Yesterday St Joseph’s Home of Compassion rest home in Upper Hutt was facing imminent closure. Today it hopes to keep its doors open after all, says Chief Executive Chris Gallavin. Last month, Gallavin announced the 87-bed rest home would close. Hearing of the closure, Upper Hutt mayor Wayne Guppy said it was “catastrophic for the Read more
The Sisters of Compassion’s new co-chief executive is Deacon Danny Karatea-Goddard. Karatea-Goddard’s appointment was made by Māori-Tumu Whakarae of the Sisters of Compassion Group, the religious order founded by Meri Hōhepa Mother Suzanne Aubert. He will join Dr Chris Gallavin, appointed in March last year, in the co-chief executive position. Karatea-Goddard has been the Māori Read more
Sister Catherine Hannan, a well-known Sister of Compassion, passed away last Friday after a short illness. Her funeral took place at the Sisters’ motherhouse in Island Bay on Monday. In the New Year Honours List, she had been awarded the Queen’s Service Medal for services to the community. Read more in NZ Catholic
Suzanne Aubert is one more step on the road to sainthood. A plausible miracle attributed to her has been referred to Vatican doctors for scrutiny. New Zealand Catholic bishops, in Rome for a pilgrimage and a meeting with Pope Francis last week, discussed the possible canonisation of Suzanne Aubert with the Congregation for the Causes Read more
The Sisters of Compassion’ involvement during the 1918 influenza pandemic is remembered in a temporary exhibition. The exhibition is open from 11 November 2018 – 31 March 2019 at Our Lady’s Home of Compassion at Island Bay in Wellington. Eight Sisters of Compassion responded. As the disease worsened they were joined by a further eight Read more
New Zealand’s capital city has recognised Suzanne Aubert’s lifelong devotion to the sick and the poor, with the installation of a heritage plaque at the crèche she built in 1914. The plaque was officially unveiled by Wellington City Councillor, Nicola Young, on Friday, the 92nd anniversary of Mother Aubert’s funeral on 5 October 1926. The Read more
The Presbyterian Church in Island Bay, Wellington, along with local community groups is putting on a festival from 4-7 October called CompassionFest, which celebrates the virtue of compassion through the life of Mother Aubert. One of the events is Splendid Drop, a beer-tasting night at which Petal and Pestle, a Belgian Red Ale brewed in honour of Mother Aubert, Read more
The Compassion Soup Kitchen in Wellington, run by the Sisters of Compassion for 116 years, was honoured as Supreme Winner at the 2018 Wellington Airport Regional Community Awards ceremony on Thursday 26 July. They also won the Health and Well-being category. The Wellington Airport Regional Awards are run by the Wellington International Airport, the Wellington Read more
An urban vegetable garden next to the Compassion Soup Kitchen in Haining Street, Wellington, was opened and blessed on Tuesday. The ceremony took place at 7am on a cool Wellington morning and was attended by about 100 people. The space for te māra (the garden) was gifted to guests of the Soup Kitchen by the Sisters of Read more
Last year, Suzanne Aubert was declared “venerable” by Pope Francis, and supporters of her canonisation are now literally waiting on a miracle. A first miracle would see her named as “Blessed”, and a second would mean her being named a saint. The sisters of Compassion property in Island Bay has been developed in the expectation of Read more