Published February 22, 2017

The beginning of 2017 has seen many changes in personnel at the Palmerston North Diocesan Centre. Bishop Charles commented: “the growing ethnic mix of staff is a blessing for the Diocese in many ways, not least of which is multi-cultural kai at morning tea.”

Last year we said farewell to Maurice and Mieke Davies, the Palmerston North Tertiary and Young Adult chaplains, who headed back to their hometown of Blenheim at the end of November.

Maurice and Mieke had been living at Te Ahi Kaa, the Catholic young adult community house in Palmerston North, for the past two years as well as being a strong presence at Massey University and facilitating the young adults group. In January 2016 they welcomed baby Malachi, and made the decision to move back home to be closer to family.

This year we are lucky to have Nick Wilson in the role of Tertiary Chaplain. His focus will be on making connections with tertiary students, particularly around Wednesday Mass and lunch at Massey’s Te Waiora Chaplaincy Centre, and young adult events following the 6pm Cathedral Mass.

Te Ahi Kaa will run a little differently this year. Georgia Collins will work as a peer leader, coordinating and guiding the community of four young adults through the practicalities of their commitment to living in Christian community. Georgia is from Palmerston North and is in her 3rd year of a degree in Political Science at Massey University. Last year she had a very busy year, living at Te Ahi Kaa herself as a community member, studying at Massey and holding down two part-time jobs. She is looking forward to sharing her Te Ahi Kaa experience with the new community members this year. While the group may be a little more self-directed than previous years, the four Te Ahi Kaa foundations of prayer, service, hospitality and formation will remain core elements in the growth and outreach of the community.

Also this year Melissa Gairdner will begin in the new role of Young Parent and Family Coordinator. Melissa, her husband Jules and their 3 children are originally from England. Melissa is a qualified Physiotherapist. She brings her interest and energy for people and for growing in her faith to this new role. She currently co-leads the Shining Stars Pre-School Music Group and is also an active member of the St James school community.

Initially Melissa will be identifying the needs, opportunities and shortfalls within ministry to young  parents with their families in our city with a view to developing and implementing a plan to meet the needs and maximise opportunities for this group, within our Church communities.

The youth team also said goodbye to Tom Dravtizki, who is heading to the seminary this year, and welcomed Lucy Ingle as Palmerston North Youth Chaplain. Lucy, 23, grew up in North Canterbury and moved to the Manawatu with her husband Daniel last year. She and Daniel spent many years serving the young people of the Christchurch Diocese as volunteers for the Catholic Youth Team (CYT) as musicians and youth leaders.  Lucy has an honours degree in Media and Communication from the University of Canterbury.

In December 2015 Mark Ferguson and Marcy Coralde began as accounts administrators for the newly formed Attendance Dues team, which was created to manage the collection of attendance dues for Catholic state-integrated schools in the Palmerston North Diocese. They were joined in July 2016 by Susan Zentveld. Susan was initially on a fixed-term contract, working part-time at St James’ school as well, but has since joined the team permanently.

Jane Dravitzki has also won permanent appointment to the position of Primary RE Adviser for the Diocese. Jane had been carrying out the role since the beginning of 2016 on secondment from Our Lady of Lourdes School, and the Catholic Education Office is very thankful to her and to OLOL for their generosity in allowing this to happen.

The Catholic Education Office is also thrilled to announce the appointment of Carmel Spencer to the Secondary REA role. Carmel will take up the role at the end of April 2017.  Carmel is currently Principal at Taikura Rudolf Steiner School in Hastings and comes to us with a range of experiences in both state and state integrated schools, including senior management experience at both Cullinane College and SHC College Lower Hutt.

Other positions for 2016 include Mary Tintu, who joined the Admin team as Accounts Administrator in April; and Emma Dodsworth, the previous Youth Chaplain, who took up a new position as Communications Assistant in October.

It was on a more sombre note that we said goodbye to Lorraine Wilson, who began as Secondary RE Advisor in 2014. Lorraine has decided to focus for the moment on full-time recovery from medical treatment. We will miss her gifts in this role and her passion for Religious Education, but support and respect her decision.

Finally, it is with great sadness we prepare to farewell Deacon Danny Karatea-Goddard, Vicar for Māori Pastoral Care. Danny and his wife Maru have been called by whānau back to Wellington. Danny has been with the Diocese for almost 15 years, and his absence will be deeply felt by the Diocese. Bishop Charles noted that Reverend Danny will remain a Deacon of the Palmerston North Diocese but exercise his ministry in the Archdiocese, as the Tūranga Maori, as well as at Hāto Hōhepa on Te Hiiri Marae”.  Furthermore a part of Deacon Danny’s role in Wellington will be as a part time member of the NZ Catholic Bishops’ Conference Secretariat. Bishop Charles commented: “this is a deeply significant and historic appointment for the Church in Aotearoa. Deacon Danny will sit at the tēpu or table closest to that of the Bishops, sharing his wisdom and tikanga katorika with us and helping us in the kaupapa of growing our one faith among Māori”.