Parish priest Fr Bernard O’Donnell after early morning Mass during a snowfall surrounding St Joseph’s Church, Ohakune.
Winter Wonderland – St Joseph’s Church, Ohakune. Photos: Merrilyn George
WelCom October 2017: In a letter to our parishioners recently, Bishop Charles Drennan said, ‘As an Iwi whakapono or community of faith we are called to always look beyond “ourselves”. Your parish sits within a very beautiful part of New Zealand and you are blessed with two historic churches. Therefore, your community has a particular mission to welcome visitors. Because of our shared baptism, visitors are already in a sense a part of who you are. The vocation of hospitality or manaakitanga stands at the heart of the Gospel’.
As such, the Catholic parish of Ohakune and Raetihi changed the Saturday evening Mass time from 5pm to 5.30pm to be more suitable for families and young people, as well as for our visitors and families travelling here for sports and outdoor recreation in our region.
The vigil Mass is held each Saturday night at one of the three churches in our area – St Patrick’s Raetihi, St Joseph’s Ohakune and Te Kingi ote Maungarongo at Maungarongo Marae.
Merrilyn George