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 Read more
Why did I join? Well the short answer is, I went to college one night and I was getting some material for an assignment that was overdue. I popped in to see Father Fred Bliss and he said, “What are you doing next year?” I said, “Well, I don’t know.” What might you be doing?” Read more
Being ordained was a time of giddy celebration. I was vaunted as one of the celebrities of life. I remember actually the day after my ordination saying to Joan, my sister, “Gosh, I was at the centre of attention last night at the ordination and now I’ve got all this responsibility and all the hype Read more
One of the negatives I would have about Greenmeadows is there is no old boys association. The relationship between it and its alumni was bizarre. There were hangovers of the Irish ‘spoiled priest’ routine – that there was something bad about opting out along the way. In the early days people just disappeared. There’s be Read more
I’ve spoken to Gerard Vaughan and Kingy, and I think there is an underlying issue for us all: how do we replace something as intense and as wonderful as our live in the seminary? It left quite a vacuum. When I left the seminary, i did struggle to find the signficant meaning that it provided. Read more