Be the Change, Catholic Church, Aotearoa New Zealand chose Sunday - the day before the anniversary of women's suffrage day - to mount their installation where dozens of pairs of shoes were placed so they led to the Catholic cathedrals in central Auckland and Wellington.

Splashes of pink - including among the shoes - coloured the occasion, along with music, singing and speeches.

The shoes signify the largely unpaid work women have done for the Church throughout the ages, organisers say. Their contributions were recorded in accompanying printed vignettes.

Despite women often being in the majority of organisers and participants in any Catholic congregation and liturgical celebration, their role in the church is not equal, organisers point out.

The Catholic Church continues the injustice of refusing to recognise women's worth by denying them equality in leadership roles, Pink Shoes into the Vatican say.

Best wishes came from Steve Lowe, Catholic bishop of Auckland.

Apologising to "Pink Shoes into the Vatican" group for his inability to be with them in person, Lowe wrote a supportive letter.

"While there have been and continue to be a litany of amazing women throughout this history of the Church, your presence and voice today is a reminder that you are the Church and Church's need to change," he said.

"Thank you for your prophetic hikoi to the Cathedral today, which is ultimately a call to respect the dignity that flows from our being created male and female in the image and likeness of our God.

"Your voice today echoes the voice of women throughout the world who, as part of the current synodal process, are calling on the Church to reflect the inherent dignity of women in the leadership of the Church... May we have the courage not to get stuck in structures that are not necessarily of God."

In the absence of the bishop, the Administrator of St Patrick's Cathedral, Chris Denham, received the women's statement and gave them Lowe's letter of support.

"When Fiona and Christina visited me a couple of months ago, they presented me with Kate's pink shoes. They (the shoes) remain in my office and are certainly a talking point. They also remind me I too need to change," Lowe wrote.

Wellington's Coadjutor Archbishop Paul Martin, however, denied the Pink Shoes into the Vatican group publicity for their shoe installation. He also wrote to parishes in the Wellington archdiocese requesting they do the same.

"Since the archbishop's edict to parishes not to advertise this event, one woman has written of her indignation. Others have asked, 'what was he thinking?'" a Wellington organiser Cecily McNeil told the group.

She invited the Archbishop to read the first few paragraphs in the archdiocesan synod synthesis.

With Cardinal Dew in the South Island and Martin in Rome, there was no one to receive the predominantly women's group in Wellington.

Priest, Jim Dooley, spoke at the Wellington gathering saying his fellow priests did not understand equality because, in their priestly formation, they were exposed to a different set of principles.

He said, to applause, that what the women were looking for was a "no brainer."

Dooley equated the church's treatment of women to slavery, a reference to the fact that in most churches, women do much of the work - cleaning and pastoral work as well as liturgical preparation, almost always for no pay.

Source

• Be the Change
• Letter of Bishop Steve Lowe
• Supplied: Be the Change Wellington.

The Waikato Times reports a woman from within the Hamilton Catholic diocese saying that in a meeting with Lowe, she told him she was raped by a Catholic priest who had visited her house to perform a blessing.

In the course of the conversation, the Times discloses the woman says Lowe told her, "SNAP have blown things out of proportion at the Royal Commission [of Inquiry into Abuse in Care]."

The comments left her feeling "the church has let me down," she says.

"I was shaking, and it caused me to cry because the Bishop brought back a feeling that what the priest did to me was not significant.

"When survivors speak up against the abuse then the Bishop thinks this is out of proportion. I would like to know what a proportionate response is to being raped by a priest, as I was."

With legal matters continuing, the Waikato Times sought an interview with Lowe about the woman's experience but says the diocese responded with an emailed statement from Lowe.

Quoting from part of the email, The Times reports Lowe indicated he had been "actively helping [the woman] in my role as Bishop.

"I am not able to breach the confidentiality of my work with her by discussing it in public."

However, the abuse victim complained to a Catholic abuse Survivor network (SNAP) about Lowe and his response to her disclosure.

Against the background of ongoing legal matters, SNAP's national leader Dr Christopher Longhurst is looking to Lowe for a more pastoral resolution to his comment and the effect it had on the woman.

