At their November meeting the bishops re-emphasised the need for two bishops to the Pope's diplomatic representative to New Zealand, His Excellency, Archbishop Novatus Rugambwa (pictured).

New Zealand bishops are appointed through the Dicastery for Evangelisation headed by Cardinal Luis Tagle.

Rugambwa is the intermediary in New Zealand who recommends suitable and worthy candidates to Tagle.

Once a suitable and worthy candidate is found, Tagle recommends his name to Pope Francis to make the appointment.

Rugambwa, who has recently returned to New Zealand from Rome, was a distinguished guest at the opening session of the bishops' November meeting. He shared the Pope's greetings and blessings with them and the people under their pastoral care.

They in turn, spoke plainly of their concern about the bishopless state of both the Palmerston North and Hamilton dioceses.

After the unscheduled resignation of Charles Drennan, the Palmerston North diocese has been without a bishop for more than three years.

The Hamilton diocese has been without a bishop for nearly a year. On December 17, 2021 then Hamilton bishop, Steve Lowe, was appointed Bishop of Auckland.

At his installation as Bishop of Auckland in March, Lowe thanked Rugambwa for his presence.

"Can I please ask you to work hard to find a great bishop for Hamilton? I think Palmerston North and Christchurch are looking for one too," he remarked to laughter in the congregation.

In the meantime, Auxilary Bishop Michael Gielen was translated from Auckland and installed as bishop of Christchurch.

In early November, Lowe, Secretary of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, commented that it takes a long time to appoint a bishop.

Lowe was responding to a piece in the international publication The Pillar, where Luke Coppen suggested the Vatican has forgotten about New Zealand's need to find two bishops.

Pointing the finger for the delay at Rugambwa, Coppen suggested Rugambwa might have a different model of Church than is commonly accepted in New Zealand.

Sources

• Supplied
• CathNews
• CathNews

Lowe is responding to a piece by Luke Coppen in The Pillar, suggesting the Vatican has forgotten about New Zealand's need to find two bishops.

Coppen points out that the Diocese of Palmerston North has been leaderless for more than three years, and on December 17 it will be a year since Lowe moved from Hamilton to become Bishop of Auckland.

"The process of appointing a bishop is not fast, and this can lead to frustration and speculation on what is happening.

"Behind the scenes, however, the process is happening," Lowe said to a recent media enquiry.

He said the process is in the hands of the Apostolic Nuncio. The Apostolic Nuncio is Pope Francis' diplomatic representative in New Zealand.

Coppen says the current Nuncio is Archbishop Novatus Rugambwa, who has served in this role since 2019.

He suggests Rugambwa might have a different model of Church than is commonly accepted in New Zealand.

Outlining the process to appoint a bishop, Lowe says the Apostolic Nuncio starts a process of consultations with a range of lay people and clergy to look at the pastoral needs of the diocese and suggest names for potential candidates.

The Nuncio then passes this information on to the department in the Vatican responsible for New Zealand, the Dicastery for Evangelisation, headed by Filipino Cardinal Luis Tagle.

The Dicastery for Evangelisation then confirms a short list of possible candidates called a Terna, at which point the Nuncio starts a second consultation process.

The consultation is with a wide variety of lay people and clergy who are also asked to suggest others who might be consulted.

Once the consultation is complete, the Nuncio sends his report back to the Dicastery for Evangelisation who then makes the recommendation to Pope Francis.

When the Pope nominates a new bishop, the Nuncio informs the nominated priest that the Pope has appointed him as the bishop of a diocese and asks whether he is willing to accept.

At no point along the process are prospective candidates asked if they agree to their names going forward.

Coppen notes appointing bishops in New Zealand has not previously been too much of a problem, but his Excellency Archbishop Rugambwa did not respond to Coppen's request for comment.

In response to the same media request, Cardinal John Dew said: "The process to appoint new bishops for the two dioceses is underway and under the supervision of the Apostolic Nuncio, which is the standard way bishops are appointed."

On 29 March 2019, Pope Francis named Rugambwa apostolic nuncio to New Zealand and apostolic delegate to the countries of the Pacific Ocean. On 25 May, the responsibilities of Apostolic Nuncio to Fiji and to Palau were assigned to him, then on 30 November, he was given additional responsibility as Apostolic Nuncio to the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, and Tonga.

On 17 April the following year, he was named Apostolic Nuncio to Samoa, then on 2 February Rugambwa was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to the Cook Islands, a post that had been vacant since 2018, and on 30 March to Micronesia.

