Marist Novices in Mexico, David Sanchez of Mexico, Walter Chaupin of Peru, Luiz Maciel of Brazil with their New Zealand novice master Peter McAfee

Before entering, David studied refrigeration and air conditioning, Walter operated a cyber cafe in central Ayacucho – a beautiful colonial city in the mountains of Peru, and Luiz did his military training in the Brazil army for a couple of years.

The novitiate year has been punctuated by a 30 day retreat in January and 3 other shorter retreats of 6 days each.

The Novices also took part in a 11 day pilgrimage to key Marist spots in Mexico ending at Guadalupe, where they numbered among the 20 million annual visitors at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine.

In terms of pastoral outreach, there are several villages within walking distance of the novitiate, and each novice has got involved in a different community, and does youth work there.

At the end of the Novitiate, and after a small break, Peter McAfee will be joining Marist formation team in Brazil.

It’s been said of Gerry’s book, that “only a master could write a book like this” and that the book could “bring efforts of inculturation to a new level”.

Gerry is of the view that inculturation is an indispensable task of the church, and as a consequence maintains that inculturation demands all who enter into the dialogue understand what culture means and dialogue entails.

In Culture, Inculturation and Theologians, Gerry,

• traces the history of the development of the concept of culture and the too-often negative, rarely positive effects of encounters between church and culture,
• explores how Jesus Christ approached the cultures of his time, and outlines the current treatment of culture and inculturation in church documents and in Catholic theology, and
• shows that modest progress in understanding has recently stalled, and there are even forces working to turn that progress into regress.

Gerry concludes with a description of inculturation as it needs to happen and a sharp critique of those who resist.

The book is available from Amazon.com and all good bookstores.

Newtown budget and advocacy service coordinator Jeff Drane and advisor Mary Inglis. The service, is located 26 Riddiford St, Newtown (opposite Wellington Public Hospital), and is open five days a week from 9:30am - 3:30pm. For an appointment, phone: 04 3898121

Advisor Mary Inglis says the team sees a wide range of people, including young ones with jobs, who overspend their money on Friday nights and are in debt.

“People have troubles managing their money, money in, money out, so what we do is go through all their expenses and give them a photo of the real facts.”

The team finds out if they have a deficit or a surplus, and helps them work out how to save money for the power and the annual expenses.

Sometimes the team finds that some families are not getting all their full entitlements, says Mary.

In some big families, the benefit just covers the essentials.

“They find it very hard not to buy extras. They buy the wrong things and have a big food bill, giving sweets and fizzy drinks to the children:”

Budgeting issues come from the global economics, and also from private troubles, says Mary.

“We learn how to handle money from our parents. If your family wasn’t managing, then you haven’t learnt. With more consumerism and more choice, and not good budgeting skills, that is when the troubles start.”

People usually leave their debt growing for too long before doing something about it, says Mary.

Yet it takes a long time to make the changes.

“You’ve got to have motivation and often it is the crisis that helps getting things back on the right track.”

Financial literacy programmes are run with the bridge programme at Salvation Army, and with the Wellington youth service Evolve.

“We are just starting with Probation,” says Mary.

The team would also like to do little group courses on managing money.

Service coordinator, Marist priest Jeff Drane, who is also on call at St Mary of the Angels Parish in Wellington, says the budgeting service was started in 1988,and there have been changes throughout time.

“At first it was very localised, but with time there was an increase in refugees and migrants. Lately, there has been a movement from the lower socioeconomic up until the middle class because of the global collapse of the credit system.”

And the situation is not improving, says Jeff.

“There will be a problem in October with the increase in GST by 2.5 percent.

The increase in benefit is only 2 percent.”

The Newtown Budget and Advocacy Service, 26 Riddiford St, Newtown (opposite Wellington Public Hospital), and is open five days a week from 9:30am – 3:30pm. For an appointment, phone: 04 3898121.

Source: Cook Strait News.
Used with permission.

Chris Skinner, David Kennerley, Arthur Toothill and John Craddock standing before the newly renovated buildings which St Marcellin Champagnat and our first Brothers built in the mid-1820s. Behind the windows of the second floor is a large room which was the centre for the first General Chapter of the Little Brothers of Mary in 1839, at which Fr Jean Claude Colin presided, and at which Brother Francois Rivat was elected Director General.

The story goes like this.

While in Sainte Foy-Les-Lyon Arthur went by train to see John at Saint Chamond. When Arthur arrived, he found Chris, and David there as part of the Marist renewal programme.

It was however a short-lived meeting as the following day they went their own ways again to various Marist Places. Chris and Dave went with their group to to La Neyliere and John took Arthur by car to La Valla.

John Craddock is working, for three years, as a chaplain for an international community of eight Brothers and four Marist Laity.

