Large intake of seminary students expected for 2012

Michael Otto — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 02:46:00 +0000

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 Seminary is understood to have given notice to the remaining tenants renting units on the property to vacate in the near future.
There are 10 units in the site, each capable of housing three students. One unit is used as guest quarters.
The nearby Ponsonby presbytery, which can house three students or more, is also an option for student accommodation.
NZ Catholic understands that although indications for student numbers for 2012 are very good, some prospective seminarians are still working through the admissions process. Final numbers will only be known when seminarians actually arrive next year.
New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference delegate for Holy Cross Seminary Bishop Patrick Dunn said the bishops would be delighted to see seminary numbers increase.
“It seems that Auckland may, at this stage, have five new entrants for 2012,” Bishop Dunn said.
Most of the new Auckland seminarians are in their late 20s, and all are New Zealand citizens, Bishop Dunn said.
“The very interesting thing for me is that for most of them the call to the priesthood has been in their hearts from about age 10, and most have seen their careers to this point as being preparatory for eventual entry into the seminary,” he said.
“World Youth Days in Sydney and Madrid have been influential, and so too has the Hearts
Aflame Summer School.”
Two seminarians will be on pastoral placement in parishes next year, NZ Catholic understands.
Holy Cross Seminary was officially opened in 1999, after the diocesan seminary had relocated from Holy Cross
College in Mosgiel in 1997.

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Positive start for new St Mary’s principal

Michael Otto — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:14:26 +0000

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 than the education of young women.
Mrs Holloway was echoing the words of the founder of the Sisters of Mercy, Catherine McAuley.
A former principal of St Catherine’s College, Kilbirnie, in Wellington for nine years, Mrs Holloway told parents at the St Mary’s welcome that, “I need you to love your daughters, to support them, to help them grow, to set boundaries, to visualise and be passionate about the fine young women they will become”.
She told students she needed them to “get involved, to ask questions, to work for justice, to work for peace, to think, to be stimulated by teaching, to be passionate about your learning”.
At the welcome in October were 34 students, staff, board members and Mercy sisters from St Catherine’s who “handed over” Mrs Holloway.
She said it had been very hard to leave St Catherine’s because it had been such a significant part of her life and had helped form her.
Before leaving St Catherine’s she was farewelled in a moving ceremony, but told those present the time had come for her to move on.
Mrs Holloway is president of the Australian Mercy Secondary Schools Association and secretary of the National Association of Principals of Catholic Secondary Schools. Her previous appointments include being assistant principal at St Patrick’s College, Kilbirnie.
She told NZ Catholic her vision for religious education at St Mary’s is “that religious education does not become bogged down in the academic, but that academic learning, that is so necessary, complements the development of values and a strong awareness of social justice that helps shape society”.
“It is vital that students, and, in particular teenagers, have a forum in which they can discuss, challenge and understand their faith to form a strong foundation for the development of their Catholic character in the future.”
Mrs Holloway is married and has two children aged 15 and 10. Her family plans to relocate from Wellington to Auckland in early 2012.

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