Mr Bailey, the pastoral services manager of Hamilton diocese, has worked as the youth director and a youth worker for the diocese. He takes the chair from Dave Mullin of Palmerston North, who had been in the post since 2017.

The bishops established the seven-member Council in 2017 to work with the Church, young people and those who minister with them. It works with the dioceses and faith communities on national projects and a national vision for Catholic ministry with young people.

According to an NZCBC statement, Mr Bailey is looking forward to implementing elements of Christus Vivit  (Christ is Alive), Pope Francis’ 2019 apostolic exhortation to young people; as well as helping to organise the Takirua 2020 joint conference of Catholic Youth Ministry and Marriage Educators, and coordinating a national pilgrimage to the 2022 World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal.

Hamilton Bishop Stephen Lowe, who, for the NZCBC, liaises with the council said Pope Francis frequently emphasises the importance of accompanying young people on their journey of faith in life.

“Alex brings a real passion for young people and journeying with them as they grow in faith,” Bishop Lowe said. “He brings this alongside strong leadership and organisational skills. I am sure he will be a real asset to the work of the Council for Young People.”

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The atmosphere was alive with excitement at the Set Free Youth Conference in Cambridge this year, which celebrated its 10th anniversary with the theme “At Your Word”.

Keynote speakers included Hamilton Bishop Stephen Lowe, Australian speaker Emma Fradd, and Aquinas College alumni Sam Brebner.

Throughout the festival, which was held at Finlay Park from September 20-
22, youth were encouraged to form a closer relationship with Christ and the
Church through workshops and talks on topics such as mental health, and the forgiveness of sins.

There were more than 125 youth in attendance, with some coming from as
far away as Christchurch and Whangaparaoa to join in the festival.

Organiser Jil Miller, the diocesan youth coordinator for Hamilton diocese, said that she felt the festival had gone well, with the youth coming away from the weekend with a deeper relationship with their faith.

“Even seeing . . . their posts on social media, they’ve all [posted] really great,
positive feedback,” she said.

“It’s really comforting for us to know that the Lord is going to show up and all that we can do is try to create that space for that to happen.”

She said the workshops that the youth attended helped to make them
think a little more deeply about their faith than they might be used to.

“I think the workshops . . . pushed them a bit deeper, beyond just coming to a retreat, getting that ‘Jesus high’ and then going home and waiting till the next thing. I think our goal is to push a little bit further and get a little deeper,” she said.

Ms Miller said she had heard from feedback since the event that people felt there had been a “ beautiful maturing” of the festival over its 10 years.

“It’s not just like ‘hey, come have fun with your friends’, you know, have some cool worship and then go home. It really is how do you cultivate that relationship in your day-to-day life?”

However, Ms Miller said that despite the youth attending from outside Hamilton diocese, there were no plans to make the festival a national event.

“I think the beautiful thing about our diocese is our ability to celebrate our people and to be able to follow up . . . I just don’t think you get that on a
national level.”

Victoria Ning, who was one of the original youth to attend the first Set Free
festival in 2010, agreed that the festival had matured.

Ms Ning, a chaplain for the Auckland Catholic Tertiary Chaplaincy, volunteered at this year’s Set Free as a small group leader.

“I think when it first started off it was super small, super low-key, and it was basically run by our youth group leaders [from St Thomas More, Mt Maunganui]. It was the first initiative . . . that the diocese had on that scale,” she said.

“I guess the start was something new and exciting, but it was small . . . to see
it now, thriving, with so many young people, it’s really cool.”

Ms Ning said it was good to see that the festival had grown and thrived, despite the leadership passing between hands many times over the years.

“The mission is still really alive and present and serving the youth . . . I think it’s a testament to the faithfulness of God and the faithfulness of those involved in youth ministry in the diocese.”

“It shows that this is a worthwhile thing to do — the youth want it, and they
need it,” she said.

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That was how Hamilton Bishop Stephen Lowe started his homily at the funeral Mass for Fr Anton Timmerman, MHM, on May 29 at St Mary’s church in Rotorua.

