Reflecting on this week’s Scriptures

Last weekend I was in Central Otago, where the grass was brown, flattened, the landscape lifeless, and the weather cold and damp.  We bundled up, defending ourselves from the dreariness of winter, until we saw the first daffodils emerging in my sister’s garden.  We opened up, remembering the magical transformation spring brings, with its delicate greens, blossom filled trees and abundance of daffodils, tulips and crocuses.

Isaiah’s words today bring that same sense of hope he reminds us that God comes, in the midst of our fears, to save us, to heal us and to transform our barren landscapes into fertile gardens.

What is extraordinary is God’s ongoing call to each one of us, both as individuals and community, to hear his words “Ephphatha” and be opened.  In the gospel today we see the man who was deaf and mute not only being able to hear and to speak clearly, but so full of the joy of what has happened that he can’t stop talking about. Both he and his friends who brought him to Jesus are bursting over.

At present we are being invited to be open to grow together as “joyful disciples”.  Where do we find that joy especially in the midst of so much challenge in both our church communities, our country and our world?  In all the readings, including the Psalm, we are reminded that we will discover the joy of that discipleship with those who are on the margins.  Jesus invites us, in our families and in our communities to open our hearts, to see the hard reality of our human existence but not to become imprisoned, to suffer with those who suffer, but not hold on to suffering.  Through that journey we will discover the deep hope that transforms the deserts in our lives into gardens and the deep peace God promised to those who love him.
-Maria Noonan

Charting the Course Discernment – Week 7: “What could we do so that we Grow Together?”
In these last two weeks of our Discernment Process, we focus on the ACTION words of the vision – Growing Together and Spreading Christ’s Message.

Today we reflect back on the HOPES we named for our new Parish that were about growth—hopes that our Parish will be a Community that will enable, encourage, nourish, and sustain our Growing together.

Today we go deeper and reflect on HOW we may Grow Together – what will we DO that will ensure that we are a community that is GROWING together?
Growing together can mean a number of things:
• Growing together – growing towards each other, becoming closer to each other
• Growing together – as individual disciples we can all grow because of our supporting and nurturing community
• Growing together – growing in numbers

What you tell us in the next two weeks, along with all your feedback, will be given to the Transition Team, so that they may shape the Plan that leads us forward to our new Parish. As well as contributing at Mass, you can send us feedback by posting it in boxes in the churches, or using the contact form on the website wellingtonsouthcatholic.org.

Reflecting on this week’s Scriptures

In our first reading, Moses conveys a great sense of pride and delight about the wisdom and discernment of the people of Israel, when they follow the law and customs which formed the framework of their community. A similar sense of delight and pride, in the different church communities, is evident in the feedback about what is important to us, what we are afraid of losing, and what we hope to see in our new parish. It is also present in the ways we celebrate our liturgies, the different customs we adopt, the cultural traditions we include and how we use our church buildings. All these things help give us a sense of who we are and a framework for our faith community.
Jesus, in Mark’s gospel, challenges us to go beyond these external expressions of our religion. If we are to respond to the call to live “pure, unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God”, each of us individually and in our communities need to examine our hearts and acknowledge what negative motives shape our attitudes and our actions. When we can discern and face the darkness within, and allow God’s spirit to transform us, our actions will become an expression of the conversion of our hearts to God and to God’s ways. Then we may, as parishioners of Wellington South reach out as “joyful disciples” and come “to the help of orphans and widows when they need it” and keep ourselves “uncontaminated
by the world”. Reaching out to those in need transforms us and when we allow that “wonderful ‘chemistry’ of the Gospel” to happen within us we will discover, as Donagh O’Shea puts it, “the kind of ‘chemistry’ that can turn bad stuff into  good, curses into blessings, suffering into prayer.”

Charting the Course Discernment – Week 6:  Checking our Bearings
Over the last five weeks most of us have given of our hearts, sharing our fears and our hopes most generously. We thank you for that.

Some of the feedback has shown that some of us are left feeling that the leadership is stalling in getting on with the real business of decision making—sorting out Mass times, office space, finances, and the practical things that our Community runs on.

Some are hurting—some frustrated that our feelings are not being acknowledged.

Some merely bored by the entire thing. Some feel angry that we are even facing this change.

This process is not to discern if we will change. It will happen.

This process of sharing, praying, and reflecting is about all of us being the architects of WHAT our new parish will be, HOW we will participate, HOW our four church communities will stand in solidarity with one another.

This Charting the Course Discernment is an invitation to be open to HEAR God calling us—to raise our voices in prayer and trust. So that in a few weeks time our voice, together with the Holy Spirit, will be there when the Transition Team makes the decisions about those practical things and writes the new parish plan to take us forward.

Today we invite you to do nothing more than to join with one another in gratitude as we hold all we have and all we hope for in prayer, so that unlike the Pharisees in today’s  Gospel we focus on the God-given things.

