New Zealand’s bishops, though, are closely monitoring the situation, as new Covid-19 cases have emerged in Northland and Auckland. On January 29, when NZ Catholic went to press, the bishops declined to make a statement, pending further development, NZ Catholic was told.

The congregation gave the procedure as a special anti-Covid-19 precaution. This was contained in a note published on the congregation’s website on January 12.

Before the new cases were made public, Siobhan Dilly, executive officer of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, told NZ Catholic: “As New Zealand does not have community transmission, the bishops agreed they will not require priests to follow the Congregation’s note regarding the distribution of Ashes.”

In a January 29 media conference, Minister for Covid-19 Response Chris Hipkins announced there were no further new cases in the community to that point. The transmissions of the three cases in the community came in MIQ.

The congregation’s note said that, in the procedure set out, the priests are not to say anything while they are sprinkling the ashes.

Beforehand, the priests are to say either “Repent and believe in the Gospel”, or “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return”, once only to all assembled.

With the country being in lockdown on Palm Sunday last year, NZ Catholic asked several priests what they intend to use to make the ashes this year.

The priests said that they have enough palms to make blessed ashes.

“While there were no public Masses on Palm Sunday 2020, we offered blessed palms to our parishioners to pick up from outside the closed front doors of the church. Hopefully, some parishioners will bring their palm back for burning; but we have left-over palms we can use as well,” said Msgr David Tonks, parish priest of St Joseph’s parish in Takapuna.

Wellington’s Sacred Heart Cathedral parish priest Fr David Dowling said that “we have made ashes from blessed palms, which were available from the previous year”.

The post Covid situation being monitored ahead of Ash Wednesday appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.

The message, from FIANZ Outreach and Bridge Building Directorate chair Mustafa Farouk read:-

“I hope you are well and all our Catholic brothers and sisters here in New Zealand and around the world.

“The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ) would like to wish you, the New Zealand Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Interfaith Relations, and your entire congregation around the world Merry Christmas and a happy New Year 2021.

“We have all been tested in the last two years with many challenges. We all stood together and faced those challenges. We pray to God to relieve us of all the challenges we face now, and the ones in the future, and to grant us and the whole of humanity peace, good health, happiness and prosperity.

“We thank your committee for all the support during these difficult times, and look forward to working together in the coming year and beyond.”

NZCBCIR chair Colin MacLeod replied to the message “with grateful acknowledgement and commitment to our shared work of helping bring his prayer to life”.

The post Kind Christmas message received from NZ Muslims appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.

In their election statement due out later this month, the bishops write that the people most at risk from the legalisation of euthanasia and assisted-suicide will be “those most vulnerable to the suggestion they would be ‘better off dead’ — our elderly and disabled people who find themselves within the scope of the Act”.

The bishops believe the greatest risk posed by the Act is “a premature or wrongful death from which there is no return”.

The bishops state that the New Zealand law is “broader in scope and more liberal than one recently passed in Victoria, Australia, as well as laws in the United States”. It will expose much larger numbers of people to the dangers of a premature death, people who are currently well-served by palliative care.

The statement also notes that elder abuse currently affects about 10 per cent of the elderly in New Zealand, despite the best efforts to prevent it. “Voting ‘Yes’ to euthanasia in this context is dangerous. It is also naïve to think the Act can provide sufficient protection against this risk.”

The full text of the bishops’ election statement, including more comments on the referenda on September 19, will be in the next edition of NZ Catholic.

The post Bishops urge voters to reject End of Life Choice Act appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.

In an email sent out this morning, New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference communications adviser David McLoughlin alerted people to “false materials appearing on-line” which have been posted by a conservative blogger.

The blog was based on a supposed “press release” from the bishops, and allegedly quoted a spokesperson for the bishops.

Mr McLoughlin said the actual bishops’ election statement is yet to be released.

“Everything in that blog post and similar material is false, including its claim that the bishops have issued a statement supporting the [party]. The post also purports to quote [a person]. This is also false. [This person] has made no such statement anywhere, and the first [this person] knew of the claim was when I sent . . . the link earlier this morning,” he said.

