Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Tolaga Bay celebrated 100 years this month with a special mass of thanksgiving led by Bishop Richard Laurenson from the Hamilton Diocese. About 70 people attended the mass including the Filipino choir which led the singing. Parish priest Mark Field said it was a good turnout on a perfect spring Read more
The Marist Rugby Club will now celebrate 101 years instead of its planned 100 year birthday bash. Those attached to the well supported Invercargill-based club had poured many hours into organising a centenary weekend to celebrate 100 years of the club at Queens Birthday weekend this year. Read more
Pope Francis has said he will visit Portugal in 2017 for the 100th anniversary of the Marian apparitions in Fatima. Following a private audience with the Pope, Bishop Antonio Marto of Leiria-Fatima told media that Francis expressed a desire to make the trip, provided he is still “alive and healthy” at the time. If Francis Read more
A priest whose father was a Gallipoli veteran has given up the opportunity to attend the centenary celebrations in Turkey. Fr David Mullins, SM, was selected for a double pass in the New Zealand Gallipoli ballot last year. There were 9851 applicants, and only 950 double passes were issued. But Stuff reported that the retired Read more
The Society of St Pius X community in New Zealand will celebrate the centenary in August of the former Ngongotaha church it relocated to Auckland. The Immaculate Conception Church from Ngongotaha near Rotorua was relocated to Avondale two years ago. The building was rededicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Fr Robert MacPherson, SSPX, said Read more
Germany’s Catholic bishops have acknowledged that churches share responsibility for “war-mongering” in the build up to the First World War. In a statement, the bishops said the Great War’s dimensions were “shocking”. The conflict from 1914 to 1918 left 16 million dead and 21 million wounded. The centenary of the outbreak of the war was Read more
About 130 former pupils and family from around New Zealand, with a few from Australia, attended a St Ita’s School centenary reunion at Rakaia at the weekend. The school opened in 1912 in a building which remains in the town today, and has become the St Ita’s Guest House. The catholic school closed 25 years Read more
One hundred years after a parish priest expressed concerns that plans for it were too ambitious, the Sacred Heart Basilica in Timaru has celebrated its centenary. The celebrations, which took up much of the weekend, culminated with a 90-minute mass on Sunday morning which saw the church packed out with hundreds of attendees, including numerous Read more