A bonus was that parishioners from all five towns in the Wairarapa parish worked together for the first time since the parish was formed in 2015.

Ministry formation is necessary because most of us think of our involvement in the Church in the same way as volunteering in the community, says Wairarapa's new parish priest Dennis Nacorda.

"We need to understand that involvement in the ministry in the Church is far deeper than that.

"To be involved in any ministry is a response from the common call we share, whether ordained or lay, in baptism."

Nacorda says ministry formation is one way the Church equips parishioners and prepares them to serve in various ministries.

"This process helps parishioners discern and cultivate their unique gifts and charisms for the service of others.

"The formation process typically involves spiritual, intellectual, pastoral and human development, ensuring that individuals are well-rounded and capable of effectively ministering to others.

"It includes theological education, spiritual direction, practical training and ongoing formation to deepen one's relationship with God and grow in holiness.

"By engaging in ministry formation, individuals respond to the call to serve Christ and His Church, living out the Gospel in their daily lives and witnessing to the love and mercy of God."

Enthusiastic response

Those at the ministry formation workshops were positive about their experience.

"The questions about what we're doing and why we're doing it really made me think. And the talk about safekeeping was important. Not everyone is up to speed with safekeeping, especially if they've been out of the workforce for a while" said one participant.

"It's good that we're all starting from a shared understanding" said another.

"It was a positive experience - warm and enthusiastic."

"It's wonderful we came together to learn and deepen our understanding of our ministries and faith as a parish family - and to know we'll keep meeting, greeting and learning."

Wellington Archdiocesan staff Kevin Plant and Lucienne Hensel led workshops.

Strong turnout

Delighted with the 50-strong turnout on a Saturday morning, parish pastoral chair Peter McCardle says the day marked the first of many combined parish activities.

"It's an exciting and significant moment" he says.

"Our parish plan for the next couple of years includes many lay activities which will see us join together much more often."

These activities include workshops and development opportunities to further extend parishioners' ministry and formation training.

Long term goal

Nacorda says the parish's goal for ministry formation is to practise synodality in the parish.

"When we start looking at the Church from the same perspective, it makes it easier for each one to work more collaboratively and in a synodal way" he says.

Source

• Archdiocese of Wellington
• Interviews

Hana Makin, a lead member of the garden's management team, remains optimistic about the garden's role in the community.

"This hasn't changed the fact that we have this beautiful space and great people who keep it going," she stated.

Makin encouraged the thieves to return the stolen items, including wheelbarrows, a lawnmower, and gardening tools, no questions asked.

The garden continues to serve as a hub for community bonding and learning. It contributes produce to local food initiatives, fostering a spirit of sharing and resilience in Featherston.

With an open invitation for community involvement and ongoing police investigations, there remains hope that the garden will recover and continue to be a beacon of community spirit and cooperation in Featherston.

Source

• Wairarapa Times-Age

In contrast to these joyous large Catholic gatherings of families at Christmas, a recent Post Opinion piece followed many other articles highlighting the well-publicised allegations of abuse committed within the Catholic Church.

This will be again, and rightly so, the subject of major media attention when the Royal Commission reports back soon.

To be very clear, these are failures of individuals, not of God.

Issues of abuse should have been dealt with properly when they were discovered, and the Church must continue to acknowledge and heal the hurt that has occurred.

Despite those serious failures, they are not representative of the Church as a whole.

I want to share with you why I love my church and will continue working within it for the duration of my retirement.

For nearly 30 years I worked in and around Parliament, including as a Minister of the Crown and later as a senior Beehive health advisor in the John Key Government.

As I went through these frantically busy health years, I became increasingly attached to the Sunday masses at the Home of Compassion in Silverstream, Upper Hutt.

I became the helper of their many aged priests and nuns.

Their humility, their complete disinterest in acquiring anything material, their dedication to serving their resident Compassion community, was in stark contrast to my work in Parliament and the Beehive.

There I was part of the never-ending fight for power, where the environment is so nurturing of our egos, which is hard for anyone to avoid.

