Captivating weekend marks "On a Mission" book launch

Captivating weekend marks “On a Mission” book launch; tracing lives of 22 former Marist seminarians

Chanel Houlahan reads from his chapter in "On a Mission"

Tuesday, August 13th, 2013

More than 200 people gathered in Wellington on the weekend marking the launch of On a Mission, a book, tracing the lives of 22 former Marist seminarians.

A weekend chocker of catchups, re-introductions and lots of stories, for old mates, some who had not seen each other for 30 years or more focused around Friday drinks, a visit of the Marist Archives, the the actual book launch, launch dinner and Sunday Mass.

Wives and partners too seemed to learn lots and were able to put names and faces together, some for the first time.

The conversation flowed all weekend.

Speaking at the On a Mission launch dinner, in a packed dining room at the Back Bencher Hotel, Mike Fitzsimmons described the occasion as ‘very special.’

“I often thought if ever a place deserved an old boys gathering, the Mount does. The great quest we were all on, intensity of our experience and the friendships formed make the school equivalent very pale indeed.”

Mr Fitzsimmons said the seminary was a ‘great deal’ for him.

Board and meals for seven and a half years.
A tertiary education at Victoria and the Mount worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
It gave me ‘once a seminarian’ stories to last a lifetime that seem to leave people gob-smacked even to this day.
It gave me friends for life.
It gave me habits so useful for married life – extraordinary ability to take criticism, unquestioning obedience, and an instinctive habit of speed drinking whenever someone is approaching the door!

Mr Fitzsimmons however reminded those who had yet to read the book, that On a Mission is not a history of the seminary, rather it’s 22 stories, each with their own truth, he said.

A similar event earlier in Whangarei, earlier the week also attracted more than 100 people.

Author, Shaun Davison says his former colleagues “rank as some of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met” and described the call to a Marist vocation as “a noble mission to serve God in our world”.

For Mr Davison, the journey to write the book began 1976, when he joined a thriving community of over 100 at Mount St Mary’s Seminary, Hawkes Bay, most of whom were training to be Catholic priests, and although in the late 70’s number began to dwindle, still four years later Mount St Mary’s still had around 80 seminarians.

“We had no doubt it would carry on for another 100 years,” he said.

But all of a sudden things changed.

Just twelve years later the bells at Mount St Mary’s Seminary, Greenmeadows tolled for the last time, the grand Hawkes Bay institution closed, and the remaining handful of students moved to Auckland to continue their training.

Motived by turning 50, Mr Davision, who left the seminary in 1981, went in search of his former colleagues, to retrace their journeys, revisit their decision to embark on a religious path and discuss its impact on their lives.

Fr Merv Duffy SM, a professor of Systematic Theology at Good Shepherd College, Auckland, describes the book as: “A terrific read! Wonderful coming-of-age stories. Talented men reflecting on their seminary days, the ideals and ordeals.”

Monsignor Gerard Burns, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Wellington, bought On a Mission on Friday night and found the stories so riveting that he couldn’t put the book down until he finished it.

Those interested in a copy can get them direct from the publisher, Steele Roberts.