The Team put together this word cloud generated by using all the feedback contributions from Parishioners

Reflecting on this week’s Scriptures

“Taste and see the goodness of the Lord” resonates strongly with me this week as two of us were invited to the “Rimutaka Gate to Plate” meal at Rimutaka Prison.
We were warmly welcomed by both prisoners and staff; experienced attentive and professional hospitality and enjoyed a veritable feast of delicious foods, finishing up with an amazing dessert which exploded into a multitude of different and exciting tastes. It sure looked and tasted like the goodness of the Lord.

While we were at the prison we learnt the number of people in prison, the number of children impacted by parents in prison, and the number of staff working in Corrections to change offenders’ behaviours. We also learnt that 60% of prisoners are unable to read or write. The Department of Corrections are challenging themselves to reduce re-offending, particularly amongst young offenders, by 25% in 2017. They said they can work on changing behaviours, providing the education and developing work skills while people are in prison. Their challenge to us, in the wider community, is to provide the chance for employment for ex-prisoners so that they can support themselves and their families, create a different life pathway and find ways of belonging and participating in our society and communities.

Such a challenge can be like “ the uncomfortable truth” which led Jesus to ask his apostles if they wanted to leave, or the choice Joshua poses to his people whether they will “serve the Lord” or the gods of the Amorites. In both instances the choice is whether to acknowledge that the Lord is our God and the source of eternal life, with all the challenges and discomforts that choice may bring. Last week, we expressed hopes for our new parish community. Some of the hopes we expressed will lead to choices that are not always comfortable. At some points we will need to learn to give way to one another, and none of us finds this easy. We will also be invited to move from our places of comfort, to reach out to those on the margins of our parish community and of society. To find our way “to live in love as Christ loved us”, in our new parish community, we need to pray that, like the Ephesians, we can constantly be cleansed by the “words of Eternal life”, so that we can respond to the invitation of Pope Francis to move beyond our church structures to the people and communities who are marginalised in our society.

Discernment  –  Community
How will we be a Community? Who is in our Community?
Over the last three weeks we have named our fears, and our hopes, for the new Catholic Parish of Wellington South. This week we begin to reflect on how we will we live out our Vision. We hold the hopes we have named for Community as we reflect on how we will be a community and who is in our wider Community.
We follow God and are led to God through the Holy Spirit in a Church Community.  We are nourished by the words and Eucharist of Jesus Christ. We don’t do it alone. By being here we have made a choice to gather and worship as a Community.

A handout with hopes for Community accompanies this week’s newsletter. We want so much from and for our Community, and we are prepared to contribute to that Vision. Look closely at the feedback and what you are seeing in our hopes for Community is remarkably similar to St Paul’s image of Church as Marriage: caring, sharing, nurturing, supporting, communicating, loving, loyalty, tolerance, thankfulness, sensitivity, creativity, courteousness, equality, family orientation, faithfulness, respectfulness, selflessness, thoughtfulness, a shared vision, uniqueness, commitment

At the same as we reflect on our Church and Parish Community, we also pause and look out to who is in our wider Community—people, communities, groups that we support,
reach out to, get support and inspiration from, who we are obliged to, responsible for, inspired by, anyone who lives in the area from the Coast to the Harbour.

We pray:
“Lord, where would we go? – This is our place – our Parish, our Community,
this is the Church in which you share your words of eternal life”

Reflecting on this week’s Scriptures

The first two readings express, in symbolic and intellectual ways the triumph of good over evil through the kingship of Christ and the celebration of Mary’s role in this.  In the big picture these readings give hope. However it is the encounter of Mary and Elizabeth that gives us the hope which emerges out of the reality of our daily lives. Mary comes in haste. Maybe because she senses Elizabeth may need her support, but probably because she needs Elizabeth’s support too. Mary would be trying to make sense of her “Yes” to carrying the son of God, and the impact that would have had on her parents, and husband to be. Elizabeth after many years of being barren is pregnant, living with her husband who cannot speak, was probably the subject of gossip and no doubt longing to share with someone who would understand the place and meaning of God in her pregnancy.

Both Mary and Elizabeth, in the context of their daily lives believed in the promise of God. On a deep level they recognised this in each other and from that encounter emerged the Magnificat –a revelation of God’s greatest hope – His Promise of Mercy, His raising of the lowly and His filling of the hungry with good things. May our hearts too be open, in the context of our ordinary lives, to revealing that hope in Wellington South. And may Suzanne Aubert be with us.

Discerning the Hopes
“May your choices reflect your hopes not your Fears.”  Nelson Mandela
This week we focus on our Hopes. What do we hope, with our contribution, that the new Parish of Wellington South will be? What will it be known for? What will it have at its heart and spirit? What is the word or phrase that expresses this for you? On this Feast of the Assumption, we reflect that Mary said Yes to being the Mother of Jesus. She was instrumental in God’s Plan being fulfilled, bringing Hope to all people.