The priest had died on May 25 at Mercy Parklands in Auckland. His body was taken to Te Unga Waka in Epsom (Auckland), from where Te Awara people took him to Hurunga Marae in Rotorua, where vigil prayers took
place on May 28.

It was in Rotorua that Fr Timmerman had ministered for 59 years of his 73 years of priesthood.

“A pretty good effort,” Bishop Lowe remarked, and pretty much all of the congregation agreed.

It was here that the “love story” of the Mill Hill priest known as “Pa Tim” unfolded, the bishop said, adding that the priest grew in love of God and in love of God’s people. He served in three Rotorua parishes — St Michael’s,
St Mary’s and St Joseph’s on the eastern side of Lake Rotorua.

Many in the congregation were Te Arawa people. In a Te Unga Waka (Auckland) newsletter, Pa Mikaere Ryan, MHM, said “for many years
he (Pa Tim) looked after the taha wairua of Te Arawa and also the taha tinana, becoming known as Father Fix-it, who could mend your plumbing and your soul or your buildings”.

Pa Tim’s skills as “Father Fix-it” were also noted by Bishop Lowe.

The word “Timmerman” in Dutch means “carpenter”, the bishop said, which was quite appropriate in Pa Tim’s case.

The Mill Hill priest did a lot of work on classrooms in local Catholic schools and on buildings at St Joseph’s.

“He was a real worker,” Bishop Lowe said. “He was not just a builder of buildings, but a builder of the Kingdom. It was the simple way he did this. It is remembered that he never ‘got Te Reo’. But I think he had the ‘wairua’”.

“I think that is why he was so loved.”

The bishop noted how many people had come to the funeral of a person who had been 100 years old — with some estimates that 500 were present.

Pa Tim’s early life in the Netherlands was recalled. He was one of ten children and he went on to study to be a Mill Hill missionary.

However, Pa Ryan noted in his newsletter, because of World War II “Tim was not able to go to Mill Hill, but he continued his study for the priesthood in Roosendaal, Brabant in the Mill Hill College there. He was ordained on December 9, 1945. He arrived in Aotearoa” in June, 1948.

After a short posting to Waitaruke in the Far North, Pa Tim then went to Rotorua, where he ministered for so many years.

Bishop Lowe was told that, in his younger years, Pa Tim was “a tough, young Dutch missionary priest”. But he mellowed as he grew older.

Pa Tim also loved visiting parishioners and eating in their homes.

When he was parish priest at St Michael’s, Bishop Lowe noted, at one stage “his superiors in the Mill Hill Fathers told him that he was to be moved back to the North. And apparently, so I am told, he broke down and cried and Bishop Eddie [Gaines] opened St Joseph’s at Owhata. He wasn’t going to leave the love of his life (Rotorua and its people)”.

In retirement, Pa Tim moved to John Vianney House in Auckland and eventually to Mercy Parklands.

When visiting Pa Tim in Auckland, the bishop said it was always good if this was at “happy hour”, because the priest “always loved a beer”.

He very much enjoyed returning to Rotorua to celebrate the 70th jubilee of his ordination in 2015.

And it was in Rotorua where Pa Tim wanted to have his mortal remains interred. He had made it well known that he wanted to be buried next to Fr Dan McKenna, MHM, in Sala Street Cemetery.

“He wanted to come home,” Bishop Lowe said, adding that Pa Tim laid out exactly what he wanted in his funeral — and the resulting liturgy showed him to have been a humble man.

“[But] I think Pa Tim wouldn’t want us to glorify him today,” Bishop Lowe said. “He would be wanting us to pray for him. Because
none of us is perfect.

“We all have our faults and our foibles. . . . He would want us, as . . . in life, to surround him with aroha (love). We entrust him to our God.”

“We entrust his soul to God and his body to the earth of this place that he loved, surrounded by the tangata, by the people whom he loved.”

“We do so in the sure and certain hope that, as the Lord promised, we shall rise on the last day,” Bishop Lowe concluded.

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