WelCom April 2020:
All public Masses and liturgies are postponed until further notice
Due to Covid-19 restrictions the New Zealand Catholic Bishops announced that all public Masses and liturgies have been be suspended from now until further notice. Parish gatherings are also suspended or cancelled. The Church is posting online Mass links on its National Liturgy Office website. The page has regular updates of links in New Zealand and overseas, including to the Pope’s daily Mass, held at 7pm New Zealand time. (Please check NZ-time adjustment after daylight saving ends, Sunday 5 April.) www.nlo.org.nz/news-and-events/media-releases/celebrate-mass-online/
The following previously advertised events in The Archdiocese of Wellington and the Diocese of Palmerston North have been cancelled or postponed due to current Covid-19 restrictions.
Monday 6 April
Cancelled – Chrism Mass of the Oils, Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Palmerston North Diocese.
Tuesday 7 April
Cancelled – Chrism Mass, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Richmond, Archdiocese of Wellington, South Island.
Wednesday 8 April
Cancelled – Chrism Mass, St Teresa’s Pro-Cathedral, Karori, Archdiocese of Wellington, North Island.
Friday 10 April
Cancelled – Good Friday, The Way of the Cross reflections, Chapel of Our Lady of Compassion, Island Bay.
Thursday 9–Monday 13 April
Cancelled – Te Hui Aranga (Māori Catholic Easter Meeting) to have been hosted by the Wellington Clubs over Easter Weekend. This year would have marked the 75th jubilee of this Easter Hui, which began at Pukekaraka, Ōtaki, in 1944.
Friday 24–Sunday 26 April
Postponed until later in the year – Takirua 2020 Conference in Wellington organised by the NZCBC Council for Young People and The Catholic Network of Marriage Educators. www.takirua2020.nz
Sunday 26 April
Postponed until further notice – St Joseph Church, Wakefield, Tasman, 150th anniversary celebrations and reunion.
Tuesday 26–Friday 29 May
Postponed – 2020 Pacific Ocean, Pacific Climate Change Conference, Apia, Samoa. Situation to be reviewed in June-July 2020.
Wellington Archdiocese Youth Ministry
We have suspended all young church gatherings organised by Young Church Ministries’ office until further notice.
We will be regularly updating our facebook page ‘Young Church – Archdiocese of Wellington’ where all our events are advertised.
Look after each other and stay safe! Marian Lima, Danielle Webb, and Chris Duthie-Jung – Young Church Ministries.
Palmerston North Diocese
Gatherings organised by Young Church Ministries are cancelled until further notice.
Compassion Soup Kitchen
Staff and volunteers at the Compassion Soup Kitchen are continuing to provide meals for Wellington’s vulnerable while taking measures to minimise risk to people. The Compassion Soup Kitchen has closed only once in 118 years, for a period in 1927, and was open during the 1918 Influenza epidemic, serviced by the Sisters of Compassion. Updates on this situation will be posted on Facebook: www.facebook.com/SoupKitchenWellington/
Archdiocese Safeguarding Workshops Postponed
All scheduled safeguarding workshops in the Archdiocese of Wellington have been postponed due to the Covid-19 restrictions. Brendy Weir, Safeguarding Adviser, has contacted the safeguarding administrators throughout the Archdiocese about the postponements. Brendy will communicate with the administrators to reschedule training opportunities. If you have any questions, please email Brendy at b.weir@wn.catholic.org.nz or phone 021 195 8307.
St Joseph’s Church Wakefield 150th Celebrations Postponed
The organising group of St Joseph’s Church 150th Anniversary Celebration in Wakefield, Nelson, over Anzac weekend, have advised that due to Covid-19, this event has been postponed until a future time when it is safe to once again reschedule it. For information please email stjosephs150years@xtra.co.nz or ph (03) 541 9555 or 027 454 4121; PO Box 3640, Richmond, Nelson 7050.
Marist St Pat’s 50th Jubilee Celebrations Postponed
Marist St Pat’s Rugby Club have postponed their 50th Jubilee celebrations scheduled for Queen’s Birthday Weekend, June 2020. MSP wanted to provide certainty to those who are making travel arrangements for that weekend and for their own preparations. A new date is tentatively Queen’s Birthday Weekend 2021. If you have already paid for the planned Jubilee Dinner and would like a refund, please contact MSP RC. Alternatively, any bookings already paid will carry forward and hold your place. For information contact Marist St Pats RFC, email msprugby@xtra.co.nz or visit www.msprugby.co.nz/tools/clients/new.aspx?SECT=50-jubilee
Updates will be circulated via MSP Facebook page, on msprugby.co.nz, by post, and the Red Machine newsletter.
Tim Donoghue’s book documenting 50 years of Marist St Pats rugby will still be published in 2020, most likely by the end of April. MSP will share more about the launch and how to purchase in due course.
Our Lady’s Home of Compassion services and spaces closed
The Heritage Centre exhibitions, Chapel, Resting Place and Cloister Café are closed until further notice. The Retreat House is closed until 1 May 2020.
The Spirituality Programme events are cancelled: Encounter with Mercy (1 April); The Way of the Cross (10 April); Poetry and Prayer with Anne Powell (16 May).
The following services and events are postponed until further notice: Christian Meditation, Mondays 7pm, Thursdays 8.30am; Quiet Days, 2nd Thursday of the month, 10am–2pm; Taizé services, First Friday of the month, 7pm; Sunday Miha, 11am; One-day Retreat – ‘All Creeds and None’ (6 June); Two-day Retreat – ‘Art, Action and Contemplation’ (3-5 July)
Please check www.compassion.org.nz and www.facebook.com/sistersofcompassion for updates.