bishop colin campbell – NZ Catholic Newspaper

Retirement nears for South Island bishops

Michael Otto — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 20:50:49 +0000

by MICHAEL OTTO
Two South Island dioceses will be in for changes at the helm in the not-too-distant future as their bishops approach the age at which they are asked to offer their resignations to the pope.echo $variable;

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Accident takes loved trainer

Michael Otto — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 21:17:32 +0000

by GILLIAN VINE St Mary’s Church, Mosgiel, overflowed on February 10 for the funeral Mass of Steven Anderton, one of New Zealand’s most respected thoroughbred trainers. Mr Anderton, 43, died on February 3 after becoming trapped under the ramp of a horse float at his Wingatui stables the previous day. Parish priest Fr Michael Dooley,

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NZ bishops welcome news of John Dew’s appointment

Michael Otto — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 23:21:54 +0000

New Zealand bishops welcomed the appointment of Cardinal-designate John Dew and expressed confidence in his ability to contribute to the College of Cardinals. Christchurch As well as being an honour for Archbishop John personally, it is also an honour for the Roman Catholic Church in New Zealand, continuing as it does the line of cardinals

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Fond memories revisited at Southland’s 150 celebration

Michael Otto — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 02:11:23 +0000

by PAT VELTKAMP SMITH
When Southlanders held sesquicentennial celebrations over Labour Weekend, 150 years after the building of that first St Mary’s Church in Invercargill, it was an Aucklander who drew the most appreciative chuckle.echo $variable;

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Catholics speak of being hurt by Church teaching

Rowena Orejana — Sun, 05 Oct 2014 20:14:22 +0000

by ROWENA OREJANA
WELLINGTON — New Zealand Catholics unable to live up to the Church’s teaching on remarriage,
divorce, cohabitation, contraception and same-sex unions felt “a strong sense of exclusion and hurt”, a survey conducted by the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference has shown.echo $variable;

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NZ Bishops support appeal for global prayer vigil for Gaza

NZ Catholic Staff — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 22:59:30 +0000

by NZ CATHOLIC staff
WELLINGTON — The New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference lent their support to the appeal for a global day of prayer and fasting for peace in Gaza.
In a letter to Pope Francis, the bishops drew the Pope’s attention to the request of the Father Raed, the parish priest of Holy Family Parish in Gaza “to convene a a vigil of prayer and fasting for peace in the Holy Land, as you did for Syria”.

Palestinian Issa Abu Jabber, 18, of Bethlehem, West Bank, prays during Mass in the Church of St. Catherine July 27. (CNS/Debbie Hill)

The Bishops are also asking New Zealanders to pray unceasingly for lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinian people. The Bishops also urge New Zealanders to the support the Caritas Humanitarian effort in Gaza – two ways that we can help from so far away.
Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has provided an initial grant of $20,000 for humanitarian efforts in Gaza. These funds are the result of people’s generosity through the Caritas Gifts – Gifts of Peace programme. www.caritasgifts.org.nz

The bishops’ letter follows:

Your Holiness

It is with great sadness and anguish that we watch the terrible conflict in Gaza from faraway New Zealand.

Our sense of helplessness is relieved a little by constant prayer for the cessation of the current conflict and for a resolution of the longstanding issues which underlie it. But we pray in the comfort of a land that really only knows peace, and which is a long way from international conflicts. Knowledge of the appalling suffering in Gaza fills us with a sense of desperation and leads us to ask what else we can do to alleviate the suffering and help bring peace.

We are encouraging our people to support the work of Caritas in Gaza. We are urging them to pray, individually and together, for an end to the fighting and a true and lasting resolution. These are significant steps but still more is needed, and for those of us who live in peace there is an obligation to do everything possible to bring the gift of peace to others.

Holy Father, Gaza has been a prison for the last seven years. The blockade has destroyed the Gazan economy, and the same blockade now prevents people fleeing from Gaza to safety. The people cannot even exercise their right to become refugees by crossing the border to escape the fighting.

When you entered the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people by bringing President Mahmoud Abbas and President Shimon Peres together for prayer, it was an inspiration of the Holy Spirit. You stood with the two Presidents in a way that has never been seen before, and you continue to talk with them. We know you will use all the resources of the Holy See and the moral leadership inherent in your role to do everything possible to bring about a cessation of the fighting and true and lasting peace between the Palestinian people and Israel.

