The post Aubert manual granted UNESCO registered status appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.
]]>
According to a newsletter sent last month from The Sisters of Compassion, it was stated that the sisters had nominated the publication for inclusion in this prestigious register.
The sisters will be provided with a Memory of the World “title”, that can be used on the Suzanne Aubert website or catalogue record. This will link to the Memory of the World register entry, and will be used to promote the Sisters of Compassion and the importance of documentary heritage, the newsletter stated.
The sisters will be presented with a certificate of inscription to the Aotearoā/New Zealand Memory of the World Register.
The post Aubert manual granted UNESCO registered status appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.
]]>The post Wgtn council plaque for Suzanne Aubert appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.
]]>As part of the Wellington City Council’s recently introduced Heritage Plaques scheme, a plaque acknowledging Mother Aubert was unveiled outside the creche in the Pukeahu War Memorial in Buckle Street.
(From left) Cardinal John Dew, Nicola Young and Sr Margaret Anne Mills, DOLC, with the plaque honouring Venerable Suzanne Aubert. (Photo: Courtesy of Wellington City
Council).
The first Heritage Plaque, honouring radio personality Maud Basham (Aunt Daisy), was unveiled last month and another, in memory of writer Iris Wilkinson (Robin Hyde) is planned for later in October.
The Council’s Heritage Plaque scheme launch coincided with the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New Zealand, so it was decided to honour three women initially.
The scheme has been led by Councillor Nicola Young, a former head student at Erskine College, who is responsible for the Central City Projects portfolio.
“Mother Aubert carried out her work without regard to religious or political affiliations, which certainly upset the establishment at times,” Ms Young said. “She was determined, energetic and had great vision.”
“By the time she died in 1926, she had become a much-loved national figure and her funeral at St Mary of the Angels may still be the largest held for a woman in New Zealand, with thousands of mourners lining the streets — even standing on rooftops — along
the route her hearse took to Karori Cemetery.
“It is no wonder she is well on the road to canonisation.”
Sisters of Compassion attended the unveiling.
The post Wgtn council plaque for Suzanne Aubert appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.
]]>The post Catholics invited to retrace Aubert’s steps appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.
]]>Sunday, October 7, marks the third annual Celebration Day for Venerable Suzanne Aubert in all Catholic churches throughout New Zealand. On that day parishioners will be asked to participate in celebrating the “spirituality and good works” of Suzanne Aubert and to pray a
special prayer of the faithful at Sunday Mass.
Parishes have also been asked to play a 5-minute video that introduces the idea of making a personal pilgrimage in this country by retracing Suzanne’s own footsteps throughout Aotearoa New Zealand during the 66 years she lived in this country.
Bishop Charles Drennan, the NZCBC liaison bishop for Suzanne Aubert’s cause, said “there is a growing realisation of the great spiritual benefits and uplift of the soul when we go to a place where a saint or a person of great depth, lived and walked and shared the gift [of
faith] that they had been given. Pilgrimage is something that can start today . . .
we don’t need to wait for the formal process of beatification and canonisation to
take its course”.
As a migrant from her native country of France, at 25 years of age, Suzanne spent three months travelling to New Zealand on a whaling boat so that she could answer the call of Christ: the call to serve the Māori, the sick, the orphaned, the elderly and those whom society rejected. She travelled extensively throughout the country, becoming fluent
in Māori and establishing a rapport with the tangata whenua. Her charism was
care of the vulnerable wherever she Aubert pilgrimage suggestions.
Suzanne’s spirit of care and compassion lives on in the only permanent New Zealand-established religious order, the Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion.
The work of the sisters today continues in Suzanne’s pioneering footsteps through the soup kitchen that still serves almost 40,000 meals a year, their engagement in social work, pastoral care, prison and hospital chaplaincies, education, working with the disadvantaged,
migrant communities, and care of the sick and the elderly.
Pope Francis officially declared Suzanne Aubert venerable in January, 2016, and her journey to sainthood continues as the New Zealand church explores the recognition of her intercession in a miracle healing.
Sister Margaret Anne Mills, the congregational leader of the Sisters of Compassion, has invited anyone who would like to go on pilgrimage to consider visiting the final resting place of Suzanne Aubert, which is now a beautiful crypt in Island Bay.
“Everyone is welcome here at Island Bay, the final resting place of Venerable Suzanne Aubert,” she said, when suggesting that going on pilgrimage to a place where Suzanne lived and worked was something all Catholics might like to consider while waiting for
the Church to officially recognise her as a saint.
To help people plan a pilgrimage and learn more about the 24 places around New Zealand where Suzanne lived and worked, a special digital pilgrimage map has been created on the website (www.suzanneaubert.co.nz) and there is also a downloadable map guide.
