Catholic Character

A woman of faith RIP Queen Elizabeth II.

Congratulations to the senior students this week, the focus being the Derived Grade Exams.

The junior students were considerate and quiet around the exam rooms, well done.

Preparation is well under way for our Mercy Day display in the school library. Blessed Catherine McAuley, followed her faith and since and 1850 in Aotearoa the Sisters of Mercy have ensured generations of women and men have benefitted from their contributions to Catholic Education. Sister Mary Ellen was still at JPII until March of this year, a stellar teacher who contributed 60 working years to education. 

In 2005 the four congregations in New Zealand became Nga Whaea Atawhai o Aotearoa Sisters of Mercy New Zealand. From the humble beginning in 1831 the Sisters became a worldwide influence.

The group of eight sisters and two postulants set out from St Xavier’s Convent, Ennis, County Clare, on 23 July that year, led by 34-year-old Mother M. Clare Molony.  After a trip that took them via Plymouth to Sydney, Melbourne, Wellington, Nelson, Westport, and Greymouth their boat anchored beyond Hokitika’s bar, waiting twelve hours to moor at full tide.  On the feast of St Teresa of Ávila, 15 October 1878, these founding sisters, or Pioneer Sisters as they are known, arrived in Hokitika.

Like Hokitika, the township of Greymouth mushroomed after the discovery of gold.  Its first Catholic church was built in 1865; the school which opened the following year was staffed by lay teachers.  A request to Mother M. Clare invited the sisters to open a branch house there and on 3 November 1882 Sister M. Mechtildes Boland and three Pioneer Sisters, accompanied by Mother M. Clare, established All Saints’ Convent. 

Save the date

24 September 6pm Mass in Seaview Chapel with students of JPII and St Mary's Hokitika.

20 and 21 October year 9 and 10 reflection days.

November 1 and 2, year 13 Leavers Retreat.

November 1 All Saints Day, Parish Mass

November 2 All Souls Day, Parish Mass and Whanau Liturgy at JPII 

Ms Pope

Te Kaiwhakahaere o te tūnga whakapono