It is a gift from Pike River Re-entry Minister Andrew Little.

He presented it on May 3, when re-entry of the mine was planned and then abandoned because of the oxygen levels.

"There has long been a link between Catholicism and mining communities on the West Coast," a spokeswoman for Little told Stuff.

"Before he was an MP and was a union leader, Andrew noticed when he visited mines on the Coast that there was always an icon of St Barbara near the entrances."

The spokeswoman said he had noticed that many non-religious miners would acknowledge the icon at the start of their shifts.

"So it's a symbol of good fortune without necessarily any religious connotations in those communities."

In the aftermath of the disaster, Andrew noticed St Barbara was absent at Pike," she said.

"It's a small thought that stuck with him."

Little bought the small resin statue, which was made in the Dominican Republic, online and with his own money. "Taxpayer funds were not used," the spokeswoman stressed.

After the group representing the families approved, the icon was passed on to the agency for installation.

It has been mounted near the portal.

Little is an agnostic but was raised in a Catholic family.

"He rarely attends church, but enjoys the singing when he does."

Who was St Barbara?

St Barbara (died c. 200 CE; feast day 4 December) was a legendary virgin martyr of the early church. She is venerated as one of the 14 Auxiliary Saints (Holy Helpers).

She is invoked in thunderstorms and is the patron saint of miners and artillerymen.

Because Barbara's authenticity is highly questionable and her legend is probably spurious, she was dropped from the General Roman Calendar in 1969.

According to the legend, which dates only to the 7th century, she was the beautiful daughter of a pagan, Dioscorus, who kept her guarded in a tower to protect her from harm.

When she professed Christianity and refused marriage, he became enraged and took her to the provincial prefect, who ordered her to be tortured and beheaded.

Dioscorus himself performed the execution and, upon his return home, was struck by lightning and reduced to ashes.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• twitter.com
• britannica.com
• Image: twitter.com

"I went to a Marist Brothers school. I was Catholic, I had good morals instilled by my parents and my school and they have stuck with me."

"I still go to church and I think it is important. Christianity has waned in New Zealand, but I think the rules you learn as a Catholic, as a Christian, really, hold you in good stead."

Kokshoorn, 61, admits the "ants in his pants" that blighted his progress at school are still present, but he harnesses his energy in business, local government and fundraising for the community.

(The photograph above shows Kokshoorn taking a plunge in a swollen river at mid- winter as part a money raising effort)

A successful car dealer and newspaper proprietor, Kokshoorn was propelled to national prominence when the Pike River Mine disaster claimed the lives of 29 miners and contractors in 2010.

In 2012 he told the New Zealand Herald, "I believe in the afterlife. I have Christian values. I believe in family and the right for everyone to work.

" My mother also taught me that you never tell a lie. And I never have. And that is someone who's sold cars for years. That seems impossible, but what goes around comes around."

When asked by Clare de Lore for a recent Listener column if religion helped him at the time of the crisis he said, " Without a doubt, along with my family and the wider community in New Zealand."

"This was the first time a mining disaster of that magnitude was seen on television screens in a serialised manner. It brought a lot of pressure - for example, through the media - but that didn't bother me. It was my job to front up."

Source

• listener.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• Image: listener.co.nz

Both disasters have raised questions over engineering, design and rescue management. Both situations reveal a sorry record of law and regulation that was in place to apparently ensure safety and manage difficulties.

Yet the requirements failed to overcome external financial pressures and ensure a readiness to act in ways that might have brought the best from such compliance expectations.

Governments are looked to for law and regulation enabling a society to function with a reasonable degree of certainty and safety. From criminal law to road code to the daily challenges of managing Occupational Safety and Health compliance, there is enough law and regulation to bury the average citizen in a field of paper and computer data.

While rules attempt to provide certainties, acts of good faith animate their purposes. Faith is the placing of trust in another, a belief or doctrine. Without faith, relationships or development of ideas or exploration of landscape or testing of theories would not occur.

Faith stands at the root of all a person does. Any action is expression of faith and faith is something the Church has always held central to its belief.

If, indeed, recent disasters are founded in a lack of faith between people to fulfil that which law and regulation may have intended, what might the Church have to offer in approaching the concerns? Simply, the Church organises itself around and proclaims a central tenet of faith. The faith has a lively character expressed in three distinct, interrelated dimensions.

The first dimension acknowledges an ultimate, spirit-related, point of reference. Naming God prevents the tendency for individual and community hubris having the last say in any perception or action. This might be seen as a vertical faith, directed and given to the worth of pursuing ideals of love, forgiveness, justice, compassion and peace.

The second dimension is that same 'vertical' faith becoming, as it were, horizontal. A practical expression of trust placed and reciprocated between individuals, communities and institutions. This is apparent, for example when someone recognises and cares for others, fulfils legal obligation or when a contract or treaty is adhered to for the benefit of all parties.

The third dimension is when a society structures and enacts shared belief in values evidenced in public policies enabling laws, services and the like to function for the well-being ofall within it.

The Church draws on a tradition, if, sadly, not consistent practice, of being the herald, bearer and promoter of such faith. It is the role of Church in the public domain to animate and articulate an approachable, critical faith in order to identify the values of love, forgiveness, justice, compassion and peace being worth acting on.

Without a ground of faith between people, within institutions and among communities, it will be near impossible for any law or regulation to gain a meaningful hold. Rules may govern transactions and ensure criteria for compliance, however, practical mutual faith between people about the context and quality of those same rules will determine their worth and the well-being of the society the rules are set for.

The Church is a long standing voluntary organisation that continues to find its reason for being in the faith that reminds of mortality, values relationships and supports the mutuality of life-giving values. The call has always been to keep the faith.

- John is married to Margaret with three adult children. Ordained in 1984 he is currently the Director of Vaughan Park Anglican Retreat Centre in the Auckland Diocese.

Image: Anglican Taonga