Fr. Dennis Nacorda was the Presider
with Concelebrators Monsignor Gerard Burns, Fr. David Dowling and Fr. Jeff Drane.

The rich and diverse cultural heritage of the Wellington South Pastoral Area was alive in the Mass.  The different languages and traditions of communities within our new Parish came together to celebrate Mass  and reflect that:

“We are a community of joyful disciples growing together and sharing Christ’s message”

An integral part of the Mass was a Baptisim to welcome a new member of our Parish community.  Over 800 Parishioners from all four churches joined together in pledging their prayerful support for Tessa Grace.

The Mass concluded with the announcement of the Cardinal’s decision on the name of the new parish.  His decision included an acknowledgement of the need to adhere to Canon Law with regards to naming a parish after a person not yet beatified or canonised. Therefore:

‘The interim name would be ‘The Catholic Parish of Wellington South’, and then as soon as we hear news of Suzanne Aubert’s beatification, we could proceed to change the name of the parish to ‘The Parish of The Blessed Suzanne Aubert’.   + John A Cardinal Dew, Archbishop of Wellington

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At our first Pastoral Area combined Mass on Pentecost Sunday; months of talking together dreaming and praying came together with Cardinal John’s decision about the name for our new Parish. In his letter to us he said;

“I am really grateful to you for all the work that has been done in consulting with the parish and putting forward these names. I accept that your preferred choice is “The Parish of the Blessed Suzanne Aubert” however as you know there is a difficulty naming a parish after someone who is not yet beatified or canonised….(after consultation with a cannon lawyer) I was told very clearly that I could not do that.

Therefore I agree….that the interim name should be “The Catholic Parish of Wellington South” and then as soon as we hear news of Suzanne Auberts beatification we could proceed to change the name of the parish to “The Parish of the Blessed Suzanne Aubert”

The next phase in moving towards our new parish is discernment and prayer on how we fit our boat. This boat we are building is not a cruse ship; (to steal Pope Francis image) we are building a hospital ship where we are all crew not passengers so we all have a critical part to play. Watch this space for more information.

Pastoral Area Transition Team communication group

One Pastoral Area Mass
St Patrick’s College Hall, Kilbirnie
9:30am

As we celebrate the unity and diversity that the Holy Spirit brings,
we will also mark the name for our new parish.

So that our whole community may gather for Mass, all other Masses in the Pastoral Area will be cancelled on the weekend of 23/24 May, with the exception of the Hospital Mass.  This Mass will reflect all four Mass communities and will require the generosity of many people and their gifts.

The Pastoral Area Liturgy Team are looking for volunteers from all of our Mass communities to serve at the Pentecost Sunday Pastoral Area mass.

If you are part of the following ministries and would like to share that gift on Pentecost Sunday please
email:  info@wellingtonsouthcatholic.org

Ministries:
Set up and break down teams,
Ushers,
Musicians,
Altar Servers,
Proclaimers,
Psalm Cantor,
Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist,
First language Prayers of the faithful
Readers,
Offertory Collectors,
Car parking team members,
Young people to join the welcoming team.

Cut off date for volunteers is Sunday 10th of May.

Watch this space for further updates.

Pentecost Sunday

24 May 9.30am
St Patrick’s College Hall, Kilbirnie

As we celebrate the unity and diversity that the Holy Spirit brings,
we will also mark the name for our new parish.

So that our whole community may gather for Mass, all other Masses in the Pastoral Area will be cancelled on the weekend of 23/24 May, with the exception of the Hospital Mass.

This Mass will reflect all four Mass communities
and will require the generosity of many people and their gifts.
Please take note of this on your calendars.

There will be more information soon for those who may need help with transport.

Last Sunday, parishioners from across Wellington South gathered at St Anne’s to take part in a workshop to shortlist names which the transition team will give to Cardinal John.
Cardinal John will make a decision on our new name and we will celebrate this on Pentecost Sunday.
Over 100 name submissions were received and these were displayed at the workshop on the walls of St Anne’s, grouped in themes of Domain, Patronage, and Compassion/Suzanne Aubert.
We considered what is important in a name and how the proposed names fit with our vision. Many parishioners spoke in support of their preferred name.
At the end of the workshop there was broad agreement on three concepts: Suzanne Aubert, which may require an interim geographical parish name until she is beatified, the Southern Cross, and Divine Mercy. Posters from the workshop will rotate around each church over the new few weeks.
Thank you to all who contributed by submitting names or coming to the workshop. The Transition Team was impressed with the thoughtfulness of all involved.
Special thanks to Tim Gordon for so expertly guiding our workshop.

Now that we have decided on the Vision, we have completed building the hull of our boat. The next step is naming our boat.
Together our community is invited to discern a name for our new Parish.Points to remember when choosing a parish name

Points to remember when choosing a parish name

• The name should be inspired by our Vision.
• The name might be that of a canonized saint or could be;
• The name of a Blessed (eg. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta) provided the Apostolic See has given permission
• A geographic or other local name of significance e.g. the Catholic parish of……..
• We need to avoid duplication of names
• Cardinal John will have the final say.

Please note that the name for our new Parish will not change the names of the churches that will make up our new Parish.

