On 9 October, the Catholic Church in New Zealand marks "Support Life Sunday."

Dr John Kleinsman, Director of the Nathaniel Centre for bioethics, says it is important this year's campaign helps people hear those who have first-hand experience of mental illness.

"By making mental health a focus, we hope to break down further and lessen the stigma and discrimination which still surrounds mental illness and encourage more open and honest conversations," he says.

"Our schools and faith communities should be places of positive connection that lift people up, and we want to encourage people to reflect on the extent to which that is the case, as well as ways of becoming more supportive, uplifting and inclusive," Kleinsman says.

Overseas research shows stigma and fears surrounding mental illness mean sufferers are less likely to get the level of pastoral care provided for people with physical illnesses.

Catholic Bishop of Auckland Stephen Lowe says about 50 to 80 per cent of us will experience some form of mental distress, addiction challenges or both.

"Mental illness is a major issue which touches every family in some way," he says.

"And yet we don't talk about it nearly enough."

Lowe believes that as a Church, we are beginning to deal with and help people with mental health issues.

"We must also realise that we can and need to do better as faith communities in acknowledging mental illness and accompanying people with it.

"It's all about putting into action our core belief in the unconditional dignity of the human person," Lowe says.

This year's parish resources for Support Life Sunday include a social media campaign that highlights critical facts about mental illness and features quotes from people living with a mental illness or caring for someone who is mentally ill.

Parish and school resources for Support Life Sunday are now available.

• NZ Catholic Bishops Conference

New Zealand's bishops are asking Catholics to offer special prayers for everyone caught in the Ukraine war by going to their local parish church on Friday to pray the Rosary.

Bishop Stephen Lowe, the Bishop of Auckland and Secretary of the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference, says visiting a church next Friday to pray the Rosary would be a show of solidarity for everyone caught in the Ukraine war.

"All over Ukraine, people are having to flee their homes because of the war.

"Leaving our homes here in Aotearoa New Zealand to go to our local church to pray on this special day would very much be showing solidarity to the people having to leave their homes in Ukraine.

"Normally we would have a Mass or advertise a time for the Rosary but with the current Covid-19 restrictions imposing a limit of 100, we are hoping people will visit their local church throughout the day.

"The bishops too will also be heading to their respective cathedrals to pray the Rosary on Friday in support of Pope Francis.

"What is important is leaving your homes on Friday to visit your local church, at a time that suits you. We will be asking all churches to be open from 7am to 7pm so as many people as possible can visit at different times during the day, in keeping with the Covid-19 restrictions."

Lowe says prayers would be offered for everyone: those who have been wounded or killed; the people caring for the wounded; refugees and for those caring for them.

"And we will pray that the Russian leadership and soldiers may have a change of heart."

Lowe says during Lent, which is about change, the conversion of the heart, "Christ calls us to love our enemies and to embrace each other as brothers and sisters.

"And as we pray for Ukraine we also remember those caught in other conflicts, including Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere."

Acting as the Universal Pastor of the Church, Francis will renew the consecration urged at Fatima more than 100 years ago.

The actual prayer of consecration will take place in St Peter's Basilica at around 6:30 pm on 25 March (Rome time); the feast of the Annunciation.

To watch the whole ceremony, international media recommends setting an alarm for 5:00 am on Saturday 26 (NZ time), or tune in at around 6:30 am Saturday to watch Pope Francis recite the prayer of consecration.

The entire service will be broadcast across Vatican News' channels—radio, YouTube, website, and Facebook—and accompanied by English-language commentary.

Source

• Catholic.org.nz
• CruxNow
• Image: Angelus News

The appointment was announced in Rome at midnight New Zealand time and means the dioceses of Hamilton, Palmerston North and Christchurch are without bishops pending Pope Francis announcing new appointments.

Bishop Lowe replaces Bishop Pat Dunn, who has served since 1994. Bishop Dunn is retiring.

The Diocese of Auckland has almost 40 per cent of New Zealand's 471,000 Catholics.

"I am humbled at being asked by the Holy Father to be the Bishop of Auckland and the successor of Bishop Pat Dunn, a much loved Bishop," says Bishop Lowe.

"Auckland is our largest Diocese and our first Diocese. When I look at the bishops who have served Auckland, starting with Bishop Pompallier, they all had the challenges of their time and circumstances. But they also had their own unique gifts and talents and the gifts and talents of the people of God. So I'm looking forward to becoming part of the Diocese of Auckland as we work together for the building of God's kingdom."

Bishop Lowe was ordained as Bishop of Hamilton in February 2015. Born in Hokitika, he was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Christchurch in his home town at Hokitika in 1996.