"I am sorry that Bishop Lowe has not been upfront with an explanation as to what he said," says Longhurst. "I do not believe this has anything to do with confidentiality. Privacy and confidentiality pertain to personal information, not to process or requests for clarification."

"To me, the Bishop's response seems like an example of the three Ds of avoiding accountability: deny, deflect, diffuse. A straightforward and honest response to our request for clarification would have been more appropriate," Longhurst adds.

"Stonewalling, silence and denial are the constant response from this Bishop," says Longhurst.

Longhurst feels an apology to the woman "would have been more appropriate and is still warranted".

Source

• The Waikato Times

Emphasising its importance, Lowe, President of the New Zealand Bishops Conference, describes the document as "another step towards the future".

"This working document is the product of the process of the Church listening to and hearing what the People of God have said", Lowe comments in a news release from the Church's communications office.

To help avoid confusion, Lowe clarifies that Synod's Working Document is not the final word but published by Synod Secretariat, it sets the agenda for the Synod.

• Synod Working Document - PDF
• Synod Working Document - ePUB

Supplied

Lowe serves both as the Catholic Bishop of Auckland and President of the New Zealand Bishops' Conference.

The fake social media accounts impersonating Lowe have surfaced on Meta's Facebook and Messenger platforms and, in responding to the data breach, Lowe wishes it to be known that he will not send friend requests or contact anyone through social media.

The NZCBC also warns that his email account may have been falsified.

Commenting on the NZCBC Facebook post, Bernard Liddington suggests the fake account was obvious as the gender was erroneously listed as female.

In another comment, Stephen Kennedy quipped "So he's not coming for tea tomorrow night? But I'm making my special potato bake just like he asked."

Mark Chang commented with a tongue-in-cheek remark, "All part of God's plan, surely?"

At the time of writing, another person linked the data breach with Satan.

The Bishops' Conference recently ran a campaign to help people stay safe online.

They suggested people learn more about Facebook privacy, do a Facebook privacy check-up and manage their Facebook privacy settings.

Facebook and its associated applications - Instagram, WhatsApp, and its most recent application, Threads (a Twitter clone) - are owned by the parent company, Meta.

These applications are free to use. However, Meta monetises user data to cover costs and provide shareholders with a healthy return.

Unfortunately, fake Facebook and Instagram accounts are common, and Meta has faced numerous privacy concerns stemming partly from its revenue model.

For example, Ireland's Data Protection Commission imposed a €1.2 billion fine last month against Facebook's parent, Meta, for failing to comply with Europe's General Data Protection Regulation laws.

According to one source, Meta profits by selling users' information and through targeting ads, attracting advertisers to its vast trove of data like vultures to carrion.

Donald Trump's successful use of Facebook data played a part in his election as President of the United States.

Facebook has always assured its users that their information is shared only with their consent and is anonymised before being sold to marketers. However, issues such as data breaches, platform vulnerabilities and the compromise of individual identities and private data regularly occur.

In response to escalating privacy concerns, some government agencies and groups with sensitive data on their work computers have prohibited the use of personal Meta accounts on work computers and mobile devices.

Tech journalist Leo Laporte describes Meta as "capricious". "If it's free, then you're the product" he often says when discussing Facebook's privacy issues.

Sources

• NZ Catholic Bishop's Conference Facebook
• Twit.tv
• Wikipedia
• How Facebook uses big data
• Washington Post
• Security Now - Steve Gibson

Lowe reports that 69 grants have been given to charities and agencies throughout greater Auckland to help families, people and communities in need.

"The outpouring of generosity throughout the country and overseas has been humbling," he says.

"Your gifts have already helped so many begin their recovery from these severe weather events."

Lowe says his Foundation is committed to supporting social services and community groups to reach those in need, especially families.

Mid-February, Lowe offered to expand the range of the Caring Foundation's reach, calling it a national appeal that also covers the damage in the Hamilton and Palmerston North dioceses (ie Coromandel, Gisborne, Napier/Wairoa).

Donations - the stats

Lowe reports many donations helped the Caring Foundation gather tens of thousands of dollars.