Next week we will bring back all our Hopes, named at St Anne’s, St Bernard’s, St Francis de Sales, and St Joseph’s. We will move into reflecting on the first part of our Vision:
How will we be and what will we look like as a Community of the Catholic Parish of Wellington South?
We pray:
We come before you with hope for the new Catholic Parish of Wellington South.
Guide us as we seek to discern Your Will of how we will live out our Vision to be a
community of your joyful disciples growing together and spreading your message.

Responding to Fears

Reflecting on this week’s Scriptures

Elijah was exhausted and dispirited, as he set off into the desert wondering what he had done with his life, and fell asleep under the sparse cover of a broom or furze tree. What is striking is that in the first instance the angel brings him a hearth cake and a jug of water to keep him going. In some ways our fears reflect some of that same exhaustion, we want to know will the basics of our parish lives be sorted in ways that are predictable and familiar as they keep us going. The angel challenges Elijah to get up and eat for the long journey, Paul challenges us to let go any bitterness and anger, and Jesus challenges us to stop murmuring in ways that limit His capacity to enable people to be open to God. Leaving what is familiar and known is hard and painful so we often resist. What helps us? Elijah is given food that lasts for a 40 day journey. Paul invites us to be kind and compassionate to one another and Jesus offers us the “living bread that came down from heaven” and his life which he gave for each one of us.

Responding to Fears
This week we bring to the Eucharist all the fears, doubts, and concerns we named last weekend at St Anne’s, St Bernard’s, St Francis de Sales, and St Joseph’s. Thank you for your honesty.
We have many questions—some similar, some different, all valid. We don’t yet have the answers, and this is why we are discerning the future course.
If we let these fears, doubts, and concerns overwhelm us, then we could very well end up like the followers of Jesus in today’s Gospel, murmuring among ourselves—with a moaning that cripples creativity, and hampers initiating anything new.
Next week we will invite you to share your hopes for our new Parish of Wellington South. What will it have at its heart and spirit?
We pray: Guide us as we seek to discern Your Will of how we will live out our Vision to be a community of your joyful disciples growing together and spreading your message.

Naming of Fears

Reflecting on this week’s Scriptures

This weekend we name our fears and concerns about leaving our familiar faith communities and our journey into the “unknown”. On their journey to the promised land, the Israelites grumbled as they struggled on their journey to the promised land. Paul challenged the Ephesians “to be renewed” and to “put on a new self” and Jesus called his disciples to go beyond signs of concrete proof and seek the “bread of God” which gives life to the world. We are all invited to reflect on those scriptures, with all our fears and concerns, and to ask for the grace to seek the “bread of God” to bring life to our new parish.

Naming of Fears
Our process of discernment has prayer and reflection on the Word of God at its heart. Over the coming weeks, the four Church communities of the pastoral area will discern how we are to live the vision of the Parish of Wellington South. As today’s Gospel says, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
Before we can go deeper, we need to name the fears, doubts, and hesitations that people may have about the new Parish. What are the negative aspects? What are you concerned or worried about?
We will collect what is offered and bring the fears of all our communities back to each Mass next week. We will pray, and reflect on the fears. This is a process of discernment, so we will not follow with discussion and debate. We will move into sharing our hopes before going deeper into how we will live our vision: “We are a community of joyful disciples, growing together and sharing Christ’s message”

At all Masses in the pastoral area on Sunday 26 July Members of our church communities received a special blessing:  “Today we will commission and bless those from our Church who have stepped up to lead this discernment programme as we Chart the Course for the Parish of Wellington South. Some will be going off to one of the other Three Churches and from next week we will welcome members of the other Churches to assist in our discerning”

Our Pastoral Area-wide discernment, “Charting the Course”, begins this weekend.
We will be led in this process by members from our church communities. Everyone has a part to play by:

• participating in the process,
• supporting your community,
• welcoming and supporting leaders from other communities coming to your Mass.

If you have any questions, or feedback, please get in touch by emailing wellingtonsouthcatholic@gmail.com .

 Q & As

What is the process?
The process is one of discernment and involves naming, praying, and reflecting. It does not involve discussing. The detailed programme is here. The discernment is designed to occur within the Mass.

Why are we doing it?
So our communities can reflect deeply before we begin the next step of the transition, which is making some decisions around pastoral care, administration, and more, for the new Parish.

How long will it take?
The discernment occurs over 10 weeks, taking a pause in week 9 for the Pastoral Area Sacrament of Confirmation.

Who is guiding the process?
A subgroup, representing our four church communities, is creating a template to use at all Masses in the Pastoral Area each week. The subgroup is: Tim Gordon, Maria Noonan, Le Bernadette Faifua, Karen Holland, Joy Andersen, Lesley Hooper, Deirdre Hanlon.

Who is leading the process?
We have 22 leaders assigned to Mass Communities. As much as possible, these are mixed teams from different Church communities. Of course, we also have our presiders as a key part of the process.