He served as the assistant priest in the Mairehau, Ashburton and Greymouth parishes before being appointed parish priest of Timaru North and Chaplain of Roncalli College in 2000. From 2005-2007 he completed a Licence in Spiritual Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

He was appointed to Holy Cross Seminary in Auckland in 2008 where he served as Formation Director until the end of 2014. While based there, he served for a time as Parish Priest of Ponsonby.

Bishop Lowe is the Vice President and Secretary of the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference, and the bishops' representative on Te Runanga o te Hahi Katorika o Aotearoa, the Church's national Maori advisory group. He is also a member of several other bodies including the National Safeguarding and Professional Standards Committee.

The bishop's conference made the comment in a submission to Parliament's Justice Committee on the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill.

"Any harmful, coercive or abusive practice under any name is abhorrent to the Church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ," the statement says.

While 'in general' they support the Bill, the bishops stopped short in giving it their full support, cautioning that parents and advisers to young people should not be restricted in giving advice for fear of breaking the law.

The bill seeks to ban conversion practices that seek to change or suppress a person's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression is in line with the Catholic social teaching principles of human dignity and the common good, the bishops say.

"The Catholic Church in Aotearoa NZ does not support, provide or participate in any kind of ‘conversion therapy', by which we understand to be any programme that seeks by medical, psychological and/or spiritual means to 'convert' people from a homosexual or transgender orientation or identification towards a heterosexual one," their submission says.

Bishop Stephen Lowe and National Centre for Religious Studies resource developer and lecturer Lyn Smith spoke to the Justice Committee by Zoom (see image) on behalf of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference.

Smith told the committee that Catholic teaching was pastoral and promoted the dignity of the human person made in the image and likeness of God.

"Children and young people seek out those in their lives they feel comfortable talking to when it comes to matters regarding sexuality," she said.

"The Church's pastoral approach to this area, especially under the guidance of Pope Francis and our bishops here in New Zealand, means that staff in Catholic education need to feel safe in continuing to provide this vital support to children and young people without the risk of or fear of prosecution."

Lowe told the committee that "conversion therapy" did not respect a young person's sacred journey from childhood to adulthood, and that was why the Catholic Church supported the legislation.

"At the same time, I would like to say… that I am concerned that there are many influences that our society is putting on our rangatahi which are sexualising them far too young and encouraging them to make big decisions before they have adequately come to adulthood," he said.

Source

• Supplied NZ Catholic Bishops Conference
• Image: NZ Catholic

Bishop Stephen Lowe, secretary of the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference, says the new code makes it clear that bishops must take decisive action when abuse is reported to them.

"The Church's Canon Law exists alongside the civil and criminal law of the land.

"This revision ...covers the discipline of the Church alongside and beyond the civil law covering, for example, processes for Church discipline in the light of civil prosecution, or for matters that might not meet the criteria for civil prosecution.

"This affirming and widening ... is welcome and timely, especially as it comes during the Royal Commission on Abuse in Care, which the Catholic Church strongly supports."

Bishops

If the bishop does not, or if he fails to report sex crimes to church authorities, he can be removed from office for "culpable negligence".

There is, however, no punishment foreseen in church law if he fails to report the crime to police.

The changes represent the biggest overhaul of the Catholic Church's criminal code for nearly 40 years.

They make sexual abuse, grooming minors for sex, possessing child pornography and covering up abuse a criminal offence under Vatican law.

Priests

A big change involves sexual relations between priests and consenting adults.

The Vatican has long considered such relations sinful but consensual, taking the view that an adults' age will ensure they can accept or refuse consent.

But amid the #MeToo movement and scandals of seminarians and nuns being sexually abused by their superiors, the Vatican has come to realize that adults can be victimised if there is a power imbalance in the relationship.

Therefore, priests who engage in sexual acts with anyone — not just a minor or someone who lacks the use of reason — can be defrocked if they used "force, threats or abuse of his authority" to engage in sexual acts.

The law doesn't explicitly define which adults are covered, saying only "one to whom the law recognises equal protection."

Laity

In what CNS describes as "a novelty" lay people can be sanctioned for sex crimes committed by laypeople who hold church offices, founders of lay religious movements or even parish accountants and administrators.

The new law says laypeople can be similarly punished if they abuse their authority to engage in sexual crimes.

Since these laypeople can't be defrocked, penalties include losing their jobs, paying fines or being removed from their communities.

14 years

The new provisions have taken 14 years of study to prepare. They are in the revised criminal law section of the Vatican's Code of Canon Law.

Francis says said one aim of the changes was to "reduce the number of cases in which the... penalty was left to the discretion of authorities".

Victims and critics have been complaining for decades about the outdated laws, saying they were designed to protect perpetrators and were open to interpretation.

Lowe is welcoming the new code, which comes into effect on 8 December.

"The Catholic Church accepts the responsibility to act when abuse occurs in the Church.

"We will act by listening, learning and supporting those affected by abuse.

