NEWS
31 March 2012
More than 200 people packed into the Featherston parish hall on February 18 to welcome author Joy Cowley’s and parish priest Don Morrison’s joint publication, The Easter Story.
Archdiocesan pastoral adviser Sue Devereux said parents had been asking for some time for a simple way to explain to their children the mystery of the resurrection.
As a renowned poet and children’s author, Joy Cowley has a large number of books in her lexicon but Fr Don, as illustrator, is almost a newcomer. There was universal acclaim for Fr Don’s line drawings that many agreed had enhanced the text.
As parish priest at St Teresa’s, Fr Don is well known in Featherston and throughout the Wairarapa and many had attended the launch out of respect for a favourite pastor.
After the formal part of the launch, a queue formed stretching out the door of people wanting their copies signed. Many went from one to the other, enduring the wait on a hot, Wairarapa afternoon.
Meanwhile, Pleroma director Shirley Duthie worked hard to keep up with the demand for copies of and others from the Joy Cowley collection.
Joy Cowley says her next project is about Suzanne Aubert, founder of the Sisters of Compassion and expected to soon be New Zealand’s first canonised saint.
Joy says her research has shown that Mother Aubert loved children and many in the orphanage that she founded called her ‘Grandma’. The working title of Joy’s account: Saint Grandma.