A glorious winter's day. Brian Cummings and John Hannan on top of Mt Victoria, Wellington.

Events in recent days have included a meeting with the Provincial, Brian Cummings to report back on the Visitation, the Wellington Regional Meeting on Tuesday evening, verbal feedback to the Provincial Council on Wednesday, a wrap-up of individual visitation and a meeting with Archbishop John Dew on Friday.

John flew to Auckland on Saturday afternoon, went to Eden Park to see the might of the All Blacks defeat South Africa and flew out Rome (via a stop-over in Hong Kong) on Sunday morning.

John has been a great blessing to the Province in his time with us and we wish him a safe and relaxing trip back to Monteverde.

A DVD is due out soon which will prove helpful.

The 3rd translation of the missal will be introduced in all New Zealand dioceses on the first Sunday of Advent.

Related links:
www.revisedromanmissal.org
www.uscbc.org/romanmissal
Further delays in English Missal
Criticism of new Missal not helpful

On the eve of Fr George Duggan's 98th birthday, Marist Superior General John Hannan meets the oldest Marist in the world,

During the week he covered in excess 1,200kms, visiting Marists in Wellington, Palmerston North, Hawkes Bay, Wairoa and Otaki, a Maori mission station since 1844.

Commenting on his visitation of the New Zealand province, Fr Hannan said, “It’s truly is an extraordinary experience to be in a conversation with men who have given their lives so generously. I feel very privileged”.

This week Fr Hannan meets with Brian Cummings, the Provincial and later with the Provincial Council to give an initial report on his visitation.

Towards the end of the week he will meet with Archbishop John Dew, Bishop of Wellington and Metropolitan of New Zealand.

Michael Mahoney

In the course of the interview, Michael spoke enthusiastically about all aspects of his vocation, including his involvement with the poor in Brazil, in particular by creating a natural pharmacy staffed by local people and the formation of a co-op to begin an apiary. Both are still operating today, the apiary producing 50 tons of honey last year.

He also spoke about his experience of returning from mission to a very different New Zealand.

Michael Mahoney was interviewed by Radio New Zealand’s Kim Hill on Saturday morning.

Download and listen: Father Michael Mahoney: mountainous priest or press play below to listen here. (Flash required.)

In fact, I watched not a single DVD and read only fairly lightweight books – because, as those of you more experienced than I in medical matters already knew, rest after surgery tends to mean just that: rest.

However, I did find time to revisit some of my favourite Monty Python skits – and ranking highly amongst those is the “Four Yorkshiremen” sketch.

You probably know the one:  four Yorkshiremen talking together about the “good old days” and trying to outdo each other about both how tough life was 30 years ago but also how happy they were in those days:

1. We used to live in this tiiny old house, with greaaaaat big holes in the roof.
2. House?  You were lucky to have a HOUSE!  We used to live in one room, all hundred and twenty-six of us, no furniture.  Half the floor was missing; we were all huddled together in one corner for fear of FALLING!
3. You were lucky to have a ROOM!  We used to live in a corridor!
4. Ohhhh we used to DREAM of livin’ in a corridor! Woulda’ been a palace to us.  We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip…….

I think a large part of the appeal of that sketch – for me and I suspect for many others – is that it’s talking about the past.  The past always looks better with hindsight – and you can elaborate, embellish (or straight out lie) without so much risk of being caught out.

It’s not so easy to look to the future though because that presents altogether different challenges.

In Scriptural terms, perhaps, we find it relatively easy to identify with the disciples at the Feeding of the Five Thousand.

They were clear on what they had – five loaves and two fish – and on the fact that even with the greatest amount of generosity in the world that wasn’t going to satisfy 5000.  And that’s not an unreasonable conclusion to reach.

What they hadn’t factored in, as we know, is that Jesus wasn’t asking them to sort the situation out on their own but in conjunction with him.  And so his instructions to the disciples were along the lines of “use what you have” [and let me make up the shortfall] rather than focus on what you can’t do (namely, feed 5,000 with five loaves and 2 fish).

That idea of focussing on what we can do, as opposed to on what we can’t do, isn’t something we find easy.

The meeting of those aged under 60 at the end of June could easily have been drawn into focussing on what we can’t do because there are very real issues facing us when we consider the demographics and the ministries of the province.

To take some of the material that was presented at that meeting:

If we look at our age structure as a Province:

• there are 50 confreres over the age of 75
• there are 52 aged between 60 and 75
• there are 35 aged under 60

In terms of ministries, the figures become even starker. The 2008 Chapter, in its Vision Statement, said that “By 2012 New Zealand Marists will have a ministry which:

• with lay people, promotes the sharing of our charism
• recognises the original call to mission among the tangata whenua
• focuses on young people and “foreign lands”
• prefers missionary parishes

If we take a broad-brush approach, we can say that of the 137 members of the Province, 32 are retired from full ministry and 12 are overseas.  That means that 93 men in the Province are currently engaged in ministry within the Province – and of that 93, 35 are under the age of 60 (but 4 of those are currently overseas).

