A newly-installed tabernacle in the Moran Chapel in Dunedin was recently blessed by Bishop Michael Dooley, and this was followed by the celebration of Benediction.

A gathering of 30 regular participants in the 40 Hours adoration were there to witness the event.

gThere has been growing concern about security issues at the chapel, especially if a rostered volunteer is delayed or is unable to be there at their appointed hour and the monstrance with the consecrated host is left unattended on the altar.

As the chapel is on the ground floor of the Moran Building in the Octagon in Dunedin city, it is relatively easy for anybody to wander in. There have been a few instances of minor disturbances in recent times.  

Last year, it was decided to investigate a method whereby the Blessed Sacrament could be available on display during the rostered 40 hours, but totally secure.

This led to the sourcing of a purpose-built tabernacle from the United States.

It is designed with a solid lockable door with a special secure compartment into which the Blessed Sacrament can be placed in a similar manner to a monstrance.

A movable metal disc can be rotated out of the way to expose the Blessed Sacrament for adoration display behind a glass front, similar to a monstrance.  

The new tabernacle has been set up directly in front of the original tabernacle. A solid kauri shelf has been firmly attached to the former tabernacle and the new tabernacle bolted into place on the shelf.

Adoration participant June Steele produced a finely embroidered cloth to adorn the shelf.  

Other participants and well-wishers have contributed to the cost involved in obtaining the tabernacle.

The initial cost of the item itself was $4000, but there were additional costs with shipping and customs.

Further contributions would be welcomed and could be directed to Garth Lucas of the Dunedin law firm Lucas and Lucas located in the Moran Building.

Those who attended the blessing ceremony expressed their satisfaction at the solution to the concerns that had been simmering in recent times.

The weekly 40-hour adoration started again in early February, with the hope that more people will join the list to spend an hour in silent worship.

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Tuesday, November 26, 2019, dawned quietly. The day marked the 150th birthday of the Diocese of Dunedin. All through the cathedral, no creature was stirring, not even a mouse. There was no ringing of St Joseph’s Cathedral bell as might happen, for example, when the first albatross of the new breeding season returns to the Dunedin area.

There was no special celebratory Mass, as all the diocesan priests were away on retreat for the whole week.

Back in 1840, Bishop Pompallier celebrated the first Mass down at Otakou on the Otago Peninsula near Tairoa Head. It is reputed to have been the first Christian ceremony to take place in what was to become the Otago region.

By March, 1848, the first European settlers from Scotland and England began arriving to establish the beginnings of Dunedin as a settlement. The discovery of gold in Central Otago in 1861 transformed the nature of the settlement as people flooded in to join the gold rush. A number of those came from Ireland.

On November 26, 1869, a decree set up the Dunedin diocese and Irish-born Patrick Moran was appointed as bishop. In 1876, the Christian Brothers order established their first school in Dunedin. By 1877, the F. W. Petre-designed and mainly concrete Dominican Priory had been built to house the Dominican sisters and provide classrooms for girls.

Other religious orders were to be invited in the years that followed. Then, by 1886, the F. W. Petre-designed St Joseph’s Cathedral had opened beside the Dominican Priory.

Although never completed in the full form that Petre envisaged, it is still an impressive building.

These two buildings at the centre of the then-young diocese represented a statement about the strength and determination of the Catholic people of the time to support and establish a solid base for the flourishing of the faith in the Otago and Southland region. Churches and schools were built throughout the parishes of Otago and Southland, with the financial and faith-filled support of parishioners.

This year, on the 150th anniversary, most Catholic schools in the diocese planted a tree to mark the occasion.

Bishop Michael Dooley had also encouraged parishes to mark the event at some stage in the week by choosing a project, (e.g. planting a tree, reaching out to a housebound neighbour, cleaning up a local beach/ stream, cooking for someone in need).

That was followed with the preparation and printing of a prayer card distributed to all parishioners at Masses on the weekend following the key date. The prayer card begins with the following :

“E te Atua , we thank you for those who have gone before us on the faith journey; For all they contributed to build community for their time and ours; For the legacy of faith in our hearts, communities and homes.”

Bishop Dooley has also invited all parishes to support the theme of a social justice outreach. The idea is for parishioners to provide financial donations to offer support to needy people through Diocesan Catholic Social Services. A special collection at the end of Masses on December 7-8 would provide funds, which could be earmarked for funding parenting, counselling or social worker support.

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The Catholic Diocese of Dunedin is celebrating this year the 150th anniversary of its establishment. One of the highlights of the diocesan year is the Dunedin Diocese Catholic Secondary Colleges’ Public Speaking Competition.

