Feature
In a tribute to Mary, Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Wel-Com has invited Catholic women from various roles within the Archdiocese of Wellington and the Diocese of Palmerston North to share some of their experiences and stories.
Mary’s month
Sr Josephine Gorman
Mary mother of God, and our mother too, plays a paramount role in the Church. We pray to her and reflect on how she was the mother of Jesus. Mary was close to Jesus during his life. She shared in his joys and sufferings, provided for his needs and accompanied him in his travels all the way to the foot of the Cross.
Mary’s faith never wavered. She accepted lovingly everything God asked of her and she is our greatest role model. Mary is the best person to understand our needs and concerns and is a powerful advocate with God on our behalf.
Archbishop Redwood said, ‘Since you are called to be compassionate to every form of human suffering, your title must be Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion’. Suzanne Aubert lived this spirit and her Directory says, ‘It is at the foot of the Cross of Jesus Christ, with Mary his mother the Sisters will stand and enter in the suffering of Jesus and Mary, and so be able to be compassionate to the sufferings of all people.’ She says, ‘Mary has a mother’s heart for all of us’. May we have the inner freedom to move into a future following in the footsteps of Mary the Mother of God.
Sr Josephine Gorman is a Sister of Compassion at Island Bay, Wellington.
Marguerite Osborne
In 2012 Pa Gerard Burns invited Marguerite Osborne to become the acting chairperson of the Maori Pastoral Council to establish links with Catholic Maori throughout the Archdiocese of Wellington.
Kapiti-based Marguerite shares her thoughts as a Maori woman and about the Council she chairs, Te Kahu o Te Rangi – The Cloak of the Sky.
I come from a family of 11 with Irish, English and Māori heritage. My mother was a matriarch and the cornerstone of our family. She was a Catholic and my father was a Ratana. He put the needs of his wife and children first. My faith was instilled in me since infancy and I thank my mother for that.
When I first came to the Kapiti area I didn’t feel at home or part of the community. I sought solace in the chapel. After some months I was approached by a member of our Māori community to join in the celebration of the Mass in Māori in the parish chapel. What a blessing. I felt at home, being nurtured by the richness of our language, being totally immersed in the chants and prayers, and hymns of our faith and more importantly being welcomed and accepted into the parish Māori community. This is the manaakitanga – the nurturing, the looking after, welcoming and whanaungatanga – the love being extended to each other as one family.
I’m involved with the Wellington Archdiocese Catholic Centre and liaising with Māori Pastoral Services. I’m trying to get strategies in place to support the work we are doing. I’m also a Kuia at Our Lady of Kapiti parish. Māori are few in number here and my role is to encourage Māori to return to the fold.
I’m passionate about the Māori Miha (Mass) and reaching out to others to embrace it. There is a special connection when one is living one’s faith and praying in one’s own language. This comes back to the Māori sense of family where you belong and are accepted, not judged. You are at peace with yourself.
Within the Catholic Church, there is unity, but that does mean uniformity. We need to let people be themselves and honour and respect one another.
Faith is a personal journey and everyone has the right to express prayer in their own tongue. From a Māori perspective there is a sense we still have to prove ourselves in the Church. For example, people ask, ‘Why do we have to have the Miha?’
Through the Council we are here to safeguard Māori Catholicism within our diocese. To preserve the Māori language, hymns and prayers, and to slowly encourage integration of our Māori Christian values with the Catholic faith, eg in Baptism, in prayer, in death – the tangi.
We want to integrate the Māori language into the celebration of the Mass and the Eucharist because there are some parts of our liturgical calendar that do not have any Māori content at all. So we are working to open or broaden the Māori context within the Catholic Church here.
Faith is individual. You can’t lump us all together, culturally or as individuals. Maori spirituality – wairoa – is deep rooted and comes from within.
Mary is the mother of us all and our model for female inspiration, which is important because as a consequence of our Church’s history, women are often behind the scenes.
We work closely with the various Catholic Women’s groups. As members of the Catholic Women’s League our motto, ‘Faith and Service’ encapsulates what our roles as women in the Catholic Church embody.
To succeed in our journey we have to pull together as one family – whanaungatanga.
Catholic Women’s League of Aotearoa New Zealand
Kathleen Blackburn
Catholic Women’s League Aotearoa New Zealand (CWLANZ) members are often referred to as ‘cup of tea ladies’. Yes, we do make a great cup of tea! We are also creative bakers, knitters and sewers. But we do much more.
We have branches in each of the dioceses where we pray and reflect together. We have a deep devotion to Mary. We support people in need in the Pacific Islands and at home. We have a voice nationally and internationally in affairs affecting women, through our membership in the New Zealand National Council of Women (NCW) and the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations (WUCWO).
Dig a little deeper and you will discover a group of strong, intelligent women active in their church and community, informing themselves on social issues affecting women in Aotearoa New Zealand today. Child poverty, youth suicide, euthanasia, abortion, human trafficking and gender equality to name just a few.
While our age profile may be older than it used to be, we are as we are now and we need to be open to what is being asked of us by our Church and community.
