Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Ngā mihi rā anō, ki tou whānau.

Young Catholic Leader

YCL was held again in December with participants from 10 schools in our diocese. These Year 12 students going into Year 13 in 2020 were wonderfully equipped for authentic Catholic leadership at this programme. Thanks to our supporters, and thanks too to the Catholic Charities for thier financial backing of this premiere programme in our diocese.

LifeTeen Summer Camp

What a collosal success this programme was! In January 2020 two week long summer camps were run with over 150 campers at each week! Over 60 summer missionaries and the leadership team worked tirelessly to bring teens closer to Christ! This reinforces for us that young people want to know and love Jesus. Your job in this mission is to now actively engage them and encourage in their faith journey!

Te Ahi Kaa

After careful discernment and discussion amongst the diocesan leadership team, the facility known as Te Ahi Kaa, located at 25a Amesbury Street in Palmerston North will be shut for this year.

We lost our fabulous tertiary chaplain and Te Ahi Kaa community coordinator, Line Vailua late in 2019 and were unable to find a suitable replacement for 2020, which meant the community could not be run. Line was a magnificent contributor to the Young Adult Minstry of this office. Manuia Line!

We have put private tenants in from the beginning of February  at Te Ahi Kaa for 2020 on a fixed term, so we can reorganise our pastoral position in the hope we will re-open Te Ahi Kaa as a young adult commmunity house for 2021.

Farewell Tom Dravitzki

Many of you will know the fabulous Tom Dravitzki who re-joined the Mana Whānau Mana Taiohi – DYC Team for a short contract to help us with Young Catholic Leader and Life Teen Summer Camp!  Dziękujemy Tom for your massive contribution to our ministry!

So what now??

• Diocese-wide, our youth ministers are all enrolling in Te Kupenga- Catholic Leadership Institute courses to upskill in their Theology, Scripture and pastoral practice knowledge to be more effective ministers to our young people.
• We are staffing the Caritas Justice Leadership Day in Palmerston North on the 18 February.
• We have the NZCBC National Council for Young People meeting in later this month in Auckland.
• We are preparing to welcome our tertiary students into our respective tertiary institutions across the diocese.
• We are preparing for Ash Wednesday on the 26th of February.
• We are preparing for Takirua 2020 – the combined Marriage Educators, Young Family and Youth workers Conference in Wellington over ANZAC Weekend. If you would like to join this conference, see takirua2020.nz.

Nei ra te mihi!

Nick Wilson
Diocesan Young Catholics Team Leader