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The use of water in Baptism and bread and wine in Communion are examples of this, Bishop Lowe said.

"With sinful and weak men, [the Lord's] priesthood lives in the Church until the consummation of time," he added.

Bishop Lowe said it had been truly "a humbling three months since I was informed Pope Francis had appointed me bishop of Hamilton".

"It has been a profound journey that many of you have part of," he told the congregation of more than 1000 which packed the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary and overflowed onto its steps.

The second bishop of Hamilton, Bishop Denis Browne, was the principal consecrator.

Bishops Barry Jones of Christchurch and Charles Drennan of Palmerston North were the other official consecrating bishops.

Bishop Lowe said he wished Bishop Browne a happy retirement, but asked him to continue doing pastoral work among God's people.

"I look forward to you being for me a spiritual father, a man of wisdom, and great pastoral sense," Bishop Lowe said.

The new bishop's motto is "The Lord is my Shepherd".

In his homily, Bishop Browne referred to a reflection Pope Francis gave a year ago on the various qualities needed in a bishop.

We need men who are "guardians of doctrine, not to measure how far away the world lives from the truth it contains, but in order to attract the world, to enchant it by the beauty of love, to seduce it with the offer of freedom which is given by the Gospel", Bishop Browne quoted from Francis.

Bishop Browne also noted the blood relationship between Bishop Lowe and Blessed Abbott Columba Marmion, OSB, an Irish spiritual writer who died in 1923.

At the ordination, the Apostolic Nuncio to New Zealand, Archbishop Martin Krebs, read out the mandate from the Holy See, in the name of Pope Francis.

On February 12, Bishop Lowe was welcomed in a powhiri at Hui Te Rangiora Marae in Hamilton.

Bishop Jones and a representative from Hokitika, Bishop Lowe's home town, took him from the Christchurch visitors and presented him to the people of Hamilton diocese.

Sources

• New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference
• Waikato Times
• Food for Faith Blog
• St Thomas More parish
• Washington Post
• Vatican News
• Supplied material
• Image: NZCBC

They are calling for support from anyone who is interested in making Hamilton a Compassionate City

The initiative will begin with a gathering to explain some of the concepts, to familiarise people with the Compassionate Cities world movement.

The International Institute for Compassionate Cities supports compassionate initiatives in any place where human beings gather.

The initial meeting will also explore possibilities for undertaking a community-wide project.

At the project's launch it is hope to elect a steering committee, from the groups and individuals represented, to see this project through to fruition.

WHEN: Thursday 13th November, from 5:00-7:00pm

WHERE: Chartwell Room, Hamilton Gardens, Hamilton.

The priest, Father Denis McAlinden, also moved from Maitland-Newcastle diocese to New Zealand for several months in 1984, relieving in country parishes in Hamilton diocese.

A woman from Hamilton diocese who said she was sexually abused as a child by McAlinden was paid compensation by Maitland-Newcastle diocese after she travelled to Australia with the support of Bishop Denis Browne of Hamilton.

The New South Wales commission of inquiry heard that Church authorities first received a report that McAlinden was abusing children in 1954.

He continued to abuse children aged as young as four or five over four decades.

The inquiry was told that one boy who was abused by McAlinden was required to do penance after he told his parish priest, "apparently for his sin in being abused".

In 1959, McAlinden wrote to his then bishop, asking to be sent on missionary work, despite the bishop having received at least one report of such abuse.

"It seems a shame that hundreds of thousands of people are just clamouring for the Faith in Africa and are deprived through a shortage of priests. In this way, I feel I could still serve the diocese," McAlinden wrote.

During the 1990s, the late Bishop Leo Clarke of Maitland-Newcastle asked McAlinden to petition the Holy See in Rome to request his laicisation.

"Your good name will be protected by the confidential nature of this process," Bishop Clarke wrote. "A speedy resolution of this matter would be in your interest as I have it on good authority that some people are threatening to take it to the police."

Bishop Clarke also wrote to the apostolic pro-nuncio in Canberra, asking him to "use his network communications to help expedite ... a very delicate matter".

Eventually the diocese paid McAlinden a pension after he agreed to retire to England and "retire from priestly ministry". In fact he travelled to the Philippines and resumed ministry.

McAlinden died in Western Australia in 2005 while NSW police were seeking to extradite him.

Sources:

The Australian

The Australian

Sydney Morning Herald

Newcastle Herald

Broken Rites

Image: Newcastle Herald

Councillor Ewan Wilson, who was alone in voting in favour of the expo, was "completely frustrated" with the decision. He said his "ultra conservative" co-councillors were "running very scared" after the V8's debacle and were vote hunting. Wilson said no firm potential revenue was given for the two-to-three day event, but between $50,000 and $60,000 per year was the figure "bandied about" for what would have likely become an annual event.

The Erotica Expo's promoters are still mulling over their options after obtaining legal advice that the councillors' decision could be open to challenge through the courts. Spokesman David Crow said it was most definitely not the end of the road. He said the council had no authority under the Local Government Act to have made the decision on moral grounds, and "we have challenged and won against the Auckland City Council on a similar basis".

The Claudelands Events Centre is facing a loss of up to $1.7 million in its first year, and a working group had been formed to reduce costs and increase custom.