RAKAIA AND TINWALD PARISHES.

Readers looking at the scriptures

















ST ITA'S CHURCH RAKAIA

Attached to the Ashburton parish are three small ones The Holy Family Parish Methven, Holy Spirit Tinwald and St Ita’s Rakaia. St Ita’s is a very small parish and was served by the parish priest of Methven. There would be about twenty five to thirty five parishioners there. It is a small New Zealand town with a population of not more than five to eight hundred. The only fame it seems to have is that its a town that you pass through either on the way to Christchurch or Timaru, but one very rarely stops there. I have been told that there is a Salmon Factory here, hence the big plastic salmon stuck on the highway as you pass through. And you think ‘what’s that there for.’

The people are nice good honest farmers. I will ask around and see if there is any interesting trivia to tell you. I did drive around it but that was all over in less than five minutes. St Ita’s church is a classical small town RC Church. You would get about sixty in it at a push. I will be celebrating the Christmas vigil Mass there at 6.00pm. (5.00am UK time)I believe that I will be preceded by a donkey and Mary with a real live Baby. The baby boy was born last Thursday. (Before the baby was born I asked his little sister was she looking forward to having a baby brother she replied, ‘No I’m not.’) I enquired about the mess the donkey might make but was told not to worry father as the poor donkey is given no food or drink that day. It will be interesting. The Parishioners look after the parish with the help of a Mercy sister Sr Mari-Rita. But really it is only a Mass centre, though saying that a group of parishioners meet everyday to celebrate the liturgy of the hours and Mass readings and Holy Communion in sister’s house.

I had a strange experience in St Ita’s. The Church is small though they have a choir loft which on occasions one or two parishioners use. I was preaching one Saturday night and I kept noticing this figure out of the corner of my eye. I did not look up straight away but when I did I got the fright of my life for there was the figure of the Sacred Heart. I thought I was having a vision until I realised that they had stuck a large statue of the Sacred Heart on a chair and he seemed to be looking over the congregation. To me it looked a bit precariously placed, but by all accounts its been there for a few years.

The Holy Spirit Parish in Tinwald is an ageing parish and I cannot see it lasting too long because of the lack of priests and because of its nearness to the Holy Name Parish Church in Ashburton. It is only a mile and half away. Really it is not a Church in the strict sense of the word as it was built as a school and used as a Church. And I am afraid it looks like that, but as you well know one does get attached to our little Churches and it is hard to let go. I feel sorry for the Parish Priest here in Ashburton as he has to deal with four, yes four different pastoral councils and all the worries that entails. It would be hard for a young man but for a man of 74 which the monsignor is, it is very hard and I think not reasonable. The bishop is asking all the councils to look at the situation and come up with a plan that will be fair and just for all in the four parishes. Much the same as we have done in Crowthorne and Sandhurst but that was easy for us compared to the situation here. I attended the meeting of the councils and though they knew the situation no one actually brought up the situation that they face. They were actually more worried how many people would be on the area pastoral council than the actual problem they are facing. But sooner or later they will have to face the closing and amalgamation of parishes. The longer they put it off the harder it is going to be for their priests!

Ramblings on the Diocese of Christchurch.

New Zealand Spring Garden














Classical New Zealand House

Have got back into the swing of things in Ashburton celeberated the Sunday Masses in Rakia at 6.00 pm, the 8.30 am in Tinwald and finally the 10.00 in Ashburton. I don’t normally do that but Monsignor Jim was a little tired after running up and down all week to Christhurch, and I was fresh after a few days break. Mons is one of the Bishops consulters and they had been finalising all the moves of the diocese. These come into affect at the end of January. It will seem strange to us as all our moves come into affect at the end of September. However it must be remembered that they are upside down here as their summer begins on the first of December and January is the month of the Holidays everything shuts down. The schools are out from the 19th December to the End of January. So Churchy wise everything is quiet and the priests go away. That is when I become really useful to the diocese and it will get me round Canterbury.

The Diocese have a unusual system of moving priest, which I can see has some benefit for the priest, but in another sense I could see it might not be beneficial all the times for the parish. Our system in Portsmouth is that the Bishop with his consulters go through the needs of the diocesan parishes. The Bishop will then call the priests he wants in certain parishes and discusses it with them individually. One would need a very good argument against certain moves but if a priest was really unhappy about a move. I know our bishop wouldn’t demand that a priest should go there, but in the end we priests make a vow of obedience to our bishop and his successor. Less than twenty years ago it might have been quite different. I heard from one priest that he was phoned up on a Friday night by his bishop and told to pack his bags as he was expected to be in another parish on the next day. To me that is very cruel and thank goodness those days are over.

I digress. Here in the Christchurch diocese their system is at the beginning of September if you want a move you write to the bishop and inform him of your intentions. A consulter then comes and sees the priest asking him what kind of parish they have in mind, i.e. a country parish, busy city or town parish, either on the East coast or the West. Then when all the parishes are known the list goes out to those who have offered themselves for a move. The one good thing about the system is that you cannot wait to see what parishes are available before you put in your request. Once your name is in the hat you have to move. The downside to this system as I see it, is that a parish might be stuck with one priest for many years. Some of the priests here have been in the same parish for over twenty years. I do not think that is good either for the parish or the priest. In the last week all the changes were announced and they were taken quite favourably by priest and laity.

I have met many of the priest here and they are just like any other diocesan body of priests. I can pick out priests with the same characteristics as priests in my own diocese, yet each one is an individual and can be embraced by the Church. I find the diocese a friendly one and a lot more homely than our one in Portsmouth. That I believe is because it is smaller and so people can get to know each other easier.

Went to a diocesan get together this week and met a lot of the religious orders who are working in the diocese. There were quite a few there but the majority of them were Mercy sisters who had a big presence here at one time because their founder Kathleen McCauly made a visit to Australia and started a foundation there. The one thing that puzzled me was how many of them lived alone working in parishes. Looking at the overall age of the religious and it is not hard to imagine that in a few years time unless something earthmoving happens there will be no religious left. That will be a sad day for the Church in general especially here in New Zealand, as they have put a lot of time and effort in to planting the seed of faith in this land.

Uncle Arnett is not very well at all. He went on a trip to Wellington and has come down with some bug. He looks very pale and weak but he is getting about a little but gets very tired quickly. I am going to try and get him to come to Ashburton for a few days for a rest. The mountain air might relieve his chesty condition. He has also lost quite a lot of weight, though like his sister Nellie he does eat very well, yet he is always telling me that he has not long to live. He is also very interested in finding what happened to his sister May Eastwood, (My mum). So we are going to the Mormon Church as I believe they have the records of Births and death of everyone who is recorded. So keep Arnett in your prayers.