Palmerston North
April 2014
Mary-Grace Williams
Palmerston North’s Catholic Young Adult community Te Ahi Kaa has started the year with several events already and the year has only just begun.
Te Ahi Kaa or ‘The Hearth Place’ is in its third year and is run by Jonny Boon and Mary-Grace Williams. Others living in the house this year are three young men – Chris Tuanaki from Hastings studying exercise science, Jacob Harris from Palmerston North who is a science technician at PN Girls High and Robin Varghese from India, a mental health nurse who is studying for a post-grad nursing qualification. A fourth member of the community, Ana Ioane, moved in on 28 March.
Te Ahi Kaa offers hospitality, prayerful support and an induction retreat on which members can look deeply into what brought us here and how we follow Jesus through living in community.
So far we have hosted many social occasions and Bishop Charles Drennan has been able to attend a few of them. It is important for the new students to meet their bishop and get to know their new parishes to help them feel at home.
We encourage Palmerston North parishes to welcome the young adults so that they can feel at home in their lives here because it is often hard to be away from their family home for the first time.
We also ask for your continued prayers and support for our young people, that their faith can deepen while they live in our city and that their faith and parish community be a rock for them that will weather any storm.
For information about Young Adult events in Palmerston North city, support from the Tertiary Chaplain, Massey Mass or the Young Adult community contact Mary-Grace Williams on 021 811148, or search for DiocesanYoungCatholics on Facebook.