4 march 2001

Dear friends, The Wellington Eucharistic Convention is being held today (Sunday) in the Lower Hutt Town Hall. If any member of our forum attended, it would be great if you could send us a short report, either directly to our address for messages - kiwicath@yahoogroups.com - or to me (Mike Leon) at leon@xtra.co.nz and I will send it to the forum anonymously if you prefer. Many thanks. Oh, and by the way ... the 'kiwicath' forum was set up on February 20 1999 (its original name was 'kiwicatholic') following a suggestion by Brother Pat Lynch and Mrs Maureen Condliffe, executive director and administration manager respectively of the New Zealand Catholic Education Office. NZCEO's sponsorship enables our forum to have a prominent place on the NZ bishops' Web site and so continue to attract new 'voices'. It is still - as far as I know - the only mailing list on any and all aspects of Catholic life in New Zealand. Our forum begins its third year with 92 members. So, very many thanks to NZCEO for your continued sponsorship, and to all our members for sticking with us and for contributing. Happy Birthday to us! ***************************** LENT 2001 >From Pope John Paul's Address at the Ash Wednesday General Audience February 2001: http://zenit.org/english/archive/0102/ZE010228.htm#2986 "Do not harden your heart today, but listen to the voice of the Lord." The sacred time of Lent ... recalls the forty days of the universal flood, prelude to the pact of alliance sanctioned by God with Noah; the forty years of the pilgrimage of Israel in the desert toward the Promised Land; the forty days that Moses remained on Mount Sinai, where he received the Tablets of the Law from Yahweh. The Lenten period invites us especially to relive with Jesus the forty days he spent praying and fasting in the desert, before undertaking his public mission... "Remember that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return." If, in fact, we are dust and destined to become dust, this, however, does not put an end to everything. Man, created in the image and likeness of God, is for eternal life. Jesus, dying on the cross, has unlocked the access to it for every human being. The entire liturgy of Ash Wednesday helps us to focus on this fundamental truth of faith, and stimulates us to undertake a decisive journey of personal renewal. "Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41). Let us be guided by these words of the Lord, in a determined effort of conversion and spiritual renewal. The means are always at our disposal, but in these weeks we must make more intense [use of] them: prayer, fasting and penance, ... sharing what we have with the needy. Jesus himself, who invites us to stay with him watching and praying, also asks us to love him in our brothers, reminding us that "as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me" (Matthew 25:40). Therefore, the fruit of an intensely lived Lent will be a greater and more universal love. May Mary, example of docile listening to the voice of the Spirit, guide us along the penitential way that we undertake today. May she help us to treasure every opportunity that the Church offers us to be able to prepare worthily for the celebration of the Easter Mystery. ************************************ FROM THE SECULAR PRESS [You can open links to world news of religion in the secular press on the bishops' News page at: http://www.catholic.org/newzealand/cathcom/news/frnews.html ] [Please don't try to hand-copy these newspaper Web addresses. Instead Select, Copy and Paste them into your browser's address line] 'Shocked students still coming to terms with accident ' Otago Daily Times 3/03/01 http://www1.odt.co.nz/cgi-bin/search-display-story-online-new?PATH=03Mar2001/edi\ torial/content/E2B4471585LG.html&WORDS=catholic&DB=Editorial A busload of Dunedin students will head to Blenheim tomorrow for teenage student Ana North's funeral and a memorial service will be held for her in Dunedin next Thursday. Many shocked students, trying to come to terms with the 19-year-old's death while riding inside a wheelie bin down Dunedin's Baldwin St on Thursday, have approached the University of Otago chaplaincy and Student Health Service for counselling, Catholic chaplain Fr Mark Chamberlain said yesterday. The memorial service next Thursday would be at Holy Name Church in Great King St, Dunedin North at 7.30pm ... 'Defining God's work ' (Photo) The Press 3/03/01 http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0,1008,677575a1936,FF.html US-based Benedictine monk David Steindl-Rast believes the Catholic Church must make big changes to keep faith with its followers, writes Mike Crean. He says his ideas have been well received during a visit to New Zealand ... 'Chief social worker going ' (Photo) Otago Daily Times 1/03/01 http://www1.odt.co.nz/cgi-bin/search-display-story-online-new?PATH=01Mar2001/edi\ torial/content/0228408831.html&WORDS=catholic&DB=Editorial After six years at the top, Retiring Department of Child Youth and Family Services chief social worker Mike Doolan is walking away from an organisation crippled by record numbers of cases without a social worker, in a country gripped by a child abuse crisis. "I can't say it's an enjoyable job," he admits ... **************************************** EDUCATION Faith Central - http://www.faithcentral.net.nz - is a religious education resource site maintained by Fr John Murphy SM of the Marist Fathers' Internet Ministry in Wellington. Recent new features on the site ... The Church Year: Liturgical Calendars and resources on seasons of the Liturgical Year: http://www.faithcentral.net.nz/inclass/year.htm Jesus' Life and Times: Life in first century Palestine, including a "virtual tour" of the Holy Places: http://www.faithcentral.net.nz/inclass/jesuslife.htm ************************************* EVENTS 18-22 April 2001 'Jesus 4 Real' Youth Camps Jesus 4 Real Ministries is an independent voluntary group of adults bringing the reality of Jesus to Catholic teenagers, and training adult leaders for Catholic youth work, through camps and seminars in the Wellington Archdiocese. Web site: http://members.xoom.com/Jesus4Real Contact: (04) 904 7217 ; (04) 905 6636 11 - 16 March 2001 Discipleship Course, St Mary's Parish Centre, Campion Rd., Gisborne. Sponsored by the Outreach and Evangelisation Commission of the Hamilton Diocesan Pastoral Council. Cost: $80, excluding accommodation. Details from: Dawn DeWitt, 11 Russell St., Gisborne, tel: (06) 867 6408; and Christine: tel. (07) 846 2691 ***************************** EMPLOYMENT (Vacancies in New Zealand Catholic schools are advertised in the Education Gazette: http://www.edgazette.govt.nz/vacancies ) Development Assistant/Administrator, Sacred Heart College, Auckland To work with the Development foundation, establish annual and planned giving programmes and Coordinator the foundation's accounting and admin procedures. Details in 'NZ Catholic' Feb 25 2001 p. 19 and from SHC Development Office tel. 09 575 8588 Sacred Heart College home page: http://www.sacredheart.school.nz/ Co-ordinator, Christian Family Life Education, Dioceses of Auckland and Hamilton Details in 'NZ Catholic' Feb 25 2001 p. 19 and from Therese Verheyen tel: 09 378 4380; theresev@cda.org.nz Chaplain , Mt Eden Prison, Auckland. Details in 'NZ Catholic' Feb 25 2001 p. 19 and from Sr Judith Leydon tel: 09 378 4380 or Eric allan tel. 09 378 9650 Catholic Diocese of Auckland. Co-ordinator of Religious Education. Details in 'NZ Catholic' Feb 11 2001 p.23 and form Therese Verheyen, tel (09) 368 4380; fax: (09) 376 2829 applications close 9 March 2001 ******************************* Every best wish and all God's blessings. Mike Leon 'kiwicath' list manager