This has always been keenly contested and 2019 was no exception.

With the competition this year being held at Verdon College, Invercargill, the four Catholic Colleges of the diocese — Verdon; St Peter’s College, Gore; Kavanagh College, Dunedin; St Kevin’s College, Oamaru, all took part in every section.

On August 11, Dunedin Bishop Michael Dooley announced Kavanagh College had won the Bishop’s Shield by one point from St Peter’s College.

This win was recognised as a major achievement for the college, which has had a difficult year with the tragic losses of its principal and a much-loved teacher as well as the death of a student of the college.

In his address to the students, Bishop Dooley urged them to continue and paid tribute to Tony Hanning, who is stepping down from organising the competition as he retires from his position as the director of Catholic education for the Catholic Diocese of Dunedin.

In his farewell speech, Mr Hanning also paid tribute to the competitors. He commended them for the happy and courteous spirit in which the Bishop’s Shield has been conducted over the years.

Results were as follows: JUNIOR DRAMA (Alpha Cup) – St Peter’s College;
SENIOR DRAMA (J B Lynch CFC Cup) – Kavanagh College; JUNIOR SCRIPTURE(Gerard Curran Cup) – Molly Colbert, Kavanagh College; SENIOR SCRIPTURE (Bishop Kavanagh Cup) – Lisa Satoro, Verdon College; SENIOR SCRIPTURE (Psalm/Sight Reading) (Nora Brophy Cup) – Lisa Satoro, Verdon College; IMPROMPTU SPEECH (Dowling Cup) – Ralph Stewart, Kavanagh College; PREPARED SPEECH (Hibernian Cup) – Emily Chamberlain, St Peter’s College; JUNIOR DEBATING (Coral Paris Trophy) – Kavanagh College; SENIOR DEBATING (Father Christopher Gaffey Cup) – St Kevin’s College; BEST SPEAKER IN JUNIOR DEBATES (Dominican Cup) Orla Kelly, Kavanagh College; BEST LEADER SENIOR DEBATES (Karen Austin Cup) – Cara Anderson, St Kevin’s College; BEST SPEAKER IN SENIOR DEBATES (Hibernian Cup) – Joel Kunnethedam, St Kevin’s College; MOST PROMISING SENIOR DRAMATIC PERFORMANCE (Boyce Family Cup) – Emily Kerr-Bell, Kavanagh College; MOST PROMISING JUNIOR DRAMATIC PERFORMANCE (Terry Angus Cup)Noah Calvert-Shandley, Verdon College; RUNNER-UP FOR THE BISHOP’S SHIELD: (Marist Centennial Plate) – St Peter’s College; WINNER OF THE BISHOP’S SHIELD 2019: Kavanagh College.

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After some 90 years under the Christian Brothers’ umbrella, St Kevin’s College in Oamaru is to have a change of owner later this year. A set procedure has to be followed before ownership will be transferred to Bishop Michael Dooley and the Dunedin diocese.

The Christian Brothers’ involvement with Oamaru dates back to the 1920s when the order was invited by the Dunedin Bishop at the time to set up a school there. The college opened in 1927 as a Catholic boys’ boarding and day school.

The closure of Teschmakers, operated by the Dominican Sisters just south of Oamaru, saw the expansion of St Kevin’s into a co-educational school to accommodate both boarding and day female students in February, 1983.

A million dollar upgrade of the five-building hostel block is now underway, funded by the Christian Brothers. The college currently caters for about 80 boarders, but the upgrade could attract more. The school roll is about 450 currently with a 50:50 split between boys and girls. The maximum roll allowed under the Integration Act is 465.

The brothers’ direct involvement in the school began to diminish in the 1990s, while the order remained as proprietor. Br Joe Lauren was the last member of the order to be rector, finishing in 1996. After that, there have been
lay principals.

In 2002, the Christian Brothers handed the school to lay management. But, as the proprietors, the Christian Brothers appoint four representatives to the Board of Trustees and they have a duty to report to the order.

Changes in the leadership of the Oceania Province of the Christian Brothers in 2014 foreshadowed further changes in arrangements for the two New Zealand schools owned by the order. By 2017, investigations were underway, looking for the best solution to ensure the proprietor role could be maintained.

Br Bernard Gartland (Auckland), a member of the Oceania Province leadership team, noted that the brothers in New Zealand have an average age of 78.

A series of meetings and discussions throughout 2017 and 2018 eventually led to the conclusion that the best solution was to transfer proprietor status of St Kevin’s College to Dunedin diocese and of St Thomas of Canterbury College to Christchurch diocese.

