The most significant effect will be that at several of the four parishes affected, the number of Sunday Masses will be reduced from two to one. This will mean that the number of Masses celebrated in Invercargill will reduce from 12 to 9 on Sundays. .Continue reading in NZ Catholic

Now in his late 70s, Father Smith comes from Ngati Kahungunu and was born near Wairoa. But a great grandmother came from the Coast so he does have connections here, he says.

He humbly insists there is nothing special about him and he will "just be a priestly presence and an assistant to Msgr Eggleton."

Smith entered the seminary in Sydney at the age of 33 with the Marist priests.

He was transferred back to Napier to Mount St Mary's Greenmeadows to complete his training.

He was ordained on Takitimu Marae, Wairoa, in 1977.

Before training to be a priest Smith was a lay brother.

"I learned cooking before moving onto wine-making, as my cooking skills were less than acceptable.

"Then farming in the Manawatu and Whangarei."

In 1991 Smith was appointed as the sixth rector of Hato Paora College.

Smith's appointment was extremely significant because he was an old boy of the college and he was the first Maori rector.

Smith also taught at St John's Hastings and a catholic boarding college in Gladstone, NSW.

He also had time out of the priesthood and ran a mental health housing facility for 30 clients in Te Puke.

Source

• gisborneherald.co.nz
• ourarchive.otago.ac.nz
• Image: gisborneherald.co.nz

In an open letter to Catholics in Wairarapa, Father Julian Wagg says all parishes in New Zealand face unprecedented challenges because of a wide range of factors and the Archdiocese of Wellington.

"As a result we are required to undergo the most dramatic changes since the Diocese was first formed 163 years ago," Wagg says.

The One Wairarapa Parish is to be united by February 1, 2015.

'"The approach is to be collaborative, a shared Mission of Evangelisation; the future of our local church depends on all the gifts in our parish communities being used for the good of the Body of Christ."

Representatives from all three parishes have formed a working group comprising clergy, lay pastoral leaders and chairs of the parish pastoral councils and finance committees.

To assist this group, and involve as many parishioners as possible, three subcommittees have been formed to discuss pastoral, communication and finance issues presented by the merger.

Two updates on progress have been released to the three parishes and a website and email address have been created to foster a two-way flow of information. Continue reading