It is almost instinctively that one reaches, when attempting to explain what is going on today in the Catholic church, for metaphors out of the natural world — storms, earthquakes, seismic shifts — to get at the magnitude of events. We search for the terms that explain what we’re experiencing: phenomena beyond the ordinary disturbances Read more
A recent US study of those who took their perpetual vows in 2011 shows that new religious are younger and more educated than in the past. “We are encouraged by the report’s findings that men and women are considering a vocation at a younger age,” said Mercy Sister Mary Joanna Ruhland, associate director of the Read more
Sister of Our Lady of the Missions, Thelma Szymanska, took her permanent vows in January of 1952 and took the name Sister Mary St. Martha RNDM (Religious Notre Dame Des Mission).
She celebrated her 60th anniversary as a nun earlier this month. The occasion was marked after several church meetings. “It was a very little celebration,” she says.
Sister Martha says there were a lot of reasons she decided to become a nun. “The main reason would be that I was such a wayward kind of person
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Every year, hundreds of young Catholic women graduate from universities, graduate programs in religion, divinity schools and seminaries. Many of them go on to be theologians, chaplains, nonprofit leaders, advocates, activists and social workers doing outreach with the homeless, the incarcerated and victims of domestic violence. Their work is not only high-risk, it is often Read more
After a 133-year unbroken association with Hokitika, the Sisters of Mercy are to withdraw from the town.
Sr Mary Cosgrove is the sole remaining resident at the Sisters of Mercy House, in Stafford Street behind St Mary’s Church, but with the house up for sale she is due to move to Canterbury once it sells.
Sr Mary spent 18 years in Hokitika, from 1975 to 1984, before moving to Ashburton as a pastoral education assistant, but she said she felt a calling to come back to Hokitika two and a half years ago.
“I principally came here as a support person for Sr Eulalie Martini, who died earlier in the year at 102 years.”
From time to time, Vatican officials are accused of living in a bubble, detached from the complex and sometimes harsh realities facing ordinary people. However accurate that may be in individual cases, it’s certainly not the story of Brazilian Archbishop Joao Braz de Aviz, 64, appointed in January as the new prefect of the Congregation Read more
A special “no agenda” meeting called by Pope Benedict at the Vatican on June 13 discussed several concerns about Religious Life. Respected Vatican journalist, Andrea Tornielli reports that while there was no public agenda, the meeting involved the leaders of the Roman Curia and covered the importance of maintaining separation between men’s and women’s religious communities the need Read more
A recent cartoon in the DomPost featuring two sisters in old fashioned habits flanking a rugby player has prompted Mercy Sister Elizabeth Julian to reveal her real-life rugby pedigree. As a teacher of members of the Fili, Lealamanua, Fea’unati and Fa’atau families at schools in Miramar (Holy Cross) and Newtown (St Anne’s), she can claim to be a Read more
The Sisters of Compassion are holding their General Chapter in Wellington. 50 are attending from New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and Tonga. The General Chapter is held every six years. Sisters look again at the Mission of Christ entrusted to the Congregation and how this is being carried out. In the light of the signs of Read more
There may have been a royal wedding at Westminster Abbey on Friday, April 29 which captured the world’s media attention but for those at Marist Seminary, Auckland there was only one celebration on their minds. On Saturday April 30 at St Annes Manurewa, seminarian Petero Chanel Aparama Matairatu SM made his perpetual profession in the Read more