The switch in ownership has to be approved by the Minister of Education and a formal Deed of Transfer has to be signed. St Kevin’s College principal Paul Olsen indicated that the intention was to celebrate the handover with a ritual at the college chapel on September 16.

Bishop Dooley observed that there would be no financial transaction involved as it would be a straightforward handover. “My view is that the school will run as it has done with the same management structure in place. There will be no discernible changes,” he said.

Bishop Dooley also stressed that “the Edmund Rice charism will continue as a key part of the school’s values”.

That aspect, linking back to the order’s founder, was something that the brothers had been particularly concerned to see maintained.

Dunedin diocese will take on responsibility for capital works maintenance as well as the collection of attendance dues.

There would be some extra administration, but all 28 Catholic schools in the diocese will be under one proprietor.

Bishop Dooley believed that Dunedin would be the only diocese in New Zealand where that was the case.

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Despite a somewhat challenging year — which he could hardly have envisaged when he started — the leader of Dunedin diocese, Bishop Michael Dooley, still managed to joke and smile when looking back over his first 12 months in charge.

He recalled that he had a strong sense of foreboding when he was initially contacted by the Apostolic Nuncio, who wanted to see him. He had also sensed what the meeting might be about. Despite his initial concern at the prospect, he did feel there was a deeper call and decided to say “yes” to being the seventh Bishop of Dunedin.

Keeping that information to himself, until it was officially announced many days later, was difficult. But when it became public, it was a great relief and, with the number of calls and messages he received that day, it became a very uplifting and positive experience.

His 18 months as vicar-general prior to becoming bishop was a helpful introduction to understanding the administrative side of the diocese. He gained an insight into the diocesan finances and he managed to get his head around that. But there were a lot of other aspects that were completely new. He noted that the change in his relationships with people and priests took a bit of getting used to. The responsibility for making decisions — as there was no one else to whom the buck could be passed — became more apparent. But there was an advantage in that he could play his part in getting things dealt with quickly and fairly.

No honeymoon

There was no real “honeymoon” period after assuming the mantle. Within about a month, the local media attention on the sexual abuse issue suddenly flared up, and he was fielding a barrage of questions from journalists about the handling of historic cases.

He acknowledged that it was stressful because he was new to the job, and he had to come to terms with how he should respond. He came to the conclusion that he had to be honest and to be himself and not rely on prepared statements. He learnt that it was better to trust his own judgement and deal with the issues with his own wisdom and caution. He acknowledged that, generally, the journalists have been respectful of that. He accepted that journalists play an important role in bringing things out into the open and holding people accountable.

At the time of the media attention, an intended royal commission was to deal only with abuse in state institutions, but Bishop Dooley had strongly backed calls for religious institutions to be included in the investigation. He certainly concluded that it was his responsibility now to oversee a safe Church and to make sure processes were in place for any complaints.

While he had been aware of the historic cases before he became bishop, there had been a “culture of silence”, with people unwilling to talk about what had happened and understandably so. But with the publicity had come the opportunity for some victims to come forward and to talk to him as the bishop. He has so far had about six to ten in-depth discussions with local victims, while others had contacted him by email and left it at that, with no wish to take it further. The conversations had been “fruitful”. The
people involved had all come of their own volition and were grateful for the opportunity.

Bishop Dooley is very aware that this is a “long haul process”. The royal commission will take years to work through its task, with a final report scheduled for early 2023. “It is long and slow, but at least it is done properly.”

At this stage, he sees the issue occupying much of his future time as bishop. He is certainly striving to deal with any historic matters that apply to Dunedin diocese. He anticipates that, in due course, he will have to appear before the royal commission.

Schools

Besides dealing with the demanding issue of historic sexual abuse matters in the diocese, Bishop Dooley has had a chance to enjoy his role as the leader of the southern Catholic community. One of his joys is when he gets to visit the various Catholic schools, meeting welcoming pupils and supportive teachers. “We’ve got great schools,” he observed. He recently visited the 26-pupil school at Bluff, which is the southernmost Catholic school in the world, and he enjoyed the experience.

Getting out and visiting the different parish communities throughout the diocese was also an enjoyable aspect. “Each place is quite different and, even though they are quite small, there is always a small group of people with strong faith who keep things going.” Dunedin diocese is a geographically dispersed region of small faith communities.

One of the things that surprised him about his duties was administering the sacrament of Confirmation in parishes. Initially, he was unsure how he would feel going into an unfamiliar parish. However, he has found Confirmation ceremonies to be a very uplifting experience and he enjoys doing that now.

Ensuring the pastoral care of parishioners in such a dispersed diocese of small faith communities is one of his concerns, looking to the future.