Our motto of ‘Faith and Service’ gives us much to live up to but we live it every day by bringing life, energy and voice into our communities. Pope Francis has invited us to ‘Light a fire in the heart of the world’. And as St Catherine of Siena said, ‘If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire’.
This is what we ask of our CWLANZ members. You are welcome to join us on this exciting journey! Visit our website at www.cwl.org.nz for more information.
Kathleen Blackburn is CWLANZ National President.
Natalie Murphy
This month we honour Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church. Familiaris Consortio ‒ The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World ‒ states ‘parents must be acknowledged as the first and foremost educators of their children’. We look to Mary as the first educator of Jesus.
Prior to Vatican II the majority of women in education were religious sisters who taught in primary and secondary Catholic schools. Most secondary schools for girls were administered and staffed by women, which modelled for girls that women can be leaders in society and in the Church. The founders of many women’s religious orders would have concurred with the sentiments of Catherine McAuley, foundress of the Sisters of
Mercy that ‘no work of charity can be more productive of good to society, or more conducive to the happiness of the poor, than the careful instruction of women, since whatever be the station they are destined to fill, their example and their advice will always possess influence…’.
The education of women by women has indeed been ‘productive of good’, not only for the influence of women within their families, but also within the many public roles women now hold in society.
With the renewal of the Church through Vatican II the importance of the laity role in the mission of the Church was emphasised. Many religious sisters undertook tertiary study in such areas as Scripture and Theology and used the fruits of their study in adult education to assist the laity to take their rightful place within the Church.
Women, lay and religious are now engaged in theological and scriptural research. Their writings bring new insights to the richness of the Gospels and Scriptures, which resonate with women’s experience and help them deepen their commitment to Christ, the Church and Earth. Today the sphere of women in education is wide. Women are involved in education in schools, in the Catholic Institute, in universities, in spirituality centres, in Caritas to name but a few.
Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, pray for us.
Natalie Murphy has been a teacher in Wellington and Blenheim Catholic primary schools and RE Adviser in the Palmerston North Diocese and is currently volunteering in classrooms at St Anne’s School in Newtown.
Judy Olsen
Dove Fellowship was formed in 1984 with a special emphasis on women’s ministry to women in gentleness and love, as exemplified by Mary Mother of God and Mother of the Church. Dove operates under the authority of the Bishop’s of New Zealand in close co-operation with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
The Fellowship’s vision is for women from all walks of life to bond together in the power of the Holy Spirit to effect a force for good in the nation, to become instrumental in building family and parish life, and providing support for one another.
Dove offers a place where all women join together to know Christ more deeply and realise their full potential as women of God. There are nine Fellowships throughout New Zealand. They each hold monthly meetings, which provide inspiring talks from guest speakers, a time of praise and worship and an opportunity to receive prayer. Please visit the Dove website at www.dove.org.nz for meeting dates and venues in Wellington Archdiocese (Wellington and Nelson) and Palmerston North Diocese (Napier).
Dove holds annual retreats. This year it will be in Auckland from 31 July to 2 August. The theme is ‘Love Outpouring’ and there are to be some outstanding speakers from New Zealand and Australia. It will also be an opportunity to attend various workshops. There is a live-in option or day only registration. Please visit our website to find out more about Dove Fellowship, monthly meetings and and the retreat visit
Judy Olsen is a member of the Dove national team.
Telesia Alaimaona
My name is Telesia Alaimoana and I was born in Samoa. I migrated to New Zealand at the age of 16. I attended St Mary’s College in Samoa from 1978-1980, and Bishop Viard College from 1981 for my remaining secondary school years. I am a mother of two teenage daughters and continue to live in Porirua with my family, including my 88-year-old mother. After raising my family and working at various jobs, I took up tertiary studies through Massey University, Palmerston North and Whitireia Community Polytechnic, and graduated with a Batchelor of Social Work in 2014. I currently work for the Capital & Coast District Health Board, working in the Disability Sector. I have a passion for supporting social justice and equal rights. I am a member of the Wellington Archdiocese Justice, Peace and Development Commission. This passion also inspires me to be involved as part of the Leadership Team for Our Lady of Hope (Tawa/Titahi Bay) Parish Council.
During May, we celebrate ‘Mary, Mother of Jesus’. As a mother, I am reminded of and reflect upon Mary’s role as a Spiritual Mother and its relevance to this modern world. The four Gospels in the Bible, Mathew wrote of the ‘Birth of Jesus’ and Mary’s role of child-bearing. In Mark’s Gospel, he wrote about how Jesus re-set the boundaries of family life to include ‘women’. Mary’s role here is shown as a confident and loving leader of a family. In Luke’s Gospel, he wrote of Mary having faith in God. She was a human figure experiencing distress and joy as she watched over her child. In the Gospel of John (2:1-11), the story of the Wedding in Cana is an example of Mary’s assertiveness as she insists Jesus help in a difficult situation. John also wrote about Mary as a woman who was sure of herself and confident about her place in the community (19:25-27).
