Community Experience Opening Mass – 21 April 2016

“O taste and see that the Lord is good..” – Psalm 34: 8

The ICPE Mission marked another milestone on 21 April 2016 when the New Zealand Mission Centre celebrated the official opening mass to welcome Beverley Kannangara from Singapore and Sylvia Schraml from Germany for their season of Community Experience (CE) with Diana to journey with them. The mass celebrated by Fr. Francis D’Souza began with both of them presenting their symbols; a sword from Sylvia and a ring from Beverley, both representing their commitment for this season in their lives.

At the conclusion of the mass, Diana blessed them with the assurance of the presence of the Lord by encouraging them to look to the Cross; that the light of Christ will always be with them; that the angels will watch over them; that the Word of God will always be the source and that Mother Mary will always journey with them. The whole community then prayed for them and assured both Beverley and Sylvia their love and support. We ask you to kindly pray for both of them as they journey into a season of intimacy with Christ and experience the ICPE Mission.

Worship Night April 2016

"Ascribe the Lord, O heavenly beings,

ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name;

worship the Lord in holy splendour."

Psalm 29: 1 - 2

Come and worship the Lord this Worship Night. We hope to see you on Friday, 29 April 2016 at 7.30pm. Do bring along your friends to experience God anew. 

Ministry in the Philippines

Fr Alliston made a pilgrimage to the Divine Mercy Shrine in the southern island of Mindanao, assisting in confessions for penitents for more than ten hours over the weekend and then celebrating an early morning mass for the feast of Divine Mercy.

He then arrived at Tagaytay, to assist at the “Catch the Fire’, a short program being conducted by the ICPE Philippines mission center for young adults. The second day had Fr. Alliston sharing on the immensity of God’s mercy. God’s mercy is seen in the Old Testament through mention of words such as hesed and rahamim. These bring out God’s fatherly and motherly love for his people. A time of ministry later that day saw the participants experience ‘returning home’ realizing the depth of God’s love for each of them.

The third day with the focus being the savior Jesus, he was there to offer to the sacrament of mercy- i.e. sacrament of reconciliation for the participants who were open to avail it. The fourth day was a healing mass where participants offered all that weighed them down to offered it at mass.

The weekend was spent celebrating mass with the prisoners at local provisional prison. Do keep all of them at the ICPE mission center- staff and the participants, in your prayers.

Easter Triduum 2016

St. Gerard's Church assumed an air of solemnity and devotion on Maundy Thursday, marking the beginning of the Easter Triduum - the greatest celebrations of the liturgical calendar. At the service that evening, Fr. Francis washed the feet of 12 members from the congregation, both men and women. After the Eucharist, the solemn procession made their way out of the Church with