases both parents now have to go to work, and instead of being with their parents the children are with care-givers.

“This impermanence has led to the break-up of relationships for obvious reasons. The number of committed Christians is reduced for the very same reason. If people fail in human relationships, they are likely to have the same difficulties in their religious communities and their relationship with God. A gradual changing of human and social values affects everyone, especially with the media disregarding the Christian values and practice.”

Father Patrick Keane re�ects on a life of service

Fr Keane and two sisters who are nuns at St Joseph’s in Mission Bay Father Patrick Keane is on the

left of this group. The other two men are his classmates from the seminary at Thurles, Co. Tipperary, Ireland.

Father Patrick Keane


feature

Cla ifie

A meeting of the sponsors and friends of Kete Korero has heard how giving is important and how the benefits are felt

throughout the Hamilton Catholic Diocese.Sponsors help to support the publication,

which goes to parishes and schools throughout the diocese. The meeting at the residence of Bishop Steve Lowe recognised their contribution.

Bishop Steve said the event recognised the significance of the role played by sponsors in the life of the diocese and that they contributed to this in varying roles and ways. He thanked them for their generosity in the giving of their resources and time and in the giving of their talents.

“We live in an age where we are forgetting how to give and that is causing many problems in our society, in that we are becoming so concerned about ourselves.”

The nature of the church, being one of faith and love, was to focus people’s efforts on giving and to get joy in that.

“So for what you do for the church, the diocese and for God you can be assured of my regular prayer for all that you do.”

GUEST SPEAKERThe guest speaker was Mike Rolton, the

Waikato general manager of St Vincent de Paul. In introducing him, Bishop Steve said that as society became more and more affluent, the number of people in need and the number of their needs was growing rapidly.

“One of the things I have enjoyed in coming to Hamilton is seeing the work of St Vincent de Paul in Frankton and the amazing things they are doing there,” Bishop Steve said.

Mike Rolton (pictured) spoke on the theme of volunteers and he noted that New Zealand had an army of them.

“Without the 185 volunteers supporting us, we would not be able to do what we do.

“Those are people with compassion and heart, and they give and they love what they do.”

Mike said he did not care if they worked for him one day a week, two days or once a month. They came together and made easier to organise them from a reliable muster and able to be called on at any time.

THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTERHe said that when he was growing up, people

used to say to him that the world was his oyster, and it was then. However, when you look at an oyster today what you see is a shell that was rough and ragged.

“That’s where the people that we help today live – they don’t live on the inside of the shell where it is nice and smooth, they live on the outside.

Inside the shell, there are little gems that I call volunteers. Those are the people who are helping those who live on the outside of the shell

try to get to the inside, or give them hope and show them some way they can get back into the smooth part of life.”

Mike said he tells his volunteers “We are the hands of God and we are there to do his work, and they respond to that quite readily.”

Out of the total 185 volunteers, only 40 were Catholics, Mike said, the rest were people with great hearts.

“Without the volunteers, I could not run the main fundraiser – the shops. Without the volunteers, we could not give away 1685 school lunches a week to 28 schools in Hamilton City.

“The reason we are passionate about the school lunch programme is because we know that on Mondays and Tuesdays a lot of kids don’t go to school with lunch as their parents don’t have much food from Sunday onwards. So we help get them to school – we know that education is the way out of poverty.”

POVERTY AND SCHOOLINGSurveys of the schools had shown that the

children learn better and their behaviour becomes a lot better.

“Without my volunteers, we could not feed over 500 people a week in our night van.”

The van goes out every night and feeds people in five suburbs throughout Hamilton. More than 100 people are fed from the van most nights, 40 per cent of which are adults.

Mike said the food aspect was secondary to his mission of finding out more about what was going on in the streets of Hamilton, so as to learn what else St Vincent de Paul can do to help people.

“Most of the problems in the city are around a lack of literacy and numeracy, and we want them just to open up and talk to us. When they trust us, they do that.”

The volunteers also made it possible for St Vincent de Paul to run two soup kitchens each week for people who were homeless and the people who were struggling to survive in today’s world.

“We do have rich Kiwis who live on the inside of the oyster shell but we have people we see on a daily basis who need some guidance and some help.”

Seventeen other agencies rely on St Vincent de Paul for help and assistance.

Resources were sometimes stretched, but a lot of generous Hamilton and Waikato people made donations to assist the work being done.

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Sponsors and friends recognised


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SPONSORS

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Helping fund a caring community

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Email:[email protected]

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Kete Korero May 2016

Documents

Transcript of Kete Korero May 2016