Tireless Mt Albert parish worker honoured

Msgr David Price commends Anne Nightingale while her grand nephew, William Partington, presents
her with flowers and
her niece, Carmel Jones, holds her Benemerenti certificate.

by NZ CATHOLIC staff
St Mary’s, Mt Albert, parishioner Anne Nightingale carries out a list of parish tasks that might
tire out those who merely read it.

Msgr David Price commends Anne Nightingale while her grand nephew, William Partington, presents her with flowers and her niece, Carmel Jones, holds her Benemerenti certificate.

At the end of the parish Mass on April 12, Anne Nightingale was presented with the papal award Benemerenti by Msgr David Price.
Miss Nightingale, who retired from nursing in 1996, continues the following parish tasks: pastoral
visitation to the sick, roster for Sunday and weekday readers, roster for altar servers, roster for church cleaners, roster for sacristans, preparation of the church for all sacramental celebrations (funerals, weddings, baptisms, etc), looking after the supply of altar bread, candles, wine and other supplies.
Msgr Price said her duty as a minister to the sick was her life and her joy.
“She knows people by name and her pastoral visitation to the sick constantly empowered her in
her ministry,” he said.
She had also been the chairwoman of the Diocesan Liturgy Commission, so had a clear sense of the
liturgy and how it is to be celebrated to encourage participation.
All those who knew her were privileged to know her as a person of deep faith and respected her for that and the example she gives to so many, Msgr Price said. “They respect her not only for
what she does, but for who she is and for what she has meant to so many people,” he said.
After completing her training as a nurse more than 60 years ago, Miss Nightingale won the Bishop
Liston Medal for Excellence.
She gained New Zealand and UK qualifications in midwifery, taught in that field and was chairperson of the New Zealand Nursing Council for nine years. She won a CBE for her nursing council work.

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  1. Grace Flanagan says

    Loved reading this article about Miss Nightingale.
    She was matron at St Helens when I was recruited by the Auckland Hospital Board and came to live in New Zealand in 1986.
    Loved working in st. Helens. The day I handed in my notice before moving up north in 1988 she said “ New Zealand is a small place Grace “ never a truer word spoken.
    Grace Flanagan

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