It is hoped that many more New Zealanders will learn of the spirituality and good works of Venerable Suzanne Aubert and in doing so, see her as a leading light in the establishment of social welfare in New Zealand and a wonderful example to follow.
For more information on the Footsteps through Aotearoa New Zealand campaign, contact the national convenor John Bergin ([email protected]) or Sr Josephine Gorman, the archivist for the Sisters of Compassion [email protected]
The post Catholics invited to retrace Aubert’s steps appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.
]]>The post Painting of a younger Suzanne Aubert unveiled appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.
]]>WELLINGTON — A painting of a youthful Suzanne Aubert was unveiled last month at a gathering of 80 Oceania bishops at the Home of Compassion in Island Bay, Wellington.
Suzanne Aubert was the founder of the Sisters of Compassion and a pioneer of New Zealand’s
health and welfare systems.
Bishops at the Assembly of Oceania Bishops gather in front of the new painting of Suzanne Aubert.
Her compassion and practical brand of Christianity made a huge impact on New Zealand
society and her funeral in 1926 was the largest accorded a woman in New Zealand history. The
High Court and Parliament adjourned for the funeral.
Suzanne Aubert’s canonisation is under consideration in Rome. If the cause is successful,
she will be New Zealand’s first saint.
Congregational leader Sr Anne Mills said the painting was a wonderful depiction of the youthful Suzanne Aubert as she would have been at the height of her ministry.
“Many of the photos we have of her are of an older sister. This painting captures the warmth
and energy which were hallmarks of her extraordinarily productive and selfless life. It also
places her in the setting of Jerusalem on the Whanganui River, where her work with Maori
flourished and her care for infants and young children began.”
The promoter of her canonisation cause, Dr Maurice Carmody, gave the bishops — the Assembly
of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania — an overview of Suzanne
Aubert’s life and significance.
She was a woman, he said, who “dedicated her whole life to the spiritual and temporal welfare
of the Maori people she served in Auckland, Hawke’s Bay, at Jerusalem on the Whanganui
River, Wellington and wherever else she met them.
Her care for infants, young children, their mothers and families, and her practical concern
for the incurably sick and unemployed was legendary.
“Earlier this year the case for the cause was examined and approved by a group of six Church
historians meeting in Rome,” Dr Carmody said.
“The case will now be passed onto a similar committee of theologians and a vote will be
taken. If the vote is positive, the way will be open for Suzanne Aubert to be declared ‘venerable’, the first step to sainthood.”
The painting unveiled at the Bishops’ Assembly was done by The Studio of John the Baptist, an
Auckland-based studio which specialises in sacred art and iconography. It was the first time
that such a large gathering of Catholic bishops had assembled in Wellington, coming from
Australia, the countries of the Pacific, Papua New Guinea, the Solomons and New Zealand.
The post Painting of a younger Suzanne Aubert unveiled appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.
]]>The post More than 80 Catholic Bishops of Oceania gather in New Zealand appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.
]]>Wellington — More than 80 bishops of Australia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, the Pacific Nations were welcomed to Wellington, New Zealand during a powhiri at the Sacred Heart Cathedral.
The bishops celebrate the opening Mass at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Wellington.
The haunting sound of the conch shell provided the welcome with a decidedly pacifica atmosphere. The mass was also incorporated with some of the culture that is part of the local community.
“Many of the visiting bishops remarked that it was but one sign of the kind of warm welcome and hospitality that New Zealanders are known for,” said Archbishop John Dew, President of the New Zealand Bishops Conference and President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania.
The bishops are gathering for the Assembly of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania which takes place in a different part of Oceania every four years.It is a rare opportunity for reflection, prayer, discussion and informal time together.
During the Mass the Papal Nuncio to New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, Archbishop Martin Krebs, read a message sent by the Vatican’s Secretary of State on behalf of Pope Francis, offering his prayerful support and his hope that during their time together the bishops would find inspiration and strength for their common mission in the service of God’s people.
The bishops visited the Home of Compassion and met with the sisters, to hear about their foundress, Suzanne Aubert, her work for social justice in the wider community, the way she was embraced by the Maori community and her study of Maori herbal medicine and of Te Reo. Her cause for sainthood is underway and should she be beatified Mother Aubert would be New Zealand’s first saint.
In workshop sessions, the bishops have discussed with those working in Catholic schools and tertiary chaplaincy on engaging young people and how they live their Catholic faith amid secularity.
At the dinner last night Deputy Prime Minister, Hon Bill English welcomed the bishops to New Zealand.
It is 20 years since this Assembly was held in New Zealand when the inaugural Assembly was held in 1994 in Auckland, but it is a first for the Archdiocese of Wellington.
The post More than 80 Catholic Bishops of Oceania gather in New Zealand appeared first on NZ Catholic Newspaper.
]]>