They included:

• 1200 donors - individuals, parishes, schools, religious congregations, ethnic communities
• 27 schools - which held fundraising activities

Between them:

• $621,000 was raised: $281,000 for the cyclone appeal; $340,000 for the flood appeal.

Lowe says some money has been sent to foodbanks, parishes and social agencies. Bedding, clothing and furniture have been frequently purchased items, he notes.

He says the donations were also used to help in some schools where the disasters had severely impacted students, helping students pay for school uniforms and stationery.

"Thank you for being a lifeline to our sisters and brothers in these challenging times." Lowe says.

Source

• Caring Foundation

An unrealistic deadline for southern hemisphere countries who were enjoying a summer holiday saw Pope Francis extend the diocesan deadline by four months.

"A universal 4-month extension by the Vatican of the Diocesan phase was warmly welcomed," says the Wellington synthesis.

The synodal process was also hampered by repeated Covid-19 State lockdowns and a societal post-lockdown hesitancy to engage in in-person meetings.

Covid-19 "frustrated a number of respondents who felt constrained by the use of technological tools such as Zoom, believing that gathering digitally significantly reduced the spiritual nature of the process. For others this highlighted the lack of access to technological responses of certain communities," says the Auckland synthesis.

While some dioceses attempted to explain the demographic mix of individual participants, they universally remain unreported.

"The data is highly likely to be skewed," a statistician told CathNews.

"It's unclear exactly how many people participated in the overall process, what percentage of Catholics participated, who they ‘represented' and who was un-represented," she said.

The statistician said that skewed data does not invalidate the process, but it does need to be taken into consideration when examining outcomes.

By way of example, she cited an issue deliberately chosen because it is not mentioned in any of the syntheses; receiving Holy Communion on the tongue.

"Because the process is an all-comers model and not scientifically representative it is possible for the outcomes possibly to be sub-consciously hijacked," she said.

"For example, while those involved favoured Holy Communion on the tongue, the vast majority of those who were not involved are possibly happy with communion in the hand.

"There is really no way of knowing.

"Thankfully the Church is not a democracy, and theology, prayer, discernment and discussion are important parts of this process."

However, she warned that these sorts of meetings and processes can "create a world and an expectation that can't be sustained."

Emphasising the purpose of the synod is not to write documents, says the Secretary of the NZCBC, Bishop Steve Lowe. The Synod's purpose is to answer the question ‘how do we as a Church journey together?'

Following up the initial Diocesan phase, representatives from dioceses, parishes, schools, priests and religious orders will now attend a meeting at St Catherine's College, Kilbirnie, Wellington on Saturday 2 July, to discuss the feedback syntheses from the six dioceses.

The purpose of the St Catherine's College meeting is to prepare a national synthesis for the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.

The General Secretariat establishes connections between various synodal assemblies around the world.

The 16th Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will conclude in October next year in Rome.

Selected bullet points from the Diocesan Syntheses

Wellington

• New models of leadership in dioceses
• Priest focus on sacraments, not management
• A married and celibate clergy
• Transparent involvement in the appointment of bishops
• Inclusion of women in ministry and decision making
• Liturgical reform - change the language of the liturgy
• Catechetical reform that is non-judgmental and inclusive, never moralistic
• Update sexual moral teaching in line with modern science and people's lived experience
• Welcoming intercommunion between Christians
• Welcoming of LGBTQI+ people without judgment
• Welcome everyone to the Eucharistic table without judgment
• Encouraging leadership that accepts change
• Emphasise the universal call to holiness.

The full Wellington Archdiocese synthesis.

Auckland

• Reform the formation of clerics
• Optional celibacy for priests
• Ordination of women
• Appropriate formation for lay people
• Welcoming liturgical language that is inclusive, less misogynistic, less hierarchical and that reflects contemporary theology
• Synodal Church governance not restricted to clerics
• Transparent appointment of bishops
• Women equitably present in Church structures and decision-making bodies

The Auckland section also dedicated a second section to itself entitled "Calls to the local Church".

The full Auckland Diocese synthesis.