How to contribute your name suggestions

• All suggestions must be accompanied by a few word saying how your name fits the vision /why you are suggesting it.
• Fill out the form provided and place in the Suggestion Boxes.
• Email your Parish Office
• Go to the Pastoral Area website – www.wellingtonsouthcatholic.org
• Suggestions need to be sent in by April 12th

Time line for next steps

• 13th April –Sub Group collates name suggestions
• 19th April – 12.30-2.30pm at St Anne’s – Workshop
• 20th April – Vision Sub Group takes workshop ideas and prepares recommended list for PATT decision
• 27th April – preferred names sent to Cardinal John for approval
• 24th May Pentecost Sunday – new name is promulgated at Pastoral Area Mass (time and Venue to be confirmed)

You can email your proposal for the new Wellington South Parish name
using the form on the page “tell us what you think“.
You need to include the reason why you are suggesting this name.

A community of joyful disciples growing together and sharing Christ’s message.

Where did this proposed statement come from?

Suggestions of what was wished for, hoped for by the various communities making up the current parishes were gathered at the end of 2014. These were collated and common themes looked at by a small group from the Pastoral Area Transition Team (PATT).

Ideas behind the vision statement:

Using these common themes and particular expressions some things stood out to us: the desire for strong, supportive, faith-filled community life; the desire to grow and deepen the faith, hope and love of the members of the parish; the desire to grow in numbers; the desire to be outwardlyfocused (not just concerned about those in the church building) and mission-oriented.

From those themes came the references to community, to being disciples of Christ (listening to his word, following his ways), and to bringing his message to others. The expression ‘sharing Christ’s message’ is phrased as such to indicate that this is done in a way that is active, does not impose and is done through dialogue.

We have summarised various references to a having a strong, faithful, inclusive and diverse parish simply in the word ‘community’. One possibility was to define the parish as a ‘community of communities’ and while this is a possible definition we also felt that such a definition was also a way of working that could/would be part of making the new parish work. So we summarised the discussion by simply using the word ‘community’ to signify the strength and welcome that were being desired.

A particular point that struck us came from the children of Brooklyn who had indicated that they hoped for joyful experiences as members of the Church. The group formulating the vision statement heard that hope as reflecting the hopes of Pope Francis in his letter ‘Evangelii
Gaudium’ (The Joy of the Gospel) where he invites us to continually encounter the tenderness of Jesus “ which is always capable of restoring our joy” and enables us “to lift up our heads and to start anew” We felt the gospel couldn’t be truly shared unless we had experienced it as joy of Jesus’s life which “impels us onwards”, hence the reference to ‘joyful disciples’

From: The PATT vision-development sub-group.

Does this vision statement reflect your hopes and dreams for the new parish?
Please use the form and ‘Tell us what you think‘.

A change in administration at St Anne’s parish office has given the pastoral area team an opportunity to look at how we administer our four parishes with a view to the future.

One of the changes proposed is to the weekly parish newsletters. We are calling for anyone who would like to offer a new format for a pastoral area newsletter. From there a team will work together to decide which design will work best and what the content will be. If you have any ideas about what our new newsletter should look like then here is your opportunity to be creative.

Please note that our parish (St Francis De Sales) has commitments around advertising that prevent us from joining the combined newsletter at this stage. We will however be joining it at a later stage in the year. Please send your proposed format to Lucienne at the Parish Office by the 20th February.
office@stfrancisdesales.org.nz

Dear Parishioners,
This year is an important and challenging year for the parishes of the Wellington South Pastoral Area (Brooklyn, Island Bay, Mt Victoria and Newtown) as we work towards becoming a new amalgamated parish in February 2016.

The Wellington South Pastoral Area covers the area from the coast to the harbour. On our journey towards establishing the new parish we are using the imagery of a boat. We are building our hull by developing our vision for the new parish. Then we will fit out our ‘boat’ by setting up a new parish council and address various pastoral and administrative aspects before launching our ‘boat’ in February 2016.

I am reminded of other imagery that may be helpful through a story told by Fr Gerard Whiteford about olive trees growing throughout the countryside of Greece. The life cycle of the olive tree is fascinating. For the first seven years the tree is unproductive, it bears no fruit or the little it produces is worthless.
From years seven to about thirty-five there is a constant increase in the tree’s productivity. Then from the years thirty-five to one hundred and fifty it reaches maturity and full production. An olive tree may continue to produce fruit for another hundred years, sometimes more. A feature in the planting of the olive grove is the spacing. Enough space is left between trees to enable a replacement tree to be planted. The picture is then of two well established trees providing protection for the growing tree, which in time will be the replacement tree for the older of the two – like in two hundred years time!

With the amalgamation of parishes Archbishop John has invited us to embrace something new and Fr Gerard wonders whether the olive tree is a symbol for us to reflect on. We are being invited to plant something new for our mokopuna, our grandchildren. Our primary consideration is for them. Our natural instinct is to consider ourselves and protect our own interests. That is fully understandable. However, we are also being called beyond ourselves at this time, perhaps even to relinquish ‘what has been’ for many years, that ‘what might be’ has the opportunity to be nurtured.

St Paul, writing to the fledgling Church in Corinth wrote,
“I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God made things grow. Neither the planter, nor the waterer matters: only God who makes things grow.”
​ ​ ​ ​ ​ – 1 Corinthians 3:6-7

Wishing you many blessings this year as we move into a future full of hope.
Fr David