In the Sunday oasis that was the Catholic Rest Home chapel, I realised what was important in my life.

That was my family, my Catholic faith, and helping people here, the elderly.

Being a historian, I also spent my new retirement studying my church's history, especially its failures like the Spanish Inquisition, and some fighting Popes; in short, all of its successes and failures.

During this time, I began to realise the unbelievable gifts that I had received all my life from my Church and from my faith received from the teachings of my Church.

We moved to beautiful Greytown it became time for me to give back to my community and to my church.

Throughout New Zealand and indeed most of the Western world, as a result of the declining number of priests in New Zealand, ageing buildings, financial pressures and other factors, we have closed Churches all over New Zealand.

This has caused deep hurt, especially in towns where Churches have or are being closed, especially smaller isolated towns like my Greytown, Picton, and so many others.

But no matter where a Catholic lives, Featherston, Martinborough, Greytown, Carterton or Masterton, or in Africa, France or South America; our Mass is the same; our beliefs identical.

As it has been since the founding of our church with St Peter as the first Pope from 33 AD.

New Zealand has also changed from a dominantly Christian country to one where Christians are about a third of the nation; immigration from Asia especially has brought diversification.

‘Don't believe in God" is the newly arrived big group of New Zealanders; including many who are agnostic; people who neither believe in God, nor don't believe in him. They don't know.

The reasons for this are many, such as our busy lives. People have so many important things to worry about; jobs, kids, savings, health, all result in a working lifetime focussed on the immediate.

Despite these day-to-day pressures and historical issues, I want to share some of the important reasons why I am and have become a "convinced Catholic".

My faith tells me that there is life after death, that we have spirits, that we are sentient beings quite different to all other animals.

This life after death was described by St Paul shortly after Christ's death; "the eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man; the wonders that God has prepared for those who love him." We should live our lives in a way that achieves this eternal life.

My studying of the first century leads me to the unavoidable conclusion that historically Christ lived, and died, for our sins.

He came during the reign of Augustus Caesar when the Roman Empire and the destruction of human life were at their peak.

Human life had no worth, as evidenced in slavery, brutal martyrdoms and arena fights to the death, to the cheers of the masses. Cities were often massacred to the last life.

Christ was born, and he taught that each soul had worth.

Along with seeking your and your loved ones eternal happiness, the second personal reason I present is the lack of any logical alternative explanation for mankind's existence.

I accept, as proved by Catholic theologian Georges Lemaitre, that the universe is 13 plus billion years old, and that man in this timeframe is a more recent creation of God.

Evolution in nature makes sense for most of creation, but as Darwin pointed out, the greatest weakness in his theory of such human evolution is the unsolvable gaps between the many species uncovered by archaeology, such as Heidelburgensis and Neanderthal man.

Personally, I can think of no sadder discovery than to find we are just advanced animals, and that there is no higher reason for the existence of ourselves, our parents, and our loved ones.

Finally, my conviction comes from my own experience.

I have realised that throughout my life God's Holy Spirit has been at work; from becoming an MP; a Cabinet Minister, to creating WINZ which was my reason for running, becoming a Deputy Mayor, and my lovely and healthy family now with the joy of grandchildren.

It is obvious that very little of this was my doing.

I realised that when I asked God for things through my years and worries, astonishing things often happened.

Always I thought; surely coincidence. But now, as I continue to ask God for things, I know his Holy Spirit is at work. The Holy Spirit is how God works in the world; so if you are in need, ask him to send his Holy Spirit, to help you with what you need.

My personal hope is that it would be wonderful to be able to make others, especially agnostics, aware of the truths behind our faith.

Would it not be wonderful in the future to have our churches or perhaps some mission centres open all week, with some Catholics and coffee available to welcome the lonely?

Could we work with our fellow Christian denominations in our towns to show what we have in common?

In these times of need, division, mental health needs and loneliness; I am grateful to be given this opportunity to share what is actually, a topic of eternal importance.

