News

by NZ CATHOLIC staff RICHMOND — Catholic pupils turned out ready to work on Sunday June 10 in the Tasman District. St Paul’s Catholic School had a working bee to plant...

by PETER GRACE AUCKLAND — A week of novenas and Masses prepared the way for jubilee celebrations at St Bernadette’s parish in Mt Wellington last month. Long time parishioner Taua Frank...

by MICHAEL OTTO CHRISTCHURCH — A pamphlet given to women considering an abortion at a Christchurch facility uses language of love, compassion and faith to justify a decision to terminate...

by LYNDSAY FREER AUCKLAND — James Tibbles has been appointed cathedral organist at Auckland’s St Patrick’s Cathedral. Mr Tibbles is senior lecturer in early music in the Auckland University School of...

by NZ CATHOLIC staff WELLINGTON — Wellington girl Brianna Anglesey has won Caritas’s annual Singout4Justice songwriting competition. Brianna, a year 8 (form 2) student at Thorndon School, Wellington, won with a...

by KATHLEEN CASEY and GERARD DUIGNAN CHRISTCHURCH — An important link to St Mary of the Cross MacKillop lies in the Barbadoes St cemetery. Buried there is Mary’s brother, John,...

by NZ CATHOLIC staff AUCKLAND — A portrait of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop has been presented to St Benedict’s Parish, Newton, by the artist. Parish priest Fr Paul Farmer...

by LYNDSAY FREER AUCKLAND — James Tibbles has been appointed cathedral organist at Auckland’s St Patrick’s Cathedral. Mr Tibbles is senior lecturer in early music in the Auckland University School of...

by PETER GRACE AUCKLAND — Takapuna parishioner Maurice Boland was honoured with a papal knighthood at St Joseph’s church, Takapuna, on April 21. Mr Boland was chairman of the World Youth...

by NZ CATHOLIC staff JERUSALEM — St Joseph's Convent in Jerusalem-Hiruharama may be upgraded to a category I historic place by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. The convent presently has...

by MICHAEL OTTO AUCKLAND — Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Christian writers feature in a new book on prayer that was launched at St Columba Centre in Ponsonby on March 9. Published...

by SUE SECONI Wanganui — It was with much sadness for the Catholic community, the city and the Sisters of Compassion that the order’s leadership team decided to close the...

by NZ CATHOLIC staff LOWER HUTT — Sts Peter and Paul church on Knights Rd in Lower Hutt has been closed because it is an earthquake risk. There will be no...

by MARJORIE DAWSON PALMERSTON NORTH — A young man who is passionate about keeping the Maori language alive has been awarded the 2011 top subject scholar for Te Reo Rangatira. The...

CHRISTCHURCH — The fate of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and several other Catholic churches in Canterbury will not be known for several months. With insurance negotiations still ongoing,...

GORE — Long-serving diocesan priest Fr Gerard Mary (“Gerry”) Fitzgibbon, who died on January 23, was described by Bishop Colin Campbell as a man committed to the celebration of...

by KATHY WATSON CHRISTCHURCH — Maria McSweeney has been playing the organ at church for 72 years. At the age of 12 she took up the duties of organist at Sacred...

by PETER GRACE WELLINGTON — On February 22, the Holy Father accepted the resignation of the Bishop of Palmerston North, Bishop Peter Cullinane, upon having reached the age limit of...

by MICHAEL OTTO CHRISTCHURCH — Secrets are possible even in enclosed religious communities, as Carmelite Sr Cushla Renton found out to her delight on December 29. Sr Cushla was called to...

NZ CATHOLIC staff WELLINGTON — One way the Columban Mission reached out to the marginalised at Christmas was by donating 800 Columban Calendars to prisoners around New Zealand. The calendars were...

by GILLIAN VINE A DUNEDIN church, where poet James K. Baxter worshipped in the 1960s, has been decommissioned. St Andrew’s Ocean View, not used regularly for several years, was formally closed...

by NZ CATHOLIC staff AUCKLAND — Two sisters were winners in the finals of the fourth Voice for Life National Pro-Life Songwriting Contest on December 3. Rachel Schryvers, Auckland, was first...

by GILLIAN VINE DUNEDIN — “It’s been a long journey for Vaughan,” said Brian Rabbitt, on December 2 at the Mass of Ordination in Mosgiel for Dunedin’s newest priest. Fr Vaughan...

by JOHN GILLIES GISBORNE — Gisborne Catholics celebrated a return to their spiritual home on December 3, with the rededication of the church of St Mary Star of the Sea...

by JUDITH DOYLE The Catholic Church of St Werenfried in Waihi Village, southern Lake Taupo, is truly a taonga. Only a hop, skip and jump from the edge of Lake...

by MICHAEL OTTO AUCKLAND — The national diocesan seminary is expected to be at full capacity next year with an influx of students for the priesthood, NZ Catholic understands. Holy Cross...

by MICHAEL OTTO AUCKLAND — The new principal of St Mary’s College, Ponsonby, Jane Holloway, told a formal welcome to the school that there is nothing more important to society...

by JEFF DILLON DUNEDIN — The wrangle over the Italian marble altar at Teschemakers Chapel could roll on into 2012 as the battle moves up a notch. Fr Mark Chamberlain of...

by NZ CATHOLIC staff RUSSELL — A new book reflecting on the early French Catholic presence in the Far North of New Zealand was launched by the Ambassador of France...

by NZ CATHOLIC staff WELLINGTON — As the 2011 General Election nears, members of the New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services say they seek a fairer society — especially...