Using the Synod 2017 Discernment Process our first round of consultations begins on 25 May.
Facilitators will lead groups through a time of prayer and reflection in response to Cardinal John’s request that we review our parish churches and presbyteries.

Parishioners can join small discernment groups after Vigil / Sunday Masses. Sign-up sheets are available in church foyers.

It is important for us to know the number of participants so that we can organise facilitators for the groups. Please sign up by Sunday 19th May.

The sisters and supporters celebrated their 125th anniversary during Mass at St Francis de Sales Church Island Bay on 5 May at 10.30am. Cardinal John presiding.

“We were founded by the power of the printed word. A printed brochure inspired our foundress Mary Theresa Ledochowska to work against slavery. Mary Theresa grew up in the magnificent surroundings of Austrian nobility and was very familiar with mountain excursions, evenings of dance, dinner and entertainment. She had to spend hours in the midst of drawing room etiquette, sterile idleness, living on a surface level. When given a pamphlet denouncing the slave trade which was still widespread in Africa, Mary Theresa was shocked to realise that so many people, created in God’s image, were being treated worse than animals. She hoped that once people knew of the terrible realities of the slave trade they would want to help fight against it.
Her hopes became a reality with donations requesting that she forward the money to the most needy missionaries. Mary Theresa developed Echo from Africa and with her writer’s talent and her heart full of love and compassion for the slaves, subscriptions became more and more numerous.

The congregation was founded on 29 April 1894. Today there are sisters of 28 nationalities in 47 countries. Although our communities are usually small, our mission helpers constitute a gigantic force of women and men participating in assisting the poor from afar. Our work is still the same as that of our foundress: mission promotion and mission aid. The Echo from Africa – now entitled Echo from Africa and other Continents, is still our primary medium for raising awareness of the missionary activity of the Church and also much needed funds for ‘the most needy missionaries’.”

Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver,
1 Mersey St, Island Bay. Phone: 383 8401
Email: peterclaver@xtra.co.nz

Ngā mihi nui – Thank you very much – all those involved in the preparations for the Catholic Parish of Wellington South’s Third Anniversary Mass celebrations.

Photo credit Ranier Hensel

Photo credit Ranier Hensel

Join us for the first Life Teen Night for 2019

• 5pm Mass at Saint Anne’s 
• Dinner
• And the most awesome team ridiculous race of the century!!

Meet new friends and have so much fun!

We are pretty excited!!

Do you enjoy camping, the outdoors and doing adventurous activities like kayaking, cycling, tramping?
The Suzanne Aubert Scout Group is running Cubs (girls and boys aged 8 – 11) and Scouts (girls and boys aged 11 – 14) on Monday nights 6.30 – 8pm at St Anne’s Hall in Newtown.
This terms activities include: rock climbing, camping, MTB bike adventure and games nights. Come along and join the adventure.

For more details either email SuzanneAubert@ group.scouts.nz
or contact Rob McCullough on 022 177 1007

Sunday 24th February
10am – 2pm
Our Lady’s Home of Compassion

• A great opportunity to celebrate together as a Parish.
• Outdoor Mass celebrated outside the Lyon Room. (The Lyon Room
• will be available for those unable to sit outside)
• Shared picnic lunch, sausage sizzle, games and other activities.
• Opportunity for fun and fellowship
• There will be no other vigil/Sunday Masses that weekend.
• Postponement date Sunday 10th March

Thank you to all who attended the recent Stewardship Afternoon at St Anne’s. It was a great turnout and a wide range of communities in our parish were represented.
There was thought provoking comment and animated discussion. While there is much we can do, we also recognised that there is a lot of welcoming going on in our communities and we shared many stories of this.
Thank you to Mike Gourley especially for taking the time to share with us his experience, as a disabled person, of ‘welcoming communities’. Mike’s sharing stimulated a lot of reflection on our facilities especially and how we engage with people with disabilities (some of which are not visible).

Below is a summary of key themes /ideas and next steps…
Theme 1: Being welcoming and feeling welcomed

• Personal greetings – when arriving, leaving and by those sitting next to you 
• Hospitality after Mass – being invited; new people are approached 
• Being invited to be involved and to volunteer – everyone has something to contribute
• Being asked your name – and knowing others’ names. (Name tags for greeters, Eucharistic ministers, etc?)
• Good music
• “Come as you are” – be clear we welcome everyone and all diversity (encourage people to be comfortable with their self-identity)
• Doing things together, knowing more about each other (social events, family groups, etc, outside of Mass times)
• Involve young people (invite them to choose a role in Mass; support Lifeteen and eXaLT)

Theme 2: Being welcoming of disability and inclusion

• Personal welcome and concern: greet the person, not just their disability.
• Ease of access – ramps and handrails: to the church, to the altar, to toilets, to pews (spacing of benches)
• Being asked if you need assistance
• Good AV and sound systems – large clear print for overhead projectors with strong contrast
• Voice projection training for presiders/readers to speak clearly into microphones
• Concern and awareness for invisible disabilities
• Warm churches
• Spare wheelchair/walker in each church? Defibrillators?

Theme 3: Wider ideas for enriching our communities and being even more welcoming

• Gather feedback from visitors and new parishioners – learn if they how welcome they feel and why (and why not)
• Ensure liturgy, ministries and roster volunteers are representative of the whole community – invite more people to participate (individual invitations work)
• Te Reo slides with English translations alongside (and slower pronunciation)
• Bi-cultural and multi-cultural signage
• Even more inclusive language in the liturgy
• Grow engagement with the wider community – look out beyond our church buildings (including social justice activities)
• Continue to establish the Home of Compassion as the “joint meeting place” for our parish churches and whole of parish events
• Grow school-church-parish links
• “More lively” liturgies
• “Spontaneous notices” at the end of Mass – e.g. family news, birthdays..
• Gender-neutral toilets

Next steps

1. Individual communities to discuss opportunities to utilise some of the ideas listed above.
2. Parish Council& Leadership Team to consider actions to be integrated into current pastoral plan in the New Year.
   

Thank you again for your support,
God bless
Stephen Neal, Chair, Pastoral Council