In terms of the areas highlighted by the Vision Statement, the figures are even clearer.  With the most optimistic interpretation, we have 56 men whose primary ministry is in those areas – but only 15 men who are aged under 60.

We do have to add in to all this, of course, other factors such as:

• the needs of the wider Society of Mary (and so some of our men work in other parts of the world – and others are likely to be called overseas also)
• the under 60s are not the “only available” men in the Province
• the areas of ministry highlighted in the Vision Statement are not the only and sole valid ministries for SMNZ

Nevertheless it is very easy to get sucked into focussing on what we can’t do any longer – an overwhelming sense that the 5,000 is still waiting to be fed and we’re down to 2 loaves and half a fish.

In asking for the under 60s to meet, the 2008 Chapter didn’t, I believe, have in mind for the group to attempt to come up with answers (miraculous or otherwise) as to how we might stretch our diminishing resources to cover all the needs.

The under 60s  as gathered at Tatum Park were not a decision making group, a policy setting group or a “let’s divide up the inheritance and make a run for it” group.

To set the meeting in a context it would be worth re-reading your copy of Our Iceberg is Melting and looking particularly at the section on The Scouts.  It would also be worth re-reading the Vision Statement of the 2008 Chapter.

The Under 60s group can’t ignore the realities of the demographics of the Province and of the implications for our ministries, but nor can it afford to let itself get sucked into a mindset that it has to keep things going as they have been.

One of the starting point for the meeting was “What can we do?” rather than “What can’t we do?”  And to address that and related issues (such as the nature of religious life today; the realities of Community life; the availability of individuals and the needs of individuals as well as of ministries) required some soul-searching and honesty on the part of each individual and of the group.  It’s a dialogue that needs to be continued by the under 60s – and its one that all of us in the Province will need to engage in also – as we reflect on the content and implications of the 2008 Vision Statement.

As we do that, though, it’s worth reminding ourselves that we get energy and hope from looking forward, not backwards; from being confident that we do not have to do everything on our own; and that the faith message for us today is the same as to the disciples at Cana and at the Feeding of the Five Thousand:  “Do whatever He tells you”.

- Brian Cummings

Phil Cody in Davao for MAP meeting

The annual meeting of the provincials and vicar-provincials from Marist Asia Pacific (MAP), took place recently in Davao, the Philippines. The major topics discussed included:

• A report from each province and district.
• The actual status of MAP
• Marist Mission in Asia, especially where it is existing now in the Philippines, Japan and Ranong / Thailand
• Formation, with a particular focus on the theologate in Rome, support of young Marists and ongoing Marist renewal including ideas from the General Chapter (SD 38-41 and 49,50)
• Vocations, especially what is needed for admission and the sharing of resources
• Support and shared planning within MAP, in various areas including training, education and finance.

Some of the key decisions made were:

1. That the Superior General be asked to formalise MAP, providing a mandate for it within the overall mission of the Society and as an expression of sharing of resources for mission. (SD 43-55)
2. That a request be made to the General Administration to continue the conversation with MAP about the overall mission priorities of the Society as a framework for support of our existing mission in Asia and all that is connected with that such as recruitment.
3. That a series of Marist Renewals take place over the next 5 years for those in the region about 10 years professed or ordained.  Marists from outside the region may attend.  Each will last two or three months at Hunters Hill, Sydney.  Topics will include Spiritual renewal, Marist themes and living a healthy lifestyle.
4. That the valuable (2009) meeting of Marists in their first 5 years of profession and ordination be kept on the agenda, noting the initiative in the Philippines of younger Marists meeting regularly for support, reflection and relaxation.
5. That the Common Vocations Initiative be continued with a sharing of resources and information in particular through the internet.  At least two key persons in each region have been suggested to carry forward that network.
6. That a Fund be set up to cover costs of MAP and small scale MAP initiatives.
7. That we look for opportunities for skills development and training.

While the actual time in meetings was fruitful, the wider experience of sharing together in Davao was also of lasting value.  The opening welcome prayer with members of all branches of the Marist family present including Lay Marists and the Filipino students in formation was a highlight.

The participants, enjoyed local hospitality, not least an adventurous boat journey to a nearby island for a picnic and a rescue of a stranded boat!

Kevin Duffy from the General Administration was present throughout the meeting providing an important link for information and ideas.

The next MAP meeting is planned to take place in Oceania from Tue 14 – Thur 16 June 2011.