Leaving the Hospital and Preparing for Easter
Palm Sunday Vestments Of the Cathedral
Ecumenical Prayer meeting in Christchurch Hospital
Sr Mary The New Pastoral Chaplain
Hello every one I want to send my Easter greetings and blessings to you all. I will offer my Easter Sunday High Mass for all your spiritual well beings. Easter is a wonderful and Spiritual time. A time for rejoicing because our Saviour Jesus Christ has truly risen from the dead and has won for us the gift of eternal life. Out of the darkness of Good Friday comes the light of Easter. A light that leads us to the eternal light of heaven. No wonder we sing our Alleluias with great gusto. Though this Easter I will not be with you, you will be in my thoughts and prayers.
Over the last few months I have been reading the lives and works of St Therese and St Benedicta of the Cross of the Carmelite order so it is very fitting that I will celebrate the Easter Liturgy with the Carmelite order here in Christchurch. When I was asked to do this some how I felt there was a guiding hand at the back of it. I feel it will be a fitting way to finish my sabbatical here in New Zealand and prepare me to come home to my parish in Crowthorne and Sandhurst, and in my small way carry out the little way of St Therese and St Benedicta. The little way of accepting and loving.
I am looking forward to coming home and in one way I am very glad that it wasn't a year. The six months was quite enough. I will miss the company and friendship of my Uncle and his family and all those who I have made friends with here, but I will be compensated by having your company again and catching up with old friends..
So once again have a joyful and prayerful Easter keep me in your prayers as I will keep you in mine. God Bless you all Fr Kevin.
Leaving Christchurch Hospital Preparing for Holy Week
On Monday I signed off as the acting Priest Chaplain at the hospital. My time there has been a source of spiritual blessing. Saying that if it was a full time ministry I would have found it quite draining. It was good to have contact with the cathedral parish and its parishioners, which helped to put things into perspective. I feel that you have a certain blessing to be a full time Chaplain otherwise it could wear you down quite quickly. I always remember a chaplain advising me about my ministry in Broadmoor, he said; ‘When you shut the gates as you are leaving Broadmoor, remember to shut the gates of your mind to what has gone on there.’ In other words don’t take the worries and cares of the institution away with you, leave them at the gate. In one sense that is fairly easy to do at Broadmoor but much harder in a public hospital as people are suffering in so many different ways. How can you forget the dying baby or child and the suffering parents; the people who have just been told they have a terminal illness. The answer is you can’t you can only place that suffering before the Lord in prayer and ask for his help, and the prayers and help of your parishioners or community. I think three to five years as a chaplain would be enough and then I feel I would need to move on.
I must say that the staff at the hospital were excellent who had a much better understanding of the spiritual needs of their patients than their counterparts in England. Here they seem to have a better holistic approach to nursing especially top management. The Chaplaincy team here in Christchurch is large mainly volunteers, but there are eight paid chaplains catering for all beliefs and ethnic origins. I went for a goodbye meal with a group of them and had a good time. Sister Mary and Fr Peter now have taken over the catholic arm of the chaplaincy and I think it is in good hands and may the Lord bless their ministry.
Well Holy Week is upon us and I started it by celebrating the 7.30am Mass of Palm Sunday which went very well. Though here they don’t use palms; I suppose it is to far to ship them. As this is the land of the silver fern it seems more appropriate to use them. Another thing that is different is the weather. Now it is getting on to late autumn and already the trees are changing colour and losing their leaves, the opposite to Europe, where everything is starting to have new life, which Easter signifies. I believe there are people who say over here that Easter should be around the beginning of October which is the start of spring. Don’t know what Rome would say to that?
Over the last few months I have been reading the lives and works of St Therese and St Benedicta of the Cross of the Carmelite order so it is very fitting that I will celebrate the Easter Liturgy with the Carmelite order here in Christchurch. When I was asked to do this some how I felt there was a guiding hand at the back of it. I feel it will be a fitting way to finish my sabbatical here in New Zealand and prepare me to come home to my parish in Crowthorne and Sandhurst, and in my small way carry out the little way of St Therese and St Benedicta. The little way of accepting and loving.
I am looking forward to coming home and in one way I am very glad that it wasn't a year. The six months was quite enough. I will miss the company and friendship of my Uncle and his family and all those who I have made friends with here, but I will be compensated by having your company again and catching up with old friends..
So once again have a joyful and prayerful Easter keep me in your prayers as I will keep you in mine. God Bless you all Fr Kevin.
Leaving Christchurch Hospital Preparing for Holy Week
On Monday I signed off as the acting Priest Chaplain at the hospital. My time there has been a source of spiritual blessing. Saying that if it was a full time ministry I would have found it quite draining. It was good to have contact with the cathedral parish and its parishioners, which helped to put things into perspective. I feel that you have a certain blessing to be a full time Chaplain otherwise it could wear you down quite quickly. I always remember a chaplain advising me about my ministry in Broadmoor, he said; ‘When you shut the gates as you are leaving Broadmoor, remember to shut the gates of your mind to what has gone on there.’ In other words don’t take the worries and cares of the institution away with you, leave them at the gate. In one sense that is fairly easy to do at Broadmoor but much harder in a public hospital as people are suffering in so many different ways. How can you forget the dying baby or child and the suffering parents; the people who have just been told they have a terminal illness. The answer is you can’t you can only place that suffering before the Lord in prayer and ask for his help, and the prayers and help of your parishioners or community. I think three to five years as a chaplain would be enough and then I feel I would need to move on.
I must say that the staff at the hospital were excellent who had a much better understanding of the spiritual needs of their patients than their counterparts in England. Here they seem to have a better holistic approach to nursing especially top management. The Chaplaincy team here in Christchurch is large mainly volunteers, but there are eight paid chaplains catering for all beliefs and ethnic origins. I went for a goodbye meal with a group of them and had a good time. Sister Mary and Fr Peter now have taken over the catholic arm of the chaplaincy and I think it is in good hands and may the Lord bless their ministry.
Well Holy Week is upon us and I started it by celebrating the 7.30am Mass of Palm Sunday which went very well. Though here they don’t use palms; I suppose it is to far to ship them. As this is the land of the silver fern it seems more appropriate to use them. Another thing that is different is the weather. Now it is getting on to late autumn and already the trees are changing colour and losing their leaves, the opposite to Europe, where everything is starting to have new life, which Easter signifies. I believe there are people who say over here that Easter should be around the beginning of October which is the start of spring. Don’t know what Rome would say to that?
On Monday we had the Chrism Mass, this was a beautiful ceremony. It started with just the priest meeting together in the cathedral for a penitential service with the three bishops that reside in this diocese. We had hymns, readings, homily and an examination of conscience especially for priest. Then a bishop and six priests, which I was one, were dotted around the sanctuary and all the priest go for individual confession. It was moving to see the brotherhood of the presbytrate together acknowledging their weaknesses. After that we had a meal together and this gave time for priest to catch up with each other and have a good old chat. After the meal we had the solemn Mass of Chrism which was a wonderful and very prayerful occasion. They had it at 7.30pm which gave a chance for the parishioners of all parishes to attend and the cathedral was full. I was asked to bring the Oil of the Sick up with Sister Mary and Kerry Haines a nurse. It was all very moving and celebrated with much dignity and gravetas. There was a nice touch at the end when parishioners from each parish of the diocese were called up to come and collect the oils to take back to their parishes.
posted by Fr Kevin @ 9:19 am
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