In the same email, he said he wrote to the blogger and the party telling them that the claims “are false, defamatory and extremely damaging to the reputation of the Bishops; and requesting it be retracted immediately”.

The blog appears to have been retracted but not before it was circulated in private Facebook groups.

“If you are asked about this matter by anyone, please feel free to assure them that the material is false and untrue,” Mr McLoughlin said.

The post Fake bishops’ election statement spread on social media appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.

The bishops met Pope Francis for an 80-minute private audience at the Vatican on October 28, the last day of their visit.

NZCBC president Auckland Bishop Patrick Dunn described the meeting as “quite animated, enjoyable and free-flowing”, a marked change from the ad limina visits he experienced with St John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, which, he said, were “quite formal”.

“We were very encouraged by the encounter with him (Pope Francis), not because of specific issues, but the general tone of the discussions. We felt that he’s a real pastor, which is what we are trying to be, too. We were like kindred spirits,” Bishop Dunn reflected.

Christchurch Bishop Paul Martin, SM, said the Pope seems to be well- briefed on issues in New Zealand.

“It was a really good discussion and an absolute privilege to be able to meet with him on that level and talk as we did. He asked me about Christchurch and how things were after the mosque attacks,” Bishop Martin wrote on a post on his diocese’s facebook page.

Pope Francis and the bishops talked about the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in Care, his (the Pope’s) meeting the Māori King, Kīngi Tūheitia, in Rome in May, the recently concluded Amazon synod, the challenges of secularism and encouraging vocations.

He also encouraged Hamilton Bishop Stephen Lowe to continue evangelising the young. Bishop Lowe noted the Pope has a “particular love for young people”.

“[Pope Francis] stressed the need for the Church not to be afraid to meet young people in the midst of ‘their world’, and not to be scandalised by ‘their world’ or the questions they ask of the Church,” said Bishop Lowe.

“In the same way, he encouraged young people to be open to the search for the transcendent in the world. The Holy Father himself is a fine example of this, waking each morning at 4.00am to begin the day with some hours of prayer.”

Bishop Dunn said former Palmerston North Bishop Charles Drennan’s resignation was mentioned just in passing, just to remind the Pope that this happened.

Bishop Dunn said his impression was that the Pope’s attitude to the whole incident was that “that’s life”, and that it was sad that it happened, but it was not the end of the world.

While in Rome, the bishops met with the heads of the different dicasteries. They followed up on the cause for the sainthood of Mother Suzanne Aubert.

Bishop Dunn said they were also encouraged by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to investigate further the case for Columban missionary Fr Francis Vernon Douglas. Fr Douglas was believed to have been killed by Japanese soldiers in the Philippines during World War II because, some witnesses said, he (Fr Douglas) refused to divulge what he heard in the confessional.

Bishop Dunn said the congregation was very interested in finding out if Fr Douglas died because he refused to break the seal of confession.

The post NZ Bishops encouraged after Ad Limina appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.

Wellington Cardinal John Dew, who attended the meeting on behalf of New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference president Auckland Bishop Patrick Dunn, gave a briefing to Auckland priests about what was discussed in Rome and how what came out of that meeting could help them deal with victims of clerical sexual abuse.

Cardinal Dew’s briefing also raised points that may be taken up by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions. Public hearings are set to begin late this year.

The cardinal said there were three themes in the Rome meeting: responsibility, accountability and transparency.
The first day dealt with the topic of responsibility.

Cardinal Dew spoke on Manila Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle’s presentation, particularly, the point of “continual accompaniment in solidarity”.

“That whole theme of walking with people, it’s very much the theme of Pope Francis. Accompanying people, pastorally journeying with them in whatever is going on in their lives. Cardinal Tagle was saying this is the best thing we can do for people. Walk with them, don’t abandon them. Support them in whatever ways we can,” Cardinal Dew stressed.

Cardinal Dew also highlighted Cardinal Tagle’s point about being tempted to choose between the victim and the perpetrator.

Cardinal Dew said the Manila cardinal offered several questions for reflection, among which was how could we keep an accurate view of forgiveness, while striving for justice?