• Peter McCardle is the newly appointed Chair of the Wairarapa Catholic Parish Pastoral Council. He is a retired former Cabinet Minister who created WINZ, Deputy Mayor, and published a book last year. Lives in Greytown.
• First published in the Wairarapa Times-Age. Reproduced with permission of Peter McCardle.

The villa was formerly home to St Mary's Catholic Church's parish priest in Carterton and was hauled away in pieces in the middle of the night in November last year.

The building is now located on a 2.5ha rural property on Bidwell's Cutting Rd between Greytown and Martinborough.

Its new owner, Matt Calder, has been working on transforming the tired old building into a fully strengthened and remodelled 260sqm family home. Continue reading

The news of deconsecration withdrawal came in a letter to Wairarapa Parish Priest Fr Bruce England and was distributed to the Martinborough community parishioners.

With Dew recovering from an operation, the letter was written by Coadjutor Archbishop Paul Martin.

In his letter, Martin is clear that the church should not be strengthened and should be permanently closed.

Martin, however, encourages England to further explore a Mission Centre as originally proposed in 2020 by Dew.

He says the Mission Centre needed to be carefully designed, have a small chapel and a space (including toilets and kitchen) where the community can gather for a weekday Liturgy of the Word with Communion or occasional weekday Mass, for the Rosary, for meeting and praying with Christians of other denominations and even for small funerals for local people.

Martin says the Mission Centre should be a place of welcome for the wider community and be available for community activities and as a base for activities to help the needy, including the services provided by Catholic Social Services.

In a reversal of view, Martin asks England to explore subdividing the Martinborough property so the church can be separated from the adjoining vacant land.

Martin also strongly encourages England to urgently add competent people to the Parish Finance Committee so that it involves the whole parish, and that there be proper processes around nominations and appointments.

He is asking England to have someone on the committee with good communication skills.

The move comes after parishioners lodged a Church legal case to the Vatican opposing Dew's "Decree of Deconsecration and Reduction to Profane but not Sordid Use" letter.

The parishioners' appeal is in accord with CIC Canon 1737.

Relying on the book "Fruits of the Toil," a history of St Anthony of Padua Church by Fr Vince McGlone, the parishioners say building the church began in 1923 but was completed by parishioners' efforts only in 1953.

The book recounts a clear statement from Church authorities in Masterton and Wellington saying they could not financially assist in its construction.

Lead submitter Dan Riddiford maintains that St Anthony of Padua church is part of the community's patrimony and, quoting Canon 1222 §2, Riddiford submits that Archbishop Dew did not have the consent of those who lawfully claim rights over the church.

Using the language of the Canon, parishioners also claim that the ‘good of their souls' has been harmed by the transfer to profane use. They told CathNews that using an alternative venue means they have no place to call their own, and no provision is made for reserving the Blessed Sacrament for the purpose of ministering to the sick.

In this small rural community, parishioners also say they used to have 30+ regularly at Saturday night Mass, that few drive out of Martinborough for anything, and after the Mass in Martinborough was cancelled, a maximum of only six people travel to Mass in Featherston.

He says that the community is experiencing a surge in population but, like parishes everywhere, there is a mix of regular and resting Catholics.

He views the presence of resting Catholics as an opportunity.

Looking forward, the parishioners note the success of the well-patronised monthly service Catholics in Greytown run by themselves in the Union Church, followed by morning tea in an adjoining café.

Riddiford says rural parishes should not be forced to adopt a model of church that fits a city where churches are 5-10 minutes away and there is a public transport system.

"On the basis of my personal family history and the Catholic Church in general, I also question the assumption that our Catholic faith and churches must necessarily collapse in the absence of priests," writes Riddiford.

In line with the request of Archbishop Martin, parishioners are keen to hear back from Fr Bruce England, parish priest of Wairarapa.

Source

• Supplied
• Image: Parishioner Yvonne Riddiford in front of the stained-glass windows in St Anthony's Catholic Church in Martinborough donated by her family.

