Catholic Archbishop of Wellington Cardinal John Dew will bless construction workers, and the city’s Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in a ceremony at 10 am on Friday to mark the start of the cathedral project restoring and strengthening the Category I historic building. The classical-style cathedral in Hill St, Thorndon – designed by Dunedin Read more
The lack of vocations to the priesthood is the reason Ohariu Catholic parish no longer has a resident parish priest. “I simply do not have anyone suitable to appoint as Parish Priest”, the Archbishop of Wellington told a 400 strong crowd, meeting at the Uniting Church, Dr Taylor Tce in Johnsonville. The Archbishop apologised for Read more
The New Zealand Bishops were informed of Pope Francis’ decision to appoint Cardinal Dew to the Congregation for Divine Worship during their Conference meetings last week. The bishops welcomed this appointment and the opportunity this provides for Cardinal Dew to work collegially with fellow bishops in the important area of liturgy and worship. Cardinal Dew Read more
Four Kiwis who went to last year’s synod on the family have welcomed Pope Francis’s wide-ranging new apostolic exhortation on marriage and the family. In a statement released through the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, Cardinal John Dew, Bishop Charles Drennan, Dr John Kleinsman and Sharon Cole spoke on Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love). Read more
Politicians, cardinals, bishops and educationalists gathered in Wellington on April 3 to farewell Br Sir Patrick Lynch. Br Sir Patrick is leaving the New Zealand Catholic Education Office after 22 years at the helm. Speakers at the function included Education Minister Hekia Parata and Cardinal John Dew. Ms Parata praised Br Sir Patrick’s “immense contribution Read more
Wellington archdiocese’s departments are being re-organised to be better aligned to Cardinal John Dew’s priorities for the archdiocese. In a letter to parish priests and other parish bodies dated March 3, Cardinal Dew wrote about a consultation process with archdiocese departments last year. This has resulted in renaming departments as vicariates, so as to better Read more
Cardinal John Dew of Wellington has told Catholic educators that a major challenge today is helping families to pray together. In a homily at a teachers’ commissioning Mass at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart last month, Cardinal Dew said “prayer must be learned and discovered in families”. “I believe one of our major challenges Read more
The head of the Polish bishops’ conference has lumped New Zealand in with the German bishops in terms of contributions at last year’s synod on the family. Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki discussed the synod in a recent interview with EWTN Germany. The archbishop was asked about if there had been a “German-Polish” war at the synod. Read more
Cardinal John Dew left for Rome on Thursday. On Sunday (Rome time) he will be installed as the titular parish priest of Sant’ Ippolito. All cardinals are made nominal parish priest of a Roman parish. Next week he will be at the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples. Msgr Gerard Burns Read more
A South African cardinal has admitted signing a letter to Pope Francis criticising the make-up of a commission which includes New Zealand’s Cardinal John Dew. Cardinal Wilfred Napier of Durban told Crux that he shares concerns about “the choice of the people that are writing up the final document” for the synod. Pope Francis appointed Read more