Hamilton

• Deepen community
• Grow in faith
• To know Christ
• Reawaken identity as disciples of Christ
• Reach out to the margins
• To be part of a solution rather than a problem
• Improved catechesis
• Importance of prayer
• Mission of the laity and how the laity can do more
• Lay involvement in governance and decision making
• A new way of communication
• Continued transparency and accountability
• Concern for the younger generation; Church is too antiquated for young people
• Relevant liturgy
• Rediscovering the important aspect of Church teaching and practice
• Ordination of women

The full Hamilton Diocese synthesis.

Palmerston North

• Bi-culturalism through use of te reo, tikanga
• Include multi-cultural elements
• Re-orient towards mission in this time and place
• The mission of the laity but concern about how to do it
• Need for robust digital strategy - faith learning, virtual parishes, entertainment
• Better communication
• Change in current leadership models
• Change in how the liturgy is celebrated
• Safeguarding
• Welcoming migrants
• Welcoming LGBTQI+
• Develop the relationship between schools (seen as welcoming) and parishes (seen as exclusive).
• Wanting an encounter with God
• Less clerical more lay leadership
• Inclusive of women at all levels including priesthood
• Welcoming to Maori, migrants, the deaf, poor, divorced or separated, LGBTQI+ and conservative traditionalist Catholics
• Closing the cultural gap
• Be a Christian community
• Liturgical reform
• More opportunities for faith formation.

The full Palmerston North Diocese synthesis.

Christchurch

• Change the language of the liturgy to be inclusive
• In-depth formation for those delivering homilies
• Honour different cultures in the liturgy
• Better liturgical hymns
• Collaborative leadership at all levels includes women; priest does not have the final word
• Participation through recognised talents and exploration of the baptismal priesthood
• Young people
• Women
• Maori and immigrants
• Divorced and remarried
• LGBTQI+
• Bi-culturalism
• Multi-culturalism
• Clergy need to be more welcoming
• Service with a focus on social justice and the corporal works of mercy
• Formation for: community, scripture, leadership training, modern life, science and religion and ecological morality
• Openness to being ecumenical
• Reducing the dualism in homilies
• Renewed willingness to examine and implement Vatican II's liturgical changes

The full Christchurch Diocese synthesis.

Dunedin

• Inclusion
• Non-judgemental approach to sacraments for LGBTQI+, divorced and remarried
• Support and bless gay relationships and those wanting to remarry
• Respect multi-culturalism with inclusion in liturgy
• Support of bi-culturalism
• Inclusion of all the baptised in decision-making and leadership
• Include women in church leadership and liturgy
• Co-responsibility between clergy and laity
• Growing the confidence of the laity
• Lack of young people at Mass
• Mass not resonating with many in the wider church family
• Connecting parishes and schools
• Embrace those who like the Latin Mass
• Develop a more modern appeal to the Mass
• Engagement of the Church in the wider community: environment, care for poor, being pro-life in the fuller sense of the word, inequality, justice, peace, equity in the world, ecumenism, modern day slavery and human trafficking
• Belonging to groups outside the Mass community
• Local communities vital.

The full Dunedin Diocese synthesis.

In the face of worsening global environmental and social issues, Laudato si' raised the concept of integral ecology which reminds us that everything is connected. "Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it" (LS 138), Pope Francis wrote. Everything we do in terms of the environment, our economic activity, our society and our culture is connected and impacts on each other.

Last week Pope Francis issued what might be considered as a case study of Laudato si'. Querida Amazonia is the fruit and gift to the Church of Pope Francis' reflection on the Amazonian Synod held in Rome last year.

The Holy Father defines the Amazon region as "a multinational and interconnected whole, a great biome shared by nine countries… Yet, he writes, I am addressing the present Exhortation to the whole world. I am doing so to help awaken their affection and concern for that land which is also "ours", and to invite them to value it and acknowledge it as a sacred mystery" (QA 5).

At the end of the Synod, the people representing the Amazon and their bishops described the Amazon as "a wounded and deformed beauty, a place of suffering and violence." They expressed their concerns of the destruction of the forests and pollution of the rivers, the consequences on the people including sexual exploitation, human trafficking and smuggling, organ traffic, sex tourism, the loss of original culture and identity of the peoples of the Amazon as their land and being is stolen and destroyed.

