The Parish of South Westlands.
Our Lady of the Snows Franz Josef
St James Anglican Church Franz Josef
Fr Kevin Wei at Fox Glacier
The parish is big stretching from Ross in the north travelling through Harihari, Whataroa, Franz Josef , Fox Glacier to the village of Haast in the south a total of nearly 200miles. So my travelling between the Churches of Crowthorne and Sandhurst is not even a stone throw away in comparison. It puts everything in to perspective. It is a very hard life for the priest here because there are not many people live on this side of the South Island mainly due to the adverse weather and lack of working opportunities. Fr Kevin said that it is very rare for him to get a congregation over twenty.
The distances between the Mass centres makes daily mass out of the question and it curtails home visits as well. There are no homes, schools, hospitals, prisons or nursing homes to visit. Though you can pop into one of the parishioner’s for a cup of tea every so often there is a limit to how many times you can do this in a week when you have only six or seven families. So basically there is only the weekend Masses to organise. The rest of the week is your own, but when you are in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do it must be hard. I said to Fr Kevin Wei that I would have to work in the garden growing all my own veges and making the grounds look nice and when it was raining I would be decorating the inside of the house. (then repairing what I had done!). Fr Kevin spent a lot of his time making rosary beads and framing pictures.
I went to three of the Churches Our Lady of the Snows, Our Lady of the Woods, and Our Lady of the Lakes. (Very original I think I would have called the next two Our Lady of the Rain and Our Lady of the Bends) The Churches are very small and quaint except our Lady of the Woods which could hold about a 100 people at a push. This is a lovely wooden Church and very tastefully furnished, though over here in NZ they do have a tendency to have the sanctuary very high over the congregation which does tend to give the impression of us and them.
While I was here Fr Kevin took me around all the tourist stops the highlight being able to go right up to Fox Glacier and touching it and seeing how fast it is melting and receding. (Just like my hair) Walked back which took an hour and then the rains came down for the rest of the day. Went and had our sandwiches with a couple of parishioners then spent a pleasant evening watching Egg Heads and playing scrabble and would you believe it Fr Kevin beat me!!
The next day we went to Franz Josef Glacier which they wouldn’t let you get too near because of the danger of falling Ice. They had a lovely Anglican Church called St James This Church in Franz Josef had a big plain window at the back of the Altar and through this you could see the Franz Josef Glacier and the bridge over the river that flows from it. It was very impressive but I think it would be very distracting during Mass.(Yes I know what you are thinking!)Many couples come here to get married as it is so photogenic. My only quibble with it was everything was painted black, which did tend gave an oppressive feel to the Church.
Had lunch in the food hall in the village. The food here is not tip top and they do tend to eat a lot of rubbish, more so than we do in England and as for the coffee forget it. I take my Gold Blend with me as most homes have the very fine powder coffee that you get in Church functions. (Not may I add in the Catholic Parish of Crowthorne and Sandhurst). Then we went to the old Gold town of Okarito and its lake. It used to be a fairly big town in its hay day but now that has all gone with the gold, and there are only a few holiday homes there. Then off to see the grave yard in Whataroa. (You can see how exciting the day was) Then went home I cooked the meal this evening chatted and off to bed.( No scrabble this evening you don’t get a chance to beat me twice.)
On Friday morning we celebrated together the only week day Mass they have in South Westlands which begins at 9.30am. Four people came and they chatted and chatted, when it got to 10.00am I said don’t you think we should start the Mass now. I suppose that is country life, half hour here and a half hour there doesn’t matter, there is no rush. Said my good byes then back to Ashburton. It was a glorious day with bright blue sunny sky and this made the trip most enjoyable. It still took me five hours.
Note: If I was the bishop I wouldn’t leave a priest down there on his own. I would have him in the nearest big centre which is Hokitika. There he and another priest could work together and serve the people. This would give them and the parish a variety of options and could stop this appointment as it stands now being an ordeal. Then the priest wouldn’t necessary go round the bend, but only drive round it.
