McMenamin - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz Catholic News New Zealand Mon, 23 Mar 2015 00:25:01 +0000 en-NZ hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://cathnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-cathnewsfavicon-32x32.jpg McMenamin - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz 32 32 70145804 Petone priest became a WWI chaplain who inspired many https://cathnews.co.nz/2015/03/24/petone-priest-becaome-a-wwi-chaplain-who-inspired-many/ Mon, 23 Mar 2015 17:54:03 +0000 http://cathnews.co.nz/?p=69487 Father James Joseph McMenamin paid the ultimate sacrifice as a Catholic chaplain to the Armed Forces in the Great War. He endured the dreadful conditions to give spiritual aid to the New Zealanders. Chaplain captain McMenamin landed at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915 to serve at the frontline. Later he went to the Western Front. Read more

Petone priest became a WWI chaplain who inspired many... Read more]]> Father James Joseph McMenamin paid the ultimate sacrifice as a Catholic chaplain to the Armed Forces in the Great War.

He endured the dreadful conditions to give spiritual aid to the New Zealanders.

Chaplain captain McMenamin landed at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915 to serve at the frontline.

Later he went to the Western Front.

On July 9, 1917, after the Battle of Messines in Belgium, McMenamin was conducting a funeral service for fallen soldiers when the enemy fired a shell into the congregation.

Six soldiers were injured, and McMenamin was killed.

He was buried originally in Belgium, but was reinterred at the Nieppe Communal Cemetery in France.

His parish in Petone erected a new church dedicated to his memory in 1934.

Although this church was demolished in the 1990s because it was an earthquake risk, the original stained glass windows were retained and rededicated to his memory.

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Petone priest became a WWI chaplain who inspired many]]> 69487