Former parish council member Asrina Hutchinson​ told Stuff it was sad to see the building go after it played such an important role in the community over the years.

"It was a very happy place and very much a parish community place," she said.

"It's sad because we had three or four generations of our family who have been part of that Catholic community."

In 2018 the Church next to the parish house was deemed an earthquake risk. The land and buildings were sold to developers earlier this year.

The Wairarapa parish has recently suffered several reversals; the Archdiocese closed the Carterton, Greytown and Martinborough churches - three of the parish's five faith communities.

The Wairarapa Times-Age reported several reasons for selling the three Wairarapa churches.

These include there being not enough priests to go around, high maintenance costs, declining congregations, and the directive from Pope Francis to focus more on missionary work.

In May, Wairarapa parishioner Gerard McGreevy told the Wairarapa Times-Age that closing church communities is not a way to support people.

McGreevy is the organiser of a Sunday morning alternative prayer service in Greytown.

Subsequently, others have asked how genuine Synodality really looks in the Church and are questioning whether Church administrators are leaving space for the Holy Spirit in the Synodal process.

"I thought Synodality was about listening together rather than church administrators at all levels of church management, having the Holy Spirit's personal direct dial number," a Wairarapa parishioner told CathNews.

Listening is an important attitude for Cardinal John Dew, who spoke recently to the national hui on synodality held in Wellington.

"Synodality calls us to listen to all the People of God, even if we think the ideas are whacky, or heretical or far-fetched.

"It is only in prayerful listening that we hear others and begin a dialogue . . . with the Spirit leading us," he said.

Then, on November 24, updating the archdiocese on the Synod process, Dew wrote thanking people for their participation in the Synodal process, saying, "I want you to know that your voices have been heard."

Meanwhile, the new owner of the Carterton parish house, Matt Calder, described the outside of the former parish house as "absolutely gorgeous" with "a huge amount of stature".

He says that when he's finished restoring it, the restored building will have four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and two living areas.

"When I'm finished with it, it should have another 110 years in it," Calder told Stuff.

He expects the restoration to be completed by March 2023.

Sources

• Stuff
• CathNews
• CathNews
• NZ Catholic
• Charities Commission
• Supplied

The way Catholics live out their faith is what's important, he says. They should trust in God, who always loves and blesses them. They should also try to bring divine love to people around them.

"We should try our best to promote charity work and give witness to the faith in our daily lives," he explained during a pastoral visit to four tiny parishes last week.

"Evangelisation does not mean to do major things but to live a good and simple life."

Build happy families, offer faith education to children, be honest in your livelihood, stay clear of drug abuse and treat drug abusers with love and respect.

Thien is the first archbishop to have visited one of the sub-parishes for a century or more. Welcomed with drums and trumpets, the 160-member Catholic community swelled so much that Thien had to celebrate an open-air Mass: the church was too small to accommodate the hundreds of visitors.

He praised the local people for properly maintaining their faith during decades of hard times and for producing a priest. This is despite hardships such as when their part of Vietnam was under communist control, the land reform system, religious restrictions and the Vietnam War were the order of the day.

"We come here to profess the faith and I am here to encourage all of you to be brave in your life of faith," he said.

Thien's pastoral visits are part of this year's archdiocese-wide programme for "year of evangelisation".

Other plans include introducing the Legion of Mary at parishes. Thien is calling on all parishes to have the Marian association do evangelisation work.

Hanoi Archdiocese, serves 330,000 Catholics out of a population of 10 million.

Source

• UCA News

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise (MBIE) rates St Patrick's as only 26% NBS compliant (New Building Standard).

Church engineers originally rated the building at a much safer 49%.

The new public compliance level has surprised some who attended Mass at St Patrick's.

"From 49% to just 26%, there's something amiss there," Mary Ann told CathNews.

"It's quite serious, they've based their advice to the Cardinal on wrong figures," she said.

Like other churches in the parish, Mary Ann is concerned the 26% rating will make the Masterton church too risky for parishioners to attend Mass.

