Charles Ropitini 

On Friday 8th Dec, Immaculate Conception Pakipaki celebrated the 50th anniversary of Our Lady.

We had a wonderful turnout with approximately 150 people attending, many of them our own Pakipaki whānau, which is fantastic.

During mass, Ngāhiwi Tōmoana presented a medallion from Pope Francis, which the community will have framed.  Uncle Ngāhiwi also spoke at the end of mass and told the story of his meeting with Pope Francis, and how he gave a hearty invitation to come to Aotearoa and also asked for the progression of the cause for Suzanne Aubert in Italian.

Our Lady’s grotto is being touched up and over the last few weeks we’ve had three generations helping to paint and sand, and one of our fabulous aunties returned Mother Mary with a fresh new paint job.

Pāpa Vince and Pā Nathaniel did a wonderful job and our thanks go to them for supporting this special event.