Cardinal Dew also talked on key points raised by Malta Archbishop Charles Scicluna. Archbishop Scicluna said it is essential that the community is advised that they have the duty and the right to report on sexual misconduct to a contact person in the diocese or religious order and that contact details should be available.

Cardinal Dew said Pope Francis’ motu proprio, Vos Estis Lux Mundi (You are the Light of the World) “made it mandatory
for all clerics and members of religious orders to report cases of sexual abuse to Church authorities”. The motu proprio was published on May 7 and took effect on June 1.

“It’s essential that everybody knows that they have a responsibility to make sure that people are safe,” Cardinal Dew said.

Abuse and Clericalism

During his talk to the Auckland priests, Cardinal Dew acknowledged clerical sexual abuse is a difficult topic
to face.

“Our first reaction may be, as it was mine many years ago, ‘I didn’t cause this. Why should I have to face it?’,” he said.

But as a woman speaker pointed out in Rome, neither did Pope Francis, but the Pope had the courage to face it head on, the Wellington cardinal said.

“This issue needs to be spoken about by everyone. If we don’t, the clerical attitude in the Church will continue and abuse will continue. That means we also need to think about ‘clericalism’,” he said.

Cardinal Dew said Bombay Cardinal Oswald Gracias raised an important point about cultivating a culture of “correctio fraterna”, which is engaging in an open conversation with brother bishops or priests when there is problematic behaviour.

“Do we actually have our eye out for each other? Do we step out and see if we can help in some way? Because it’s all connected to the way we behave as priests,” Cardinal Dew said.

Turning point for women

Cardinal Dew observed that the meeting in Rome seemed to be a turning point for the Church in the way women are included in the dialogue.

Professor Linda Ghisoni, undersecretary of the Dicastery for Laity, Life and Family stressed talking about abuse and understanding one’s responsibility “is not a fixation, but a necessity”.

Sr Veronica Openibo, SHCJ, talked about having courageous conversations on the topic as well as her worries about young seminarians being treated as though they were special, “encouraging them to assume from the beginning of
their training, exalted ideas about their status”.

Valentina Alazraki, a journalist in Rome for 45 years, spoke on how transparency is indispensable in the fight against sexual abuse of minors by men of the Church.

Cardinal Dew recalled one bishop asked a question in the question-and-answer portion to one of the women, but that bishop was patronising. Pope Francis immediately shut that bishop down.

“I thought this guy was going to be crawling under the table by this time because he was really being put on the spot. [Pope Francis] said you don’t speak to the women in the Church like this. This is why we’ve got women protesting
against the Church,” Cardinal Dew recounted.

Cardinal Dew said German Cardinal Reinhard Marx made a strong pitch for good administration, which essentially means good record-keeping.

“We are going to be asked [by the royal commission] about all sorts of records, about how priests were appointed, when they were appointed, when they went here, when they went
there. His (Cardinal Marx) point about having clear records, traceable records or transparent records is going to be very important to us,” Cardinal Dew said.

“Keep your own diaries. Don’t throw them away. If you keep an electronic diary, print it off as well. It can be very important to prove where you were at a certain date. And certainly, if there are false allegations, it is much easier to prove whether you were there or not,” he added.

Cardinal Dew also shared practical tips given by Ms Alazraki, who said the press can either be allies or enemies of the Church, depending on whether the Church is of the abusers or the victims.

In the New Zealand setting, Cardinal Dew advised Auckland priests that, when approached by the media, they “should refer to Bishop Dunn or the appropriate people”.

“If it is a question about the royal commission, we have set up a group of people, Te Ropu Tautauko, to assist us with all matters to do with the commission,” he said.

Cardinal Dew said the media cannot be fobbed off. “Always be careful not to give the impression that you are hiding something. It is important to follow up on requests for information and to react quickly. If you don’t know, ask. But don’t become the expert yourself,” he said.

Hope

Cardinal Dew admitted the meeting had “all been a lot to take in”.

He said he was even more stunned when the news of Cardinal George Pell’s conviction for historical abuse came out. However, while celebrating a Mass for the Sisters of Mercy back in New Zealand, Cardinal Dew was struck by a line from a hymn they had sung that was titled“There is a time for everything”.