These are just some of Mary’s roles as a ‘Mother’ that inspire me to do what I do for my family, my community and church and in today’s world. I am very passionate about treating people equally and for everyone to have a ‘voice’ and ‘choices’. The work of Rosa Parks, the African-American woman who refused to give up her seat on the bus and who is the mother of Modern Day Civil Rights Movements, inspired me to remember the simple act of courage, defiance and dignity committed by her.
I pray all the mothers may have a wonderful day on Mothers’ Day, 10 May, and be inspired by the many roles of Mary, Mother of Jesus.
Fa’afetai.
Telesia Alaimaona is a member of the Wellington Archdiocese Justice, Peace and Development Commission and is part of the leadership team for Our Lady of Hope (T
awa-Titahi Bay) Parish Council.
Kathy Moriarty
Focolare is a lay ecclesial Movement of the Church, founded by Chiara Lubich in 1943. Our statutes note that the ‘Work of Mary’ – our formal official title – wishes to be as much as possible a presence of Mary here on earth, almost her continuation.
Some years ago Chiara wrote, ‘How can I live like Mary in her mystical silence when our vocation at times is to speak in order to evangelise, always exposed in every kind of place, rich and poor, from cellars to streets, to schools, everywhere?
‘Our Mother also spoke. And she gave Jesus. There has never been a greater apostle in the world. No one ever spoke such words as she, who gave the Word.
‘She kept silent because the two could not speak at once. The word must always rest against a silence, like a painting against a background.
‘…How then, can I live Mary…?
‘By silencing the human in me, and upon this silence letting the Spirit of the Lord speak.
‘In this way I live Mary and I live Jesus.’
At our annual Focolare gathering in March this year, the Mariapolis (a small, temporary City of Mary), 150 of us – adults, youth and children from all over New Zealand and a few from Australia – gathered at Rotorua to share our experiences of living the Gospel in our workplaces, in our schools, in our families, in society and on the peripheries of where we live. It was a collective witness of the many ways of living the presence of Mary and Jesus.
Please visit www.focolare.org for more information.
Kathy Moriarty is a member of the Focolare Movement and a parishioner at St Joseph’s, Mt Victoria, Wellington.
Joanne Oliver
Magnificat is a lay Catholic community dedicated to Mary, based at Cross Creek in South Wairarapa
We provide a retreat venue for people to experience spiritual nourishment, prayer, peace, contemplation and quiet reflection.
We have a constant flow of visitors and retreatants. Our mission statement is, ‘Following in the footsteps of Mary, the Magnificat Community exists to give Glory to God through life witness, prayer and apostolic works.’
We look to Mary for our inspiration and example. We see the reality of Mary’s words in her hymn of praise to our Lord – the Magnificat, ‘For He who is Mighty has done great things for me’.
It is wonderful laity are participating in Church ministries in ways we believe are prompted by the Holy Spirit. Our hospitality ministry embraces stewardship where all are encouraged to share time and talents with the wider Church and society.
We have daily community prayer, adoration and enjoy the sacramental life of the Church.
The community also runs a sheep and beef farm, and we have several pets that are a joy to visitors.
For more information, visit www.magnificat.org.nz, email enquiries@magnificat.org.nz or phone (06) 308-9982.
Joanne Oliver is a Magnificat leader.
O Mary! we crown thee with blossoms today, Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May, O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today, Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May.
Monica O’Connell
Traditionally for Catholics May is the Month of Mary. If you went to Catholic schools in the 1960s, like me, you were excited May had come as we dressed the Mary statues with flowers and even had a day at the seashore sharing cakes our parents (mothers) had made.
May Day festivities present themselves with all the optimism of spring: new life, new love, youth and future. Even though we live ‘down under’ we support this tradition. Mary, symbolically and effectively, embodies this new life, this new springtime. If you look for descriptions of Mary you get: Queen of all creation, a masterpiece of God’s work, with Her crown of perfection, and the Temple of the Son of God.
Participating in Marian prayers and devotions, particularly the Holy Rosary, is a way of living in Her mysterious presence. My mother, a lover of the Rosary and of Mary, said, ‘If you pray to Our Lady she will ask God, and all sons obey their mothers’. My mother ‒ the great believer in the Church, Mary and her son!
Mary is the one person in the Gospels who was there at the beginning and at the end of Christ’s life on earth. There were other women drawn to be with Him – they were present at His death and it was women He first appeared to after His resurrection. St Paul acknowledges the contribution of the many women who were active in the ministry of the early Church. In his Letters to the Romans he thanks and praises several women ‘who work hard in the Lord’.
I want to help; I want to be of use. I can’t be perfect, but I do want to live in a world where God is honoured and loved. I was led by God to train as a Lay Pastoral Leader – yet another calling in my life.
I consider us to be very lucky; one of the aims at the Archdiocese Synod 2006 has been: ‘Affirm and empower all leaders – lay, ordained, men and women’. What a great country we live in.
Monica O’Connell is a Launch Out candidate and a member of St Mary of the Angels parish, Wellington.