The nuncio met with the college's staff and students on August 19, and presided over a college Mass which celebrated the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady.

"We should never forget to focus our heart and mind on our vocation to holiness - a vocation inviting us to willingly and sincerely avoid sin and avoid all the ideologies that, today more than ever before, are leading our society to justify what is wrong and to demonise what is right," Rugambwa said in his homily. Read more

The NZCEO is looking to support future Catholic leaders who need to undertake qualifications in Catholic Leadership or special character, including Theology and Religious Education.

There is a limited fund to provide scholarships for teachers and aspiring leaders and those in leadership positions to undertake tertiary qualifications - in the main at postgraduate level.

NZCEO is accepting applications for a study scholarship for teachers in Catholic schools or teachers in state schools who want to take on leadership positions in Catholic schools.

"We have successfully had two cohorts in the last two years - one in Wellington and in Auckland," a spokesperson from Te Kupenga says in a statement.

"Effective leadership in Catholic organisations begins with formation," says Te Kupenga.

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• Te Kupenga
• Te Kupenga

When they arrive in New Zealand, it is planned that they will work to complete level 6.5 IELTS academic (English language), while living in their "home" dioceses in this country, so they can begin studies at Te Kupenga - Catholic Theological College, and apply to become seminarians.

NZ Catholic understands that the timing of their eventual arrival in New Zealand will depend on the New Zealand Government allowing foreign students to once again enter the country for study.

The sixteen will have to go through whatever MIQ or isolation requirements are in place when that happens.

Former Holy Cross College rector Msgr Brendan Daly has played a key role in arranging for the Vietnamese men to come to New Zealand.

Msgr Daly, who lectures in canon law at Te Kupenga Catholic Theological College's Auckland campus, has previously liaised with Church authorities in Vietnam to bring men to this country to study for the priesthood.

He told NZ Catholic that he was asked to get three seminarians for the Christchurch diocese a year ago.

"Then I was asked to get three for Wellington archdiocese.

"The requests just kept growing, so that there are one for Dunedin, four for Christchurch, three for Wellington, four for Palmerston North, two for Hamilton and three for Auckland diocese" he said.

Msgr Daly said that, in July last year, 200 young men sat the seminary entrance exam for Vinh-Thanh seminary in Vinh diocese in northern Vietnam, and 40 were accepted.

"I asked Bishop [Pierre Nguyen Van] Vien about the possibility of some of those who were not accepted for the seminary in Vietnam coming to New Zealand instead.

"Bishop Vien consulted with the Vinh seminary rector and the parish priests of prospective students, and during the next few months the students agreed to come.

"They were interviewed on zoom by Father Tien Cao, the vocation director in Christchurch, and myself.

"There was also a zoom call to each of their parents to obtain permission to bring their sons to New Zealand," he said.

Msgr Daly added that, before the first Vietnamese students came to Christchurch several years ago, he met with their parents in Vietnam and received permission to bring them to New Zealand.

"It was a very formal occasion for the parents who were formally dressed for the occasion. Then there was a meal afterwards".

The sixteen who have agreed to come to New Zealand have moved to Da Nang in Vietnam to study English.

"They are living in a three-storey house together, and their accommodation is being financed by the New Zealand dioceses on a pro-rata basis", Msgr Daly said.

These students are all aged in their 20s, and 15 have university degrees, he added.

"The sixteenth has studied music for several years and is very intelligent.

"The most common degree is Information Technology - one had a degree in English and there are several engineers and some accountants" he said.

Msgr Daly said that the 16 men "are committed Catholics who want to be priests.  They have good human qualities, are intelligent, and the bishop, who studied in Australia, has judged that they will adjust well and adapt to a society like New Zealand's".

Parishioners in this country should "welcome them warmly, as they welcome so many immigrants who are so much a part of our parish communities now in New Zealand", he added.

NZ Catholic asked Msgr Daly to comment on why he thinks the Church in Vietnam produces so many potential vocations to the priesthood and religious life. He said "The Church in Vietnam has experienced a great deal of persecution over the centuries. Possibly there have been hundreds of thousands of martyrs in Vietnam.

"The people are very conscious of the heroes in the faith who have preceded them. That helps inspire young people to accept vocations to priesthood and religious life".

Msgr Daly also expressed the hope that the example of the men from Vietnam might encourage more vocations in New Zealand.

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• First published NZ Catholic (Republished with permission)
• Image:NZ Catholic
  

Dr John Evangelista says he has big dreams for CTC and for Catholic education in New Zealand.

"Hopefully this will be the seed for the future Catholic University of New Zealand," he says.

"We have a rich history of Catholic education here in New Zealand, very good primary and secondary schools. Why not a university?"

Evangelista is a medical doctor with a Licentiate in Theology from the University of Navarre and the Roman College of the Holy Cross in Rome.

He says he is inspired by Pope emeritus Benedict XVI's comment that Catholic education "nurtures the soul of a nation.

"If you could imbibe Christian values into sciences, mathematics, the arts, history and everything else, it [would] make a big difference," Benedict said.

Evangelista says although his dream of New Zealand having a Catholic university may not come to pass in his lifetime, he can make a start.

This means starting with small things like offering a teacher training programme, or a leadership course, he suggests.

"Aside from our level 5,6,7 courses in theology, we [CTC] plan to introduce a master's programme in theology, because a lot of RE directors in Catholic schools and principals are looking for higher education, in terms of theology, that will help them in their teaching and their career."

Other ideas include investigating offering micro-credentials and non-accredited courses, along with starting a continuing professional education programme.

Since Evangelista started working at the college, a three-year strategic plan has been developed and endorsed by their governance board.

"This is putting in the foundation for what we would like to happen in the future," Evangelista explains.

The first point in this plan is to increase awareness of the college.

"Only a very limited number of people really know what we're doing since the merger only started in January, 2020. We still need to tell people what we are doing and what CTC is all about."

Another priority is succession planning to "future-proof" the college.

"A lot of our senior lecturers are close to retirement or are at retirement age. The median age really would be about 64-65 years old. We have to prepare so that in the next five years they would have already trained their successors," Evangelista says.

In addition, CTC has embarked on a marketing campaign to increase the number of enrolments.

Holy Cross seminarians will always have a place at CTC as they "are the lifeline of the Church", Evangelista says.

"We need more priests in New Zealand, and we have to make sure they are well-formed. There has to be a good training ground for their academic formation," he said.

Evangelista says CTC will also help the bishops in the formation of the lay catechists. At present CTC has several lay students enrolled in the Bachelor of Theology course.

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• NZ Catholic
• Image: NZ Catholic