There are several signs of new life emerging across our diocese. Each is different, but together they speak of a Church learning to listen, serve and witness to Christ with renewed confidence.

I am in the process of forming a Diocesan Synodal Team of around 15 or 16 people. Most of those invited have accepted. This team will help us listen carefully, discern together and take practical steps towards becoming more fully a synodal Church – one in which clergy and laity walk together in mission.

I also want to encourage a fresh presence of religious life in our diocese. The Missionaries of God’s Love Sisters were recently here to run a discernment retreat for young women. Founded in Australia in 1987, they are a community of Catholic women dedicated to prayer, community life and sharing God’s love with others, with a special heart for young people, the poor and those seeking a deeper relationship with Jesus. Sister Promise, a Sister of the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará, has also recently been with us, and I have invited her community to consider spending time here. Their nearest community is in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, and there is hope that a small number of sisters may be able to visit. The witness of women religious – their prayer, joy and wholehearted commitment to Christ – can help renew the culture of a diocese and remind us that every Christian life is called to mission.

We are also preparing for two important ordinations. Zung Manh Phan is moving towards ordination as a transitional deacon, a stage on his journey to priesthood. Zung is originally from Vietnam and has been a seminarian in our diocese for several years. Charles Ropitini, a catechist from Pakipaki who has spent about four years in formation, is preparing to be ordained a permanent deacon. Charles is a fluent speaker of te reo Māori, has served the community around St Joseph’s Māori Girls’ College, and works as a cultural adviser for Hastings District Council.

Permanent deacons may be married and ordinarily continue in their employment. They can proclaim the Gospel and preach, baptise, preside at weddings and funerals, and serve at the altar. The Greek word diakonia means service, and that is the heart of their vocation: service to the liturgy, to the bishop and to those most in need.

These will be my first ordinations during my time as bishop.

Recently our diocese hosted 11 priests in their first five years of ministry for their annual programme of ongoing formation. Their time included prayer and sharing at Southern Star Abbey, Kopua, as well as conversations with senior priests and diocesan leaders. I was pleased that they felt so warmly welcomed and found the gathering worthwhile. Young priests need space to pray, reflect honestly, learn from one another and be supported as they grow into their ministry.

The recent episcopal ordinations carried out by the Society of Saint Pius X without the mandate of the Holy Father have brought about a serious and painful break in communion with the Church. This has practical consequences for our relationship with the local SSPX community, including the ending, for now, of formal diocesan cooperation in matters such as marriage documentation.

This is not a situation anyone should welcome. The purpose of canon law is medicinal: not simply to exclude, but to identify what has damaged communion and to make clear the path by which it may be restored. Although the wider canonical process is beyond our hands locally, I remain committed to fostering a spirit of concord, maintaining cordial relationships where possible, and praying that dialogue and reconciliation will lead us back towards full communion.

Let us continue to pray for all those affected, trusting that the door to healing and return remains open.

+ John.

Photo: Bishop John speaking to the priests at the 2026 Recently Ordained Gathering in Palmerston North.