The change in earthquake seismic rating comes amidst a time of significant change in the Wairarapa Catholic communities.

With three churches closed and up for sale, and now St Patrick's new seismic rating, it leaves Mary Ann less sure about the future of the Masterton Catholic Church.

The parish plan is to have Mass available at Featherston and Masterton.

It is a move parishioners have questioned.

When asked for input the parish said it preferred a 5 church community model.

Pat, a Featherston parishioner wonders if it is a chance to relook at things.

He laments the loss of the local community and wonders if 'Masterton' understands.

"I don't see why the priest can't promote the local community and come to the people rather than all the community travel to where the priest is".

A pragmatist, Pat admits his concerns may not eventuate.

After the merger of the five communities in 2014, by land area, the Wairarapa parish is the largest of the Archdiocese's parishes.

While the church has changed, diverse in nature, the small civic communities remain.

"Local community matters.

"Interesting model, this church one," Pat says, a little tongue in cheek.

He gets on with his day.

Sources

• Wairarapa Times-Age (2021)

Cardinal John Dew announced in June that only Featherston's St Teresa of Avila and Masterton's St Patrick's Church would be kept.

The following properties will be up for sale

• The Martinborough, Greytown, and Carterton churches are to be closed permanently, and the property is to be sold. The Carterton and Martinborough churches were closed in 2018 because they were earthquake-prone.
• The centre behind the Featherston presbytery could be retained, "if the parish wishes."
• The Carterton church hall was also to be sold, but there is a possibility of building a smaller multipurpose building closer to St Mary's School for school use.
• Te Ore Ore church land is to be returned to the marae.
• The Lansdowne hall and land are to be sold, and Moore House would be relocated or demolished.
• Research will be carried out on the ownership of St Joseph's Catholic Church in Riversdale and its future discussed with ecumenical partners to see if it should be sold.

The Martinborough parish has the opportunity to put a case forward to keep its hall if it can be repurposed, "as a centre for mission."

If they can repurpose it, the property is to be subdivided and the surplus land to be sold.

Reasons given for the decision to sell were:

• The shortage of priests
• High maintenance costs
• Declining congregations
• Pope Francis' focus more on missionary work

At the time of the proposed closures, the Wairarapa Parish Pastoral Council response to a reduction in parishes was "no".

It lobbied to retain all five churches with a call for leadership on how to achieve this.

The submission said there were examples of where one priest had served five to six parishes.

Source

• times-age.c0.nz
• Image: times-age.co.nz

Since then, consultations have taken place between the cardinal and the Riversdale Beach Charitable Trust about the church's status.

According to Trustee Neil Prichard, a sale was unlikely to happen. He said Dew's June statement reflected a misunderstanding about the 2017 memorandum of understanding between the trust and the Archdiocese.

Another trustee, Brian McGuinness, wrote to Dew to explain the status quo.

Dew responded, saying as the parish owned the property, it must be part of the property review. Still, discussions between the trust and the parish needed to take place.

As reported in the Wairarapa Times-Age, Dew said, "I would like the parish to discuss the future of the church with the trust and whether it should remain the parish's ownership, or whether perhaps it would be better owned by the trust."

"In those discussions, it is essential that the parish's capacity to provide masses at Riversdale is taken into account. I am happy to abide by those discussions, but they need to take place."

St Joseph's Catholic church was built in nearby Tinui in 1881. The building was relocated to serve Riversdale Beach 100 years later. Heritage New Zealand has recently listed St Joseph's as a Category 2 Historic Place.

In recent years the building had been refurbished, and the property had been successfully managed. The funds required to do this had come from substantial community donations of labour, materials, and cash.

"The main point is, whether owned by the parish or the trust in the future, it seems clear that St Joseph's will remain under the management of the trust and continue to be available for religious purposes to the Riversdale Beach community for the foreseeable future," Prichard said.

