Marist Messenger

Several years ago in 2004 four families wrote a page in Kanak history which received scant media attention. It was a sorely-needed reconciliation after a tragedy which had traumatised the Kanak people. Read more »

Holy Mass is offered each month by the Editor for those whose names occur in this list. To add a name, simply write to the Editor. Read more »

In 1984 Pope John Paul II entrusted to the world’s youth a large wooden cross as a sign of Christ’s love of humanity. On Palm Sunday 2003 the Pope announced the Cross would be accompanied by an Icon of Our Lady. Last year the Cross and Icon were received at the Waitaki Bridge from the Dunedin Diocese and began their journey in Timaru, Ashburton, finally arriving at Our Lady of Victories Church Sockburn. Read more »

Laughter is a gift of God. Try these stories for size… Read more »

A reflection on the family tradition of sharing meals at table Read more »

Wake up, wake up! The taonga have arrived! We need to bless them”. This message rather abruptly woke me from a deep sleep about 1:40am on Easter Monday morning. Boy Thomson, one of the elders or kaumatua of the Nga Karere Wellington Cultural Club had shaken me awake. As I had only got to bed about midnight after watching the seniors perform, it was all rather a shock. However, it was to teach me clearly what the Hui Aranga was all about. Read more »

It is a generally accepted principle in our society that we must respect each other’s consciences even when they seem to us to be erroneous. Thus we respect sincere unbelievers, Muslims, atheists etc. whose consciences are quite different from those of Christians. Read more »

from The Sermon of St Augustine of Hippo,(354-430) Sermon 293,
The Church observes the birth of John as in some way sacred; and you will not find any other of the great men of old whose birth we celebrate officially. Read more »

A meditation by Maria Schmetzer Read more »

by Kat Walsh. Sydney 2008 will be a Festival of Colour Read more »

by Kilian de Lacy
June 3 – Saint Charles Lwanga, Martyr (1865-1886)
Saint Charles was born in 1865 into a chaotic period of Uganda’s history. In 1884, the new king, Mwanga II, showed himself to be an alcoholic, a paedophile and a vicious persecutor of Christians and all foreigners. Read more »

by Gerard del Rio
A PATIENT PROCESS
If reconciliation between the families directly involved in the tragedy at Hwadrilla was not brought about in a day, it did, however, germinate very soon after May, 1989. It was the end of a patient process undertaken by various personages: religious, customary, and political. Read more »

On Sunday the 16th of October 2005, St Patrick’s Cathedral in Auckland closed its doors for almost two years of major restoration work. The spectacular cathedral we now see belies its humble beginnings: a wooden chapel built to accommodate a congregation of a city in its infancy Read more »

In New York on 20 April at 9.30 a.m. local time the Pope visited Ground Zero, the name now used to refer to the site once occupied by the twin towers of the World Trade Centre. Read more »

In Rome from May 14-20 will be held the Congress-Pilgrimage for the Order of Consecrated Virgins (OCV) Part of the NZ delegation will be the Messenger Secretary Joanne Oliver. Read more »