"We will act swiftly on complaints and follow them through.

"We will hold those to account who have been proven responsible for abuse. This upgrading of Canon Law affirms that."

Source

• NCR Online
• HuffPost
• NZ Catholic Bishops Conference
• BBC
• Image: Catholic Diocese of Wellington

Pope Francis announced the new ministry this month.

NZ Catholic Bishops Conference secretary, Bishop Stephen Lowe, says the bishops have received many questions since the pope's announcement.

Many of these have been about the formation of the new lay catechists and how the ministry will link to lay pastoral workers.

The bishops will be studying Antiquum Ministerium - the pope's motu proprio Apostolic Letter - in the months ahead," he says.

The ministry was established "to respond to an urgent need for the evangelisation of the modern world… undertaken in a ‘secular' manner, avoiding clericalisation," an announcement from the Vatican says.

It will formally recognise "those lay men and women who feel called by virtue of their baptism to cooperate in the work of catechesis."

In the context of evangelisation in the contemporary world and in the face of "the rise of a globalised culture,"it is necessary to recognise "those lay men and women who feel called by virtue of their baptism to cooperate in the work of catechesis," Antiquum Ministerium says.

The document says it is up to local bishops' conferences to decide the local formation process and the criteria for admitting people to the new lay Catechist ministry.

"The bishops' discussion will also involve the ministries of lector and acolyte, which are now available to lay men and women," says Lowe.

Lowe points out that the Church in Aotearoa New Zealand has long incorporated the involvement of lay Catholics.

Katekita Maori (Maori catechists), for example, can trace their involvement back to Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier, he says.

At a local level, the Church also has a rich lay involvement and leadership, he says.

This includes parish leadership and pastoral workers in various forms according to the local context.

He acknowledges that expectations for immediate change tend to follow when announcements come from the Holy Father.

"But the broadening of these ministries are examples of where our local Church needs some time to receive more information from the Vatican, and also to reflect on the implications for pastoral practice in the Church in Aotearoa New Zealand.

"The New Zealand Bishops Conference is one of the smaller Conferences of Bishops around the world, with a small secretariat.

"This has the advantage that the bishops are more easily able to work together. However, the disadvantage of our individual bishops having a lot more areas of responsibilities can at times lead to some delay in implementing new initiatives," Lowe says.

The NZ Catholic Bishops Conference's next meeting will be in Wellington from 31 October to 4 November. This is the meeting at which the new ministry will be discussed.

Source

• Vatican News
• NZ Catholic Bishops Conference
• Image: NZ Catholic

The bishops have decided to postpone the hikoi in which a specially-commissioned artwork will be displayed.

Bishop Stephen Lowe, (pictured) Secretary of the Bishops' Conference, says the bishops revised their original plan after deciding the hikoi had been approved without sufficient discussions with the wider community, including Katorika (Catholic) Maori.

The postponement is 'until further notice'.

Lowe says a decision on whether a hikoi might be planned for after 15 August would be made following further community discussions.

The hikoi had been set for the three months leading to the Feast of the Assumption on 15 August.

Despite the postponement, the bishops' other plans to renew the country's dedication to Our Lady will continue.

They will still gather at St Mary of the Angels Church in Wellington on Sunday 15 August for a Mass to renew Pompallier's 1838 dedication of Aotearoa New Zealand to Our Lady Assumed into Heaven.

When the hikoi was first announced in March, Bishop Stephen Lowe explained its purpose.

"Bishop Pompallier had already dedicated the country to Mary."

"But the bishops thought the idea of a renewal of that dedication had merit, especially because this year, August 15th is a Sunday.

"Mary has a special and very holy place in the hearts of Catholics. In this time of a world pandemic, we felt it fitting to renew our country's dedication to her."

Pompallier - who was the country's first Catholic bishop (1838 to 1868) - dedicated the country to Our Lady's care when he celebrated his first Mass here at Totara Point in Northland on 13 January 1838.

Parishes throughout the country will continue to be invited to join in prayer for the renewal of the dedication.

The bishops commissioned the artwork of Mary from Christchurch artist Damien Walker and had planned that the work would be taken on a hikoi around each of the country's six Catholic dioceses in the three months leading to the Solemnity of the Assumption.

Damien Walker, says the painting "presents Mary as a symbol of unity in her universal motherhood, uniting Heaven and Earth in her son."

"She reflects the unity of the Church, which reaches to the ends of the Earth, stretching not only across the oceans but across the centuries as well.

"The work has a distinctly New Zealand flavour, emphasising also the unity of the tangata whenua with all the other peoples who have come to live alongside them in the partnership of biculturalism, called to live the same faith and baptism, each in their unique way."

In the bishops' statement, Lowe does not mention what will happen with the artwork.

Source

• New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference
• New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference
• Image: NZ Catholic