St James Anglican Church Franz Josef
Fr Kevin Wei at Fox Glacier
The parish is big stretching from Ross in the north travelling through Harihari, Whataroa, Franz Josef , Fox Glacier to the village of Haast in the south a total of nearly 200miles. So my travelling between the Churches of Crowthorne and Sandhurst is not even a stone throw away in comparison. It puts everything in to perspective. It is a very hard life for the priest here because there are not many people live on this side of the South Island mainly due to the adverse weather and lack of working opportunities. Fr Kevin said that it is very rare for him to get a congregation over twenty.
The distances between the Mass centres makes daily mass out of the question and it curtails home visits as well. There are no homes, schools, hospitals, prisons or nursing homes to visit. Though you can pop into one of the parishioner’s for a cup of tea every so often there is a limit to how many times you can do this in a week when you have only six or seven families. So basically there is only the weekend Masses to organise. The rest of the week is your own, but when you are in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do it must be hard. I said to Fr Kevin Wei that I would have to work in the garden growing all my own veges and making the grounds look nice and when it was raining I would be decorating the inside of the house. (then repairing what I had done!). Fr Kevin spent a lot of his time making rosary beads and framing pictures.
I went to three of the Churches Our Lady of the Snows, Our Lady of the Woods, and Our Lady of the Lakes. (Very original I think I would have called the next two Our Lady of the Rain and Our Lady of the Bends) The Churches are very small and quaint except our Lady of the Woods which could hold about a 100 people at a push. This is a lovely wooden Church and very tastefully furnished, though over here in NZ they do have a tendency to have the sanctuary very high over the congregation which does tend to give the impression of us and them.
While I was here Fr Kevin took me around all the tourist stops the highlight being able to go right up to Fox Glacier and touching it and seeing how fast it is melting and receding. (Just like my hair) Walked back which took an hour and then the rains came down for the rest of the day. Went and had our sandwiches with a couple of parishioners then spent a pleasant evening watching Egg Heads and playing scrabble and would you believe it Fr Kevin beat me!!
The next day we went to Franz Josef Glacier which they wouldn’t let you get too near because of the danger of falling Ice. They had a lovely Anglican Church called St James This Church in Franz Josef had a big plain window at the back of the Altar and through this you could see the Franz Josef Glacier and the bridge over the river that flows from it. It was very impressive but I think it would be very distracting during Mass.(Yes I know what you are thinking!)Many couples come here to get married as it is so photogenic. My only quibble with it was everything was painted black, which did tend gave an oppressive feel to the Church.
Had lunch in the food hall in the village. The food here is not tip top and they do tend to eat a lot of rubbish, more so than we do in England and as for the coffee forget it. I take my Gold Blend with me as most homes have the very fine powder coffee that you get in Church functions. (Not may I add in the Catholic Parish of Crowthorne and Sandhurst). Then we went to the old Gold town of Okarito and its lake. It used to be a fairly big town in its hay day but now that has all gone with the gold, and there are only a few holiday homes there. Then off to see the grave yard in Whataroa. (You can see how exciting the day was) Then went home I cooked the meal this evening chatted and off to bed.( No scrabble this evening you don’t get a chance to beat me twice.)
On Friday morning we celebrated together the only week day Mass they have in South Westlands which begins at 9.30am. Four people came and they chatted and chatted, when it got to 10.00am I said don’t you think we should start the Mass now. I suppose that is country life, half hour here and a half hour there doesn’t matter, there is no rush. Said my good byes then back to Ashburton. It was a glorious day with bright blue sunny sky and this made the trip most enjoyable. It still took me five hours.
Note: If I was the bishop I wouldn’t leave a priest down there on his own. I would have him in the nearest big centre which is Hokitika. There he and another priest could work together and serve the people. This would give them and the parish a variety of options and could stop this appointment as it stands now being an ordeal. Then the priest wouldn’t necessary go round the bend, but only drive round it.
posted by Fr Kevin @ 6:19 pm
1 Comments:
Dear Fr Kevin,
Just caught up with your diary. What poignant experiences you have had and are still having.
Lots of love, Adele and Dave Fuller
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