“That line is ‘There is never a time for hope to die’,” the cardinal said.

“While we may have some major challenges and while we are preparing for the royal commission, when we think about all these materials and the Church is going through these hard times, a time I think is necessary for us,” he said, “let’s remember: there is never a time for hope to die. Those words helped me to put these all in context.”

The post Cardinal updates Akld priests on abuse summit appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.

NZCBC president and Auckland Bishop Patrick Dunn said the bishops considered three options: remediate, rebuild or relocate.

“We decided that the best option is to remediate the current buildings,” he said. “The whole thing still needs to be costed in 2019 terms.”

Bishop Dunn said they might need to “raise up to $4.5 million from diocesan levies and fundraising”.

The bishop said they are also hoping to get Government assistance in terms of funding.

“We hope to get $1.3 million from the Ministry of Business,
Innovation and Employment,” he said.

The leaky building issues were discovered in 2016. At the time, the cost to resolve the problems was estimated at $6 million.

Bishop Dunn said this will be one of the issues reported on to Pope Francis in the New Zealand bishops’ Ad Limina visit in October.

Apart from the seminary, the bishops will also report on whatever developments there are on the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, as well as updating the Pope on their plans for a single national Catholic theology tertiary education provider, Bishop Dunn said.

He added that each bishop will also report to the Pope on the developments within his own diocese during the past eight years.

The post Leaky seminary to be fixed appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.

Mendi Bishop Donald Lippert, OFMCap, thanked the bishops and the people of New Zealand for showing solidarity with their people.

“On behalf of the priests, consecrated religious and faithful people of the Diocese of Mendi, we are grateful to the Catholic bishops and people of New Zealand for the solidarity shown by the generous donation made to help those affected by the earthquake disaster,” he told NZ Catholic.

“Please know of our grateful prayers for you and we ask your prayers as we continue with our efforts to rebuild our churches, schools and health centres.”

Bishop Lippert said the Mendi diocese covers the Southern Highlands Province and the Hela Province in the Highlands region of PNG which are “arguably the provinces most affected by the 7.6 magnitude earthquake and its many aftershocks”.

One hundred and twenty five people died and 35,000 people were displaced following the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit the highlands on February 26, 2018.

“The diocese sustained millions of dollars of damage and destruction to its vast network of pastoral, educational and medical infrastructure spread across 31 parishes and over 300 rural outstations, many of them located in remote areas of our mountainous diocese,” Bishop Lippert added.

He said the majority of their funding for the recovery and rebuilding phase has come from church organisations.

Those who have sent donations, apart from the NZCBC, include the Pope, USA Capuchins, Australian Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Missionary Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception, Salesians, as well as several PNG dioceses and overseas church agencies.

“Nothing has come from the government,” Bishop Lippert said. “The response from the commercial and business sector has not been very good, with a few exceptions.”

Bishop Lippert said they need to repair and rebuild churches, parish priest houses, sisters’ convents, classrooms, teachers’ houses, health centres and nurses’ houses.

Bishop Lippert said the earlier funds they received from MISEREOR and MISSIO helped them provide immediate relief to people whose homes and food gardens were damaged by the quake.

“The vast majority of our people live by subsistence farming . . . [we were able to]  provide food and water, garden tools, seeds and seedlings [and] some building materials to those who were  most in need,” he said.

NZCBC president Bishop Patrick Dunn said the bishops are asking Caritas Aotearoa NZ to look into the possibility of helping Catholics rebuild after the immediate needs of people in a disaster-struck area are met.

“One of the concerns the bishops have at the moment is that Caritas funds cannot be put to specifically Catholic projects, like rebuilding churches or schools,” Bishop Dunn said.

This is because Caritas is in partnership with New Zealand Aid Programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which matched dollar for dollar the funds raised by the Catholic agency (Caritas).

“The bishops may suggest to Caritas that perhaps appeal envelopes could be modified to allow donors to elect whether they would like to restrict their donation to Caritas- MFAT projects or make the donations untagged and therefore available to the bishop or the diocese to apply funds where most needed,” Bishop Dunn said.

