Christ the King Parish in Burnside Christchurch

Fr Chris celebrating Sunday Mass

(You will notice a white screen in the picture, that is where the hymn words are projected. Quite disconcerting as one feels the congregation is having a community vision All looking up to the apparition at the same time.

Barbara the parish secretary and myself

Fr Chris Orr the assistant priest came and picked me up from my uncle’s place and took me to Christ the King. Fr Chris is one of the rare young priest. I think he is the youngest in the diocese and he has only been ordained for a couple of years. A nice and caring man who came to the priesthood after being a motor mechanic and by all accounts has a real racy car that he has built up from scratch. This is really a show stopper for the youngsters of the parish.

My first impression was, what have I let myself in for. The house was a square box with a small kitchen and dinner/living TV room. Everything seemed to be compressed, even the stairs to the bedrooms were narrow. I subsequently heard that when it was built in the early sixties that the plans had been much larger. However the bishop at the time thought it was too big and knocked a third off it. But rather than have new plans they just reduced the sizes of the rooms and knocked out a bathroom. Consequently the kitchen and all the other rooms are undersized. The parish is in the process of trying to get a new modern house built.

The South Island is notorious for changing climate. One minute you could have 30 degrees then next minute it could drop to 10 degrees or lower. Yet for all that no one seems to have central heating in their houses and as for double glazing forget it. In my first night in Burnside parish house I could hardly sleep as the wind was blowing and the rain came down heavily. The window frames just rattled all night and there was a banging in the loft. On top of that the roof was corrugated and when the rain came down heavily the noise was nearly deafening. We later found out that the banging was caused by some of the roof corrugated tiles coming loose. The whole house had a definite sixties feel about it and I don’t think much has changed there since then. And as we know the sixties was not known for its architecture or its buildings. I am not complaining, (really) I am just trying to build a picture for you!

The parish Church and the people were by no means stuck in the sixties. Here was a modern parish with a congregation of over a thousand who had taken ownership of their parish. The people were very welcoming and very pleased to see a new youngish priest. (You smile) It was amazing how many times I was invited out for meals and jaunts while I was there. Hence the lateness of my blogs to you. I had hardly any time to write and as for learning Italian I will have to start that in the new year. They have a great social group which caters for all ages. A pastoral Assistant that runs among other things a CAfe group which I attended. There were very many groups being run by the laity and most of them didn’t rely on the priest. The people seemed to understand the situation that the days of relying on the priest for everything was over, and if they wanted to keep their parish identity they were the ones who would have to preserve it.

Saying all that the whole parish had a great love for their priest Fr Bill Middleton. Everyone said how much they loved him and how much he had been the instigator of the parish moving forward. His love and concern for the parish had rubbed off on his parishioners. It was a very open parish and Fr Bill as he was affectionately called had an open house. If there was anyone in trouble or alone they would be welcomed to dine at his table. It would be very rare indeed for him to have lunch on his own. Many people who wouldn’t quite meet the mark of “some” would always be welcomed by Fr Bill, that is why there is a big Catholic Asian community there, who feel welcome and appreciated there in Christ the King Parish. The Asian community are noted for their extra devotions outside of Mass and Fr Bill has gone out of his way to accommodate them, which while I was there joined them. It is always a good sign of a thriving parish to see so many at daily Mass and all the other devotions that are held and that is what happened in Christ the King Parish.

So though it seems I started with a little bit of a moan I really did enjoy my three week stay in Christ the King which has given me food for thought which is why I came here. Also I was able to participate in all that was going on liturgically and socially, rather than running away to do other things. My sojourn here has given me much food for thought. Talking about food, the New Zealanders find it hard to cater for Vegetarians. A look of panic enters their eyes as soon as you say that you don’t eat meat or fish. I think over a period of three days I ate vegetable lasagne three times. Well at least it was food some people don’t even have that. On my last day in Christ the King I met Fr Bill and he was all that his parishioners made him out to be.