This page: Kate's quarter century Project Compassion & Fr Mike Marists at Marymount Port Vila bishop Paintings returned Parish priests gather Oxford research |
Kate's quarter century The Marist community of Villa Maria, Hunters Hill, NSW, has farewelled their secretary-house manager, Mrs Kate Buckland, after of twenty-five years of service. |
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Project Compassion and Fr Mike Fr Mike McVerry SM has a lot to be grateful for to Caritas Australia after their help in funding the hydro-electric power system at Tutu, Taveuni, Fiji. The hydro system is a vital resource for the Marist Training Centre at Tutu as well as several other Marist communities including the novitiate of Oceania province. |
The Marist Training Centre provides practical training in agricultural skills for the young farmers of Taveuni as well as periodic, live-in formation programs for married couples and families. The New Zealand born Marist is a member of the Oceania province and is in Australia for several weeks to assist Caritas in its annual Lenten appeal, Project Compassion. He is speaking to schools and parish groups in several dioceses in NSW, Victoria and ACT including Maitland, Sydney, Canberra-Goulburn and Sandhurst. Fr Mike is well known across the Pacific not only for pioneering the Tutu project but for his work in the development and leadership of the Worldwide Marriage Encounter movement in Oceania. |
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Asia-Pacific Marists at Marymount Ten members of the Marist Family from six Asia-Pacific nationalities are participating in formation and renewal programs at the Marymount Centre, Castle Hill, NSW. Most are involved in formation ministry and engaging in Marymount's 'Journeying with New Members' six month program. Pictured, back row: Br Jean-Marie Batick FMS (Vanuatu), Fr Chris Hifo SM (Tonga), Sr Miriama Dituvatuva SM (Fiji) , Sr Vicki Wilson SMSM (Bougainville-Australia), Sr Akanesi Liongi SMSM (Tonga), Br Jone Seduadua FMS (Fiji). Front: Br Ted Fernandez FMS (Philippines), Sr Lusia Meanadrau SMSM (Fiji), Br Tony Caddy FMS (Australia), Br John Votaia SM (Solomon Islands). |
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Port Vila's new Marist bishop Bougainville Marist, John Bosco Baremes SM, was ordained bishop of Port Vila, Vanuatu, in a ceremony in Parliament Park on Feb 14. Bishops from all over the Pacific were joined by Apostolic Nuncio for the Pacific, Archbishop Charles Balvo. Ordaining prelates were Archbishop Michel Calvet (Noumea), Bishop Ghislain de Rasilly SM (Wallis-Futuna) and Bishop Soane Patiti Mafi (Tonga).
Above: The bishop-elect lies prostrate during the litany prayer / Marist bishops at the ordination, from left: Bishops Robin Leamy, Stuart O'Connell, Archbishop Michel Calvet, Bishops John Bosco Baremes, Ghislain
de Rasilly and Adrian Smith.
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Historical paintings returned After a search of nearly four decades two historical Marist paintings have been returned to Sydney. The paintings depict the earliest Marist buildings near Tarban Creek, Hunters Hill, which served as a base for the newly-established missions of the Society of Mary in the south-west Pacific. They were housed variously in Rome and at La Neyliere, France, where they were discovered in a basement after going missing in the 1970's. Fr Michael Mullins SM recently returned from Rome bringing with him the paintings dating from 1854 and commissioned by the then-procurator of the Marist Missions of the Pacific, Fr Rocher. 'It's the end of a thirty-five year saga', says Fr Michael who has been searching for the lost paintings since 1974. They are now framed and hanging in the provincial offices, Hunters Hill, awaiting a more permanent and suitable home. |
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Co-director of the Sydney-based Pastoral and Refounding Development Unit, Fr Gerard Arbuckle SM, is on a short sabbatical at Oxford University, UK, to do research for a new book. Fr Gerald aims to clarify how Catholic identity can be maintained in ministries within our postmodern world. |
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