Other than the New Zealand dioceses of Palmerston North and Hamilton, currently, only one other diocese from the vast array of dioceses Rugambwa is responsible for is vacant, and this vacancy follows the August 7 death of Koru Tito bishop of Tarawa and Nauru.

Coppen suggested that an option the Vatican might consider is uniting the Hamilton and Palmerston North dioceses under one bishop without merging them. This process, known as linking dioceses in persona episcopi, has been used in recent years in Canada, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Wales.

Several CathNews sources say bishops in New Zealand are busy, and there is no suggestion that merging dioceses is being considered.

Source

• Supplied
• CathNews
• Wikipedia

It is three years since Charles Drennan resigned as Bishop of Palmerston North.

Coppen points out it appointing bishops in New Zealand has not previously been too much of a problem.

He reports that outside observers of the Palmerston North diocese say the local Church has fared surprisingly well without a bishop for the past three years. But there are certain decisions that must wait until the arrival of a new bishop.

Speaking with local clergy, one mentioned to The Pillar he could name five good candidates for the vacant dioceses.

"The problem is not the availability of candidates, but rather the criteria by which they are chosen."

He told Coppen the way bishops are chosen is "outmoded."

He said he had been asked to fill in forms about potential bishops that asked questions such as whether there was any reason in the candidate's family that would cause scandal to the Church.

How do we measure scandal these days; life and family life is complex today? he asked.

"We're looking for these men who are pluperfect," he said.

"The model still looks for men who are able to be subservient and at the same time almost be careerists. And so it becomes a sort of oxymoron that you're looking for," proffered another priest.

He told Coppen that he thought the group that probably suffers most from the Vatican's inactivity is the diocesan team.

"They sort of work for the bishop."

"They're his people who do his bidding. And I would say of everybody, they're a little bit lost."

Looking for a reason for the delay Coppen says the Dicastery for Evangelisation that controls the process of appointing bishops in New Zealand is considered to be adequately staffed and is 'fairly efficient.'

Noting that the Dicastery needs to cooperate with the powerful Secretariat of State, Coppen asks whether this interaction is slowing down the process, however, concluded there is no evidence to suggest this is the case.

Since 2019, the Tanzanian Archbishop Novatus Rugambwa has served as apostolic nuncio to New Zealand.

He is also the nuncio for a dizzying array of other territories, including Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa.

One of the priests interviewed by Coppen suggested that the problem seems to be the relationship between the New Zealand bishops and Apostolic Nuncio.

He opined they have different "visions of Church".

At his installation as Bishop of Auckland in March, Bishop Lowe, the former Bishop of Hamilton, thanked Archbishop Rugambwa for his presence.

"Can I please ask you to work hard to find a great bishop for Hamilton? I think Palmerston North and Christchurch are looking for one too," he remarked to laughter in the congregation.

Coppen says there was nothing in the light-hearted comment to suggest there was a gulf between the nuncio and the bishops. But it did imply that the lack of new bishops is weighing on Church leaders' minds.

Archbishop Rugambwa has not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Source

• The Pillar

The Diocese is keen to construct a new year 1-to-8 Catholic primary school.

The government denied it permission in 2015.

The Diocese will contribute at least 15 per cent of the building cost. All five of Hamilton's Catholic primary schools are full, with waiting lists of hundreds of children.

All five of Hamilton's Catholic primary schools are full, with waiting lists of hundreds of children.

The Hamilton diocese's school manager, Graeme Roil, says the new school could accommodate 400 pupils if approved. It could take 60 to 80 in the first year.

The Ministry of Education's spokesperson, Katrina Casey, says she will process the Bishop of Hamilton's application in the next few weeks. Then it's up to the Minister of Education to decide.

The Catholic community has been asking for years for a school in the northeast, especially as the Rotorua area continues to develop.

Roil says demand for the school has increased since the Ministry rejected the last application.

He says a new school would not endanger the existence of any other Catholic schools as all are viable.

The new school would draw on local population growth, he said.

Source

• Stuff
• Image: Stuff

The Hamilton diocese covers the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, East Cape and King Country.

"I have a love for the rural areas, both the people and the countryside," Lowe told Waikato Times reporter Chris Gardner.

"It's harder to be a Christian in a rural area."

"Everyone in the community knows everyone else's business and it makes it more of a challenge to go along to church on a Sunday."

Gardner says, "Lowe comes across as a gentle, warm, man, who is not big on pomp and ceremony."

"People call him Bishop Steve, or just Steve."

"If I am not a good man as Steve, I am not going to be a good man as Bishop Steve," Lowe says.