“Are we making sure that people are connected to the Church and receiving some type of pastoral care?” He added “so I have to look to the future and make sure that we have priests to celebrate the sacraments in those areas and have parishes organised so that parishioners can care for each other”.

Bishop Dooley is contemplating what can be done to build up the faith communities.

Finances

Financial concerns have been a significant issue for Dunedin diocese for a number of years, but Bishop Dooley believes that the problem has been tackled and things are now tracking in the right direction, with the processes that have been put in place.

He sees preaching the Gospel in today’s society as the biggest challenge. It is not so much that people are “anti”, but rather that they have not seriously thought about the Gospel. “Quite a few people see the Church as irrelevant and they haven’t thought about it any further”.

Despite the challenges and the testing times during his first year, Bishop Dooley is firm in his view that he is happy to have taken on the position. He certainly feels more comfortable with his role after his first 12 months. He has received encouragement and support from within the Catholic community, but also from other denominations, which has been positive.

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In the midst of national mourning for the Christchurch mosque shooting victims, the Dunedin Catholic community was stunned by the sudden death of the much respected Kavanagh College principal, Tracy O’Brien, 54, in Dunedin on March 19.

Mr O’Brien had been principal at Kavanagh since 2010 and at Cullinane College in Whanganui (where he was foundation principal) for eight years prior to that as well as acting principal at Hato Petera College in Auckland for a year before that. Fourteen years of teaching history and economics preceded his move into those leadership roles.

With nearly 20 years in high pressure positions as principal, he had made the decision in October last year to resign at the end of the second term in 2019 to give Kavanagh College time to consider and appoint a replacement. His intention was to spend more time with family and have time to research his own family heritage.

Despite a few minor health matters in recent times, his sudden death was totally unexpected and produced grief in the college community already experiencing the shock and horror of the Christchurch events. Even though he was on sick leave after a recent ear operation, Mr O’Brien had led the school’s hour-long special service for the Christchurch victims on March 18.

On the afternoon of March 21, the college gymnasium accommodated an estimated 1200 mourners (750 of them students) who gathered to pay their respects at a memorial Mass celebrated by Bishop Michael Dooley.

In an opening tribute, deputy principal Steve Read said that “a Totara has fallen in the forest of Tane”. He noted that Mr O’Brien would have been humbled by the presence of so many at the Mass that day.

Representatives were in attendance from other Dunedin schools, the New Zealand Catholic Education office, the Ministry of Education, politicians, as well as parents and former pupils.

Mr O’Brien’s quick wit and caring and empathetic nature were qualities which endeared him to many.

“Tracy had a passion for a Gospel-, value-based Catholic education. This was closely followed by a focus on his
family,” Mr Read said.

Rebecca Meikle, a member of the board of trustees, spoke of Mr O’Brien’s “wairua” and his passion for giving all students a fair deal. He aimed to protect all members of the Kavanagh family.

Former pupil Timothy O’Farrell also spoke about how Mr O’Brien took an interest in how former students were faring in life after school. He listened to pupils and former
pupils in all situations.

In his homily, Bishop Dooley said that, on the Monday,
Mr O’Brien had shown spiritual leadership in taking the
special assembly, little realising that people would be praying for him within 24 hours.

He noted that Mr O’Brien’s role as principal was pivotal in the school and “Tracy was very aware of that. He exercised that responsibility with compassion and fairness”.

Bishop Dooley mentioned that he had been involved with the principal for several years when he was chaplain at Kavanagh College.

He noted that Mr O’Brien’s motivation for taking respect and fairness seriously came from the Gospels. Those values had been instilled in him through his upbringing, his
whanau, and all those with whom he worked over the
years.

“His role model was very much Jesus Christ”.

Bishop Dooley acknowledged that, by his contact with Mr O’Brien, he had been inspired to think more deeply about his own role and what values were important to him.

He observed that Mr O’Brien had been very keen on the concept of gathering together around a table and sharing the breaking of bread together. The Eucharist was important in that process of creating that bond.

For Mr O’Brien, it was important to follow the command “Love one another”.

Following Communion, members of the college First XV performed an emotion-charged haka.

At that stage that day Mr O’Brien’s body was being flown to the Wairaka Marae in Whakatane, where his tangi was to be held on the Saturday.

His involvement in the education sector included membership or leadership roles with the Otago Secondary Principals Association, the Dunedin Secondary Partnership Board and the Secondary Principals’
Association of New Zealand (Spanz).

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To the words of the hymn “Gather us in”, a group of people with a variety of connections to the St Mary Star of the Sea church in Port Chalmers in Magnetic Street gathered recently to celebrate its 140-year story.echo $variable;

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