Sources

Wairarapa Times Age

In a letter to parishes in February, the Archbishop of Wellington Cardinal John Dew directed them to review their churches and presbyteries in response to a "critical situation" with the availability of priests and make "prudent" use of buildings. Continue reading

One of the churches is Martinborough's St Anthony of Padua.

The decision left the local Catholic community to sort out its immediate future including the Christmas Eve Vigil Mass and Carols celebration.

The Martinborough Catholic community considered a number of suggestions including offers of alternative venues from other Christian denominations.

But given past attendance of about 170 and their desire to retain a presence in Martinborough, they decided to remain onsite for Christmas and beyond.

Taking a risk with the weather, they held their traditional Christmas Mass outdoors; alongside the church building and under the trees on the church property.

"We accessed 100 chairs from Chanel College to add to our local supply," said parishioner Margaret Bath.

"A conservative attendance was around 185 plus, with many standing or even sitting on the steps of the closed church.

"This made for a special and memorable celebration. The night started out balmy and chilled later……..but the rain held off.

"The evening had a "biblical" feel about it, the Holy Family were in temporary accommodation and amongst the cattle in the stable…..not to forget angels, wise men and shepherds," Bath said.

"We had horses in the paddock alongside that were interested in the proceedings and didn't smell or create health hazards."

Bath says they have approval for a second engineer to carry out a peer review of the church - they hope this will be carried out early this year.

"Interesting to note that the Government regulations allow for use of our building until 2033 while improvements are considered and carried out but the Church Administration went for automatic closure.

"We, the local Catholic community, had no input."

Source

• martinboroughstar.co.nz
• times-age.co.nz
• Image:martinboroughstar.co.nz

An open invitation has been made to anyone who wishes to attend.

The Evening Prayer of the church will be prayed and light refreshments will follow.

Cardinal John said he had been surprised by the level of interest in his appointment as New Zealand's fourth cardinal, and the first to be inducted in 32 years.

Since returning home media have been reporting on his activities.

The Dominion Post reporter noted that being a cardinal does not protect you from the tribulations that affect ordinary mortals.

Cardinal John arrived back in Wellington without his luggage - including scarlet cardinal's soutane.

It had gone astray after his plane out of Rome was delayed, causing him to miss his connecting flight from London.

"I got them back late Friday night,"

Last week when Cardinal John turned the first sod to mark the beginning of the building of a new gymnasium at Bishop Viard College, he was wearing a much less impressive black soutane with scarlet piping and buttons!

On the weekend he was in the Wairarapa to celebrate the first mass of the newly established Wairarapa Parish and to open a new Gymnasium name after him at the secondary school he attended in Masterton.

Cardinal John said it was his "great delight" that one of his first official duties as a new cardinal was to open the gymnasium.

He joked how he "just scraped through" School Certificate at St Joseph's, after his elder sister passed handsomely.

He said his father had remonstrated with him, saying if he had spend less time playing sport, he would have done better.

"If we had had this facility, I'm sure I would have done worse."

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Wairarapa Times-Age
• Image: Stuff.co.nz

The three separate parishes of Masterton, Carterton and Featherston will combine to become the Catholic Parish of Wairarapa, as of February 1.

The new parish will be centrally administered from Masterton, but all five Catholic churches in Wairarapa will still continue to hold Mass and other activities.

Masterton parish leader Father Julian Wagg said one reason for the change was a decline in the number of priests. Continue Reading

They have taken part in the Viard Shield athletics competition at Chanel College, played against Rathkeale and Wairarapa Colleges and performed a concert.

Not only did their kapa haka concert at the Masterton Town Hall go off without a hitch, but they achieved an unexpected rugby win over Wairarapa College with a 15-14 victory on Saturday.

Hato Paora principal Debi Marshall-Lobb said the visit had been a delight.

Hato Paora College is a Catholic boarding school which in located near the town of Feilding

Source

• The Wairarapa Times-Age - Hato Paora Back in Town
• The Wairarapa Times-Age - Double delight on field and stage for Hato Paora
• Image: The Governor General