We respectfully draw your attention to the request of Father Raed, the parish priest of Holy Family Parish in Gaza who said: “I launch a humble appeal to Pope Francis: may you convene a vigil of prayer and fasting for peace in the Holy Land, as you did for Syria. All the people who inhabit this land, the land of Jesus, are tired of living in fear and pain”. This prayer vigil is taking place in the countries close to Gaza, but the magnitude of the disaster is so great, that we ask if the Holy See could make this a global vigil.

We assure you of our prayerful support and that of the Church in New Zealand, and our loyalty as you continue to lead us to be authentic witnesses to the Gospel.

+John Dew
Archbishop of Wellington

+Patrick Dunn
Bishop of Auckland

+Charles Drennan
Bishop of Palmerston North

+Denis Browne
Bishop of Hamilton

+Colin Campbell
Bishop of Dunedin

+Barry Jones
Bishop of Christchurch

+Peter Cullinane
Emeritus Bishop of Palmerston North

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Southerners to celebrate sesqui

Michael Otto — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 21:09:47 +0000

by PAT VELTKAMP SMITH
INVERCARGILL — Cometh the day, cometh the man.
As parish priest of St Mary’s Basilica in Invercargill, Fr Christopher O’Neill chairs the committee set up now to mark, celebrate, 150 years of Catholicism in the far south.
So endemic feels the faith here that some people are surprised to
realise there is a date to be marked.
One hundred and fifty years? We forget how recently we marked 150 years of the south as a settled community itself.
The Catholic faith came with early setters, was bedded in by
Irish missionary priests, to flower with the coming of nuns and brothers setting up Catholic schools, which in turn spawned a veritable legion of Catholic-related clubs, groups, associations and societies — virtually one to equal every local group established.
By the turn of that century there were Catholic rugby, tennis, swimming, cricket, basketball and debating clubs, Catholic dances and debutante balls, businesses and professional practices employing
only Catholics, and others which wouldn’t touch them with a barge
pole.
But it all began with one Catholic church community in Invercargill,
a modest St Mary’s in Clyde St, today our beloved century-plus
revamped Petre-designed basilica mother church for all those parishes that have built churches and schools, presbyteries, Petre-designed convents, halls and sportsgrounds — parishes developing
their own identities within the bosom of the one that spawned them.
Of course, it is different today, but Marist rugby remains a force
to be reckoned with. Marist cricket also, while St Mary’s netball club has opened to welcoming men’s teams, playing under the St Mary’s Men banner.
We are holding up our end down here.
Two of the past three rectors of Holy Cross Seminary in Auckland
are Southlanders born and bred.
The present and former bishops of Dunedin diocese are Southland
men, Bishop Colin Campbell and Emeritus Bishop Len Boyle.
Southland women have headed Australasian congregations of
sisters in orders as diverse as the Dominicans and Blue nuns of the
Homes of Compassion. There are Southland sisters living as Carmelites. And there are Mercy Sisters.
Southland men have headed the Marist Brothers Order over many
years.
NZ Catholic’s founding editor Pat McCarthy is a Southland-born
and -trained journalist (and one time colleague of the writer). He is also, now, a papal knight.
Although none of these make any claim for our attention, we
know, remember, acknowledge, respect and value them all and
are proud of that Southland link with us.
The story of Catholicism in the south, its development, growth
and change over the past century and a half is being researched and
written by city author, St Mary’s Basilica parishioner Wendy McArthur, coincidentally secretary of the sesquicentennial committee.
Throughout the year, wonderful sacred music is being played on
the organ and presented under the baton of the basilica’s director of music, Dr Raymond White, he too returning home to the south from
overseas study and performance commitments.
In less than six months the sesquicentennial celebration will
open with a sung Mass and civic function at the basilica on the Friday night, big nosh up next night at the Ascot, province-wide Mass with probably 700 communicants the following morning.
And what a welcome there will be for those making the effort to
come home.

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New Catholic Enquiry Centre premises blessed

Michael Otto — Sat, 17 May 2008 12:00:00 +0000

WELLINGTON Blessing the new Wellington premises of the Catholic Enquiry Centre on April 22, Dunedin Bishop Colin Campbell said the work of promoting the faith was now a much harder task that were all engaged in. He noted the largest growing religious group in the last census was that of non-believers echo $variable;

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