As it happened, the New Zealand bishops met Pope Francis the day after the Synod had concluded and he shared with us some of his reflections on the Synod. In our conversation with Pope Francis, we easily made the connection between the issues raised by the Synod and the arrival of Pakeha in Aotearoa New Zealand and the impact this had on Maori and on the whenua, the land. In Querida Amazonia, Pope Francis writes: "The original peoples often witnessed helplessly the destruction of the natural surroundings that enabled them to be nourished and kept healthy, to survive and to preserve a way of life in a culture which gave them identity and meaning. The imbalance of power is enormous; the weak have no means of defending themselves, while the winners take it all, and the needy nations grow more destitute, while the rich nations become even richer" (QA 13). What he wrote of the Amazon today might have been written of Aotearoa New Zealand from the mid-1800s to this day.

Querida Amazonia shares Pope Francis' dreams for the Amazon. He uses poetry and wisdom from the Amazon to paint a picture of what might be rather than impose western or first world solutions to one of the most fragile areas of the planet. He writes,

• I dream of an Amazon region that fights for the rights of the poor, the original peoples and the least of our brothers and sisters, where their voices can be heard and their dignity advanced.
• I dream of an Amazon region that can preserve its distinctive cultural riches, where the beauty of our humanity shines forth in so many varied ways.
• I dream of an Amazon region that can jealously preserve its overwhelming natural beauty and the super-abundant life teeming in its rivers and forests.
• I dream of Christian communities capable of generous commitment, incarnate in the Amazon region, and giving the Church new faces with Amazonian features. (QA 7)

For us in Aotearoa New Zealand Querida Amazonia offers us an opportunity to reflect on what has happened in our own land and to consider new paths for the future, reflecting with Maori on the sacred taonga that are our land, our rivers and lakes, our mountains and sea, and most importantly, the tangata, our people. Pope Francis speaks of combining ancestral wisdom with contemporary technical knowledge, always working for a sustainable management of the land while also preserving the lifestyle and value systems of those who live there (cf QA 51) and that from the original peoples, we can learn to contemplate the precious mystery that transcends us. We can love it, not simply use it, with the result that love can awaken a deep and sincere interest. Even more, we can feel intimately a part of it and not only defend it; then the Amazon region will once more become like a mother to us (cf QA 55). What he says of the Amazon can be true for us in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Often today there can be criticism of how the Gospel was announced to indigenous peoples by colonial powers and the Holy Father apologises again for the Church's sins of the past in the Amazon. But as Jesus stepped into a culture, a people, so too the Church stepped into cultures; it takes flesh in all peoples, for the mission of the Church is inviting people to a friendship with the Lord that can elevate and dignify them (cf QA 61).

Pope Francis stresses an Amazonian face for the Church in the Amazon. A fruitful process takes place when the Gospel takes root in a given place, he writes, but at the same time the Church herself undergoes a process of reception that enriches her with the fruits of what the Spirit has already mysteriously sown in that culture. In this way, "the Holy Spirit adorns the Church, showing her new aspects of revelation and giving her a new face. The history of the Church shows that Christianity does not have simply one cultural expression" (cf. QA 68, 69). In our local Church Bishop Pompallier was a master at bridging the gap between Maori spirituality and Catholic theology and spirituality, and this enabled the tupuna of many of our Maori community to accept the Catholic faith. But Pope Francis reminds us this needs to be an ongoing process in the Church in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Querida Amazonia can become for us, then, a real gift and an opportunity not only to stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the Amazon but also it can become an impetus for us to reflect on the face of the Church in Aotearoa New Zealand. We are invited to live out Pope Francis' dream of a Church that stands with the poor, that embraces the cultural riches of Maori as a taonga that can give a distinctively Kiwi face to the local Church in the wider universal Church and that contemplates the beauty of our land and sea as a sacred gift of God entrusted to our care for us and for our future tamariki and mokopuna.

• Steve Lowe - Bishop of Hamilton
• Querida Amazonia full document