The new group's purpose is to work with the NZCBC on agenda items of importance to Katorika (Catholic) Maori.

"The aim is that they provide a well-grounded voice for Katorika Maori and work in partnership with the NZCBC, embodying a more synodal way for the Church," Cardinal John Dew says.

Te Ropu Maori's inaugural delegates are from each of Aotearoa-New Zealand's six dioceses,

They include both wahine and tane members: Manuel Beazley (Auckland), Father Gerard Paterson (Hamilton), Korty Wilson (Palmerston North), Deacon Danny Karatea-Goddard (Wellington), Kathy Simmons (Christchurch) and Sharne Parkinson (Dunedin).

Dew says Te Ropu Maori is in its early stages.

Its members would attend a scheduled meeting of the long-established Te Runanga o te Hahi Katorika ki Aotearoa advisory group in February to reflect on refinements for the future.

The bishops have been wanting to establish a Maori group since a 2019 meeting they had with the long-established Te Runanga o te Hahi Katorika ki Aotearoa.

They acknowledged the need for a Maori voice at the NZCBC meeting table and for a forum to be provided for Maori working in Maori Church communities to come together. It is a synodal way of doing things.

It's not related to the 2023 Synod on Synodality, though.

The timeline to Te Ropu Maori's establishment shows the NZCBC was planning for it before the Pope announced the Synod, but organising it has been delayed by Covid restrictions on meetings.

During the NZCBC meetings Te Ropu members sit at the same table as the bishops for discussions of relevance.

They may take part in these discussions. They were present, for instance, when the bishops heard from other agencies visiting the November meeting, including Caritas, Te Kupenga-Catholic Leadership Institute and the Catholic Education Office.

Te Ropu Maori will attend relevant parts of each meeting of the bishops' conference; the 2023 calendar shows four next year.

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• Supplied

Robert Blucher is currently the Northern Regional Manager of Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu - also known as Te Kura, the former Correspondence School.

Before joining Te Kura (which is the country's biggest school, with over 20,000 students) Blucher had leadership and principal roles at several secondary schools.

He has also been a review officer with the Education Review Office.

Blucher identifies strongly as Catholic, with Croatian and Maori (Ngati Kuri) heritage from the Far North.

He and his wife Carleen are active parishioners in the Ponsonby Herne Bay parish. They have two adult children and two grandchildren.

The New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference says Blucher will take over the role formerly held by Te Kupenga's inaugural CE, Dr Areti Metuamate, who left to return to Australia last year.

In the interim, Nathaniel Centre director Dr John Kleinsman has been the Institute's acting chief executive.

Te Kupenga-Catholic was created in January 2020 by merging Good Shepherd College with The Catholic Institute.

It is made up of three operating units.

There is the Catholic Theological College (an accredited private training entity for tertiary courses and qualifications).

In addition there are the National Centre for Religious Studies and the Nathaniel Centre for Bioethics.

Te Kupenga-Catholic has a broad responsibility.

It combines academic, leadership, faith formation and bio-ethical research and advocacy mandates for the Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand.

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• Scoop

Longhurst, (on left in the photograph above) is a theology lecturer at Te Kupenga — Catholic Theological College.

He is also on the New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Committee for Interfaith Relations and the Wellington Interfaith Council.

KAICIID was established in 2012 to promote interreligious dialogue to prevent and resolve conflict and enhance understanding and cooperation.

Named after the then-King of Saudi Arabia (who died in 2015), it was founded by Saudi Arabia, Austria and Spain, with the Holy See as a founding observer.

Its board consists of representatives of major world religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism).

KAICIID fellows are educators from academic religious institutions worldwide, who learn skills to teach their own students and communities about interreligious dialogue, so they, in turn, can become facilitators and leaders in dialogue and promoting peace in their communities.

Longhurst's fellowship involves training and capacity-building in dialogue through three intensive in-residence training sessions and online learning programmes.

During the term of his one-year fellowship, he will publish a handbook for teaching and learning interreligious dialogue through reflection on and conversation around pictorial art.

He said that the use of pictorial art could be "an effective and innovative technique to undertake interreligious dialogue", and he hopes that the handbook will be used in classrooms and academic centres teaching religion throughout New Zealand.

Longhurst hopes that KAICIID's worldwide mandate to promote dialogue and enhance understanding will be taken up by the New Zealand Government and key stakeholders to foster dialogue among people of different faiths and cultures in Aotearoa New Zealand.

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Supplied

NZpray2day is available for Android devices.

NCRS Director, Colin MacLeod, says NZpray2day is designed to support young and old in Catholic schools and parishes to enter simply into the richness of the ancient Christian cycle of seasons, saints and readings.

"It's not an exhaustive source of all information in these areas," MacLeod says.

"Rather, it takes ‘snapshots' and encourages people to seek a moment to reflect, pray and respond."

"It also brings in pieces of history to link this liturgical journey with aspects of the story of New Zealand and the wider world."

"We hope it will be an inviting and useful tool for individual, class and staff prayer in schools, and for whanau and parishioners throughout Aotearoa and abroad."

MacLeod says the project has been a major labour of love and "was deceptively complicated to create."

He says NZpray2day could be available on Apple's iOS platform by mid-year.

"Our simple hope is that NZpray2day helps people become more easily aware of the gentle cycle of days and months which link us to creation, the life of Jesus and the shared journey of the Church.

"It is a journey we walk together."

Source

Supplied: David McLoughlin
Communications Adviser, NZ Catholic Bishops
Te Huinga o nga Pihopa Katorika o Aotearoa