"I remember when I was ordained a priest I was walking down the aisle thinking 'Lord, I don't believe it, I am a priest'.

I was walking down the aisle in Hamilton thinking 'Lord, I am a bishop. How did that happen?'"

Lowe says he feel as if he has been hit by a "tsunami of names and faces."

There are 35 parishes in the Hamilton diocese.

By the end of the year he hopes to have visited each one of them.

He says he has a really good relationship with Anglican Bishop Helen-Ann Hartley but he hasn't, yet, met other denominational church leaders.

And while he continues to "meet and greet" the people and to hear what everybody is thinking, the Bishop already has a number of concerns that he wishes to address:

• To be able to speak Te Reo Maori, but he says it is quite a challenge.
• To look into Maori spirituality, which he tinks has a lot to offer.
• To help the huge amount of people in need.
• To continue to provide ministry to the rural areas.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• Image: FaceBook

A letter explaining that Kapiarumala no longer had permission to exercise ministry in the diocese and detailing allegations that had been made against him has been read out to congregations and put on noticeboards at churches across the region.

Kapiarumala was serving in the parish of Tauranga when a parishioner made a complaint about him.

Spokesperson for the bishop, Simone Olsen, confirmed an investigation was completed under the church's protocol "Te Houhanga Rongo - A path to healing."

"The steps Bishop Steve has taken are as a result of that investigation."

"An outcome has been reached and he (Kapiarumala) has been told he can no longer minister as a priest in the diocese of Hamilton."

Olsen said police were informed by the complainant but "the behaviour was not of a criminal nature."

The diocese confirmed it offered to pay Kapiarumala's airfares back to India, where he is from, but he has declined the offer.

When contacted Kapiarumala confirmed he had issued instructions to his lawyer, Lisa Abrams, regarding the letter and referred Fairfax Media to her.

In an email response Abrams said that investigations and discussions regarding the matters are still ongoing.

"It's not appropriate to discuss events in detail at this time," Abrams said.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• Image: topnews.in

These words have always appealed to me, challenged me and inspired me to try to be a ‘living reflection of the face of Christ'.

I suppose they are words that we could use to describe a saint.

I am sure that when John Paul wrote them in 2001, he would not have dreamed that just a little over 13 years later he would be one of the canonised saints of the church.

On Sunday, two popes of our time will be declared saints, Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II.

In that same letter John Paul wrote of holiness: ‘Holiness, whether ascribed to popes well known to history or to humble lay and religious figures from one continent to another of the globe, has emerged more clearly as the dimension which expresses best the mystery of the church' (NMI 7).

Both popes are being recognised for their holiness and for their incredible contribution to the church.

It is their holiness that tells us something about the church, as does the holiness of people from our families, friends and wonderful devoted and prayerful parishioners. Continue reading.

Archbishop John Dew is archbishop of Wellington, and President of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference.

Source:

• Wel-Com
• Image: Catholic Community Network

Before being appointed as the second bishop of Hamilton, in 1994, Bishop Denis was the bishop of Rarotonga from 1977 to 1983, and bishop of Auckland from 1983 to 1994.

Bishops Charles Drennan, Robin Leamy and Len Boyle were among the concelebrants at the mass in the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary which was attended by large numbers of family members, friends and priests and deacons from the Hamilton and Auckland dioceses and from as far away as Australia.

Bishop Denis said, "I was humbled and delighted to share the celebration with so many people who've been instrumental in my vocation thus far, in particular my siblings who've supported me from the beginning."

"It was very special to be able to renew the promises I made at my ordination and for these special people in my life to be witnesses to these."

Of the the six children in the Browne family, the oldest child, Mary, married; three, Michael, Denis and Neville, became priests; two, Margaret and Agnes, became Sisters of Mercy.

Bishop Denis said, "I was ordained a priest the same year as the opening of the Second Vatican Council, since that time I've seen and experienced great change in society and in our Church. What has remained constant has been the love and support of parishes I've worked in and places I've travelled."

In his words of congratulations, personal friend and adviser to the bishop, Sir Peter Trapski, conveyed the gratitude of the Hamilton diocese.

"On behalf of the Hamilton diocese I wish to express our gratitude for your care and compassion over the past 17 years you've been among us. The role of bishop is at times a difficult one, particularly in our modern age where respect is not always a given, but you've shown fortitude and dedication to your vocation and the people that you serve and that is felt and sincerely appreciated," said Sir Peter.

Bishop Denis also received a letter of congratulations from the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI for the double anniversaries.

Source

• NZCBC
• Image: NZCBC