The post NZ bishops help quake-ravaged PNG diocese appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.

As NZ Catholic reported last year, the bishops had written to the appropriate offices in Rome indicating their readiness to undertake an ad limina visit.

Ad Limina apostolorum (to the threshold of the apostles) visits traditionally have been scheduled every five years.

The last time the New Zealand bishops made such a visit was in 2011, when they met with Pope Benedict XVI.

New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference president Bishop Patrick Dunn expressed delight at the scheduling of a meeting with Pope Francis.

“We are really looking forward to meeting Pope Francis. I’m sure he will welcome hearing about the Church in New Zealand as well,” Bishop Dunn said.

“He likes to hear from the peripheries and we are about as far away as it gets,” the bishop quipped.

Bishop Dunn noted that he himself is also looking forward to the meeting as he has never met Pope Francis before.

The Catholic News Service has previously reported that Pope Francis launched a new style of ad limina visit which is more informal and characterised by free-flowing exchanges.

In early 2017, it was reported that Ireland’s bishops were “impressed by the level of openness and dialogue they discovered in all the offices of the Roman Curia and particularly in their closed door, informal and unscripted conversation with the Pope”. This was their first ad limina visit since 2006.

Last year, Palmerston North Bishop Charles Drennan told NZ Catholic that there are several reasons why ad limina visits by bishops’ conferences are now happening less often than every five years.

He said there is a growing number of bishops’ conferences in the world and, in some large Catholic nations, bishops from different regions make separate ad limina visits.

He added that with the advent of new technology and better communications from various Vatican departments, the visits have become complemented with others forms of contact.

The post NZ bishops to make ‘ad limina’ visit in 2019 appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.

Suzanne Aubert was the founder of the Sisters of Compassion, New Zealand’s only home grown order of sisters.

Last year, Pope Francis declared Suzanne Aubert “venerable” — the second formal stage on the way to being declared a saint. If Suzanne Aubert’s cause for sainthood is successful, she will be New Zealand’s first saint.

Bishop Charles Drennan, the liaison bishop for Suzanne Aubert’s cause, said “Kiwi culture readily celebrates its sports heroes and sometimes its arts and music high achievers. Suzanne Aubert’s gutsy life focused solely and relentlessly on the needs of others helps us also to celebrate a radical life of practical faith”.

Bishop Drennan added: “Mother Aubert’s life shifts holiness onto our streets and fields. Her’s is a gumboots ‘n sleeves rolled up type of saintliness that resonates both in this country and overseas, with growing interest in her cause in France and parts of the Pacific.”

Last year marked the 90th year since Mother Aubert’s death in New Zealand after dedicating 66 years of her life to living among, learning from and walking alongside Māori as well as caring for the most vulnerable in society.

As a young adult, she chose to leave her native country of France and spend three months travelling to New Zealand where she served the sick, orphaned, elderly and those who society seemed to not notice.

She established New Zealand’s first soup kitchen that still serves almost 40,000 meals a year.

She established orphanages for abandoned children and provided care for the handicapped, the sick and the dying.

She was a pioneer of New Zealand’s health and welfare system and a friend to Māori throughout her life.

Sr Margaret Anne Mills, congregational leader for the Sisters of Compassion, said “The 1st of October gives us the opportunity to rejoice in the faith-filled life of Suzanne Aubert, but more importantly to dare to follow her example by taking the time to listen to the promptings of the Spirit. We can follow her example of complete trust in God who is with us in our everyday actions.

“Suzanne encourages us to listen, to trust and to be aware of the small miracles of grace that we receive each day.”

Sr Margaret Anne added that Suzanne Aubert’s spirit lives on in the work of the Sisters of Compassion and their co-workers.

“The sisters today are still engaged in social work, pastoral care, prison and hospital chaplaincies, education, working with disadvantaged, migrant communities, and care of the sick and the elderly.”

In 1997 the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference supported the first part of the formal process, called the “Introduction of the Cause of Suzanne Aubert”.

More information on Mother Suzanne Aubert and the canonisation process can be found on www. suzanneaubert.co.nz

The post Suzanne Aubert Day in October appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.