Prof Theo Boer

From 2005 to 2014 Prof Dr Theo A. Boer was an ethicist on a regional Euthanasia Review Committee in the Netherlands, examining 4,000 euthanasia cases. Each of the five regional committees consists of a medical doctor, an ethicist and a lawyer, who is also the chair. The purpose of these committees is to review whether a case of euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide have taken place in accordance with the “due care criteria” stipulated by the Dutch euthanasia law which came into effect in 2002.

In 2007 Dr Boer stated publicly that the Dutch euthanasia law was working well. He wrote, ‘there doesn’t need to be a slippery slope when it comes to euthanasia. A good euthanasia law, in combination with the euthanasia review procedure, provides the warrants for a stable and relatively low number of euthanasia.’

However, in 2014, he wrote an article for the Daily Mail stating, “But we were wrong – terribly wrong, in fact. In hindsight, the stabilization in the numbers was just a temporary pause.”
“I used to be a supporter of [euthanasia] legislation. But now, with twelve years of experience, I take a different view,” he wrote.

His visit is timely, since Parliament will debate Part 3 of the proposed End of Life Choice Bill on Wednesday 11 September. This Part includes a section on the proposed Review Committee.

We congratulate the 50 young people across our parish who made their First Communion at Masses on Sunday.  Being baptised, confirmed and receiving the Eucharist completes their initiation into the Christian Catholic community.

Many thanks to all those who have helped in any way with the  Sacramental programme this year. Firstly to parents and care givers who have committed to the task of preparing their young ones. To Tracy Gundesen and Rob McCullough who have been their catechists. And to all parishioners who have contributed by way of hospitality, liturgy, music and their prayerful support throughout the programme.

More than 120 parishioners gathered to take part in the consultation process regarding the future of Parish buildings.  We were also asked to share ideas about how we maintain our community as we move forward.
The Parish Council’s aim for the session was to collectively develop a range of options for our future as a parish. The Cardinal has asked for proposals that are both realistic and practical regarding churches and presbyteries currently maintained by the Parish.
The wealth of information and diverse suggestions shared, were recorded and the PPC now has the task of collating and considering people’s views.  They will then decide on a next step, before formulating a proposal for the Cardinal and the rationale behind their recommendation.

As we move into the phase of beginning to formulate possible solutions in response to Cardinal John’s letter, everyone is invited to a Parish Consultation Session on Saturday 3rd August at St Anne’s Hall, from 1:30pm to 4:30pm.
Our goal in this session is to collectively develop a range of options for our future as a parish – not only with regards to buildings, but also how we can sustain our parish community as we adapt to future changes.

The themes that stood out in our first round of consultation were:
–  Our communities are important to us and loss of these communities through church building closure is a real concern.
–  Ours is a sacramental church and somewhat inward looking.
–  Further clarifying the roles of the laity and priests is an important issue.
–  The connection between our schools and churches is an important one.
–  We need a vision for the place of our buildings in the promotion of our mission and use for social justice.

This will be an important step in our consultation. All are welcome
and encouraged to attend. Kindly let the Parish Office know if
you are able to attend.

Stephen Neal
Parish Council Chair

Thank you to everyone who participated in the first round of consultation sessions. The purpose of this consultation round was to capture parishioners’ reaction to Cardinal John Dew’s request to reduce the number of churches. It was not to get feedback specifically on the answer to this challenge.
As you might expect there has been a great deal of feedback which we reviewed at last week’s Pastoral Council meeting. Given the extensive and varied nature of the feedback we did not attempt to distill it into simple ideas, although we did identify some themes such as:

• Our communities are important to us and loss of these communities through church building closure is a real concern.
• Ours is a sacramental church and somewhat inward looking.
• Further clarifying the roles of the laity and priests is an important issue.
• The connection between our schools and churches is an important one.
• We need a vision for the place of our buildings in the promotion of our mission and use for social justice.

As we move into the next phase of the consultation, the Council has decided to make the feedback from the consultation sessions available to all parishioners via the website. We ask you to take time to look at it and reflect on it. We have not included all individual written submissions, but these can be made available also if parishioners wish to see them and those who wrote them are happy for us to do so.

Next steps
We now move into the phase of beginning to formulate possible solutions.
The first part of that will be a Parish session on Saturday 3rd August at St Anne’s Hall, from 1:30pm to 4:30pm.
Please mark this date in your diaries and let the Parish Office know if you will be attending.

Stephen Neal
Parish Council Chair

CONSULTATION SESSIONS FEEDBACK

We congratulate the children in our parish confirmed by Cardinal John Dew.

Cardinal John urged us to carry on praying for the children and their families, as they continue on their Sacramental journey in Faith.

Tuesday 19 June @ 6pm at St Anne’s Church.
A team of Sisters of Compassion, parishioners and the schools of  Wellington South is preparing together for the Birthday Mass and hospitality afterward. Please join us to celebrate the 184th birthday of this woman of great faith.

This is a special occasion for our Parish as we will take the name of Suzanne Aubert upon her beatification. Cardinal John Dew will celebrate the Mass.
Please bring a plate of finger food if you can, to add to the supper, which the Sisters of Compassion will also cater for.
For more information, contact Deirdre Hanlon-
heritagecentre@compassion. org.nz; 282 1953.

Donate a food item

At the Birthday Mass we will take up a collection of food items. It you would like to contribute, groceries which are especially useful to the Soup Kitchen include tins of lentils (but not baked beans), vegetables, fruit, soup, coconut milk, fish; dried goods such as coffee (fresh and instant), lentils, split peas, pearl barley.

WelCom June 2019:

“The Bible Society has launched its new scripture-based website, The Word, the first Catholic Bible-engagement focused website of its kind in New Zealand.
Mass readings are also delivered every day, thanks to a partnership with the Marist Messenger.
The site delivers inspirational stories through video and word from Catholics for whom the Bible is an important part of their faith. Among those sharing their thoughts are the Catholic Bishops.”

This link to the website has been added here on our links page

For a good group decision-making process, Ignatian Discernment would have each participant ask the following questions:

• How do I feel about the issue?
• What is the origin of that particular feeling?
• Is it from God, or not from God? The “not from God” feelings can be from self (from ignorance, obstinacy, indigestion), from other persons (whose position on this particular issue may be “not from God”), or from other sources.

To discern or decide well, a person must be

• ready to move in any direction that God wants, therefore radically free;
• open to sharing all that God has given him or her, therefore radically
  generous;
• willing to suffer if God’s will requires it, therefore radically patient;
• questing for union with God in prayer, therefore radically spiritual.

From William J. Byron, SJ

For the first round of the Building Consultation Process, Facilitators will lead groups through a time of prayer and reflection based on the Synod 2017 Discernment Process in response to Cardinal John’s request that we review our parish churches and presbyteries.
The Pastoral Letter from Cardinal John of 15 February 2019, plus Financial information and other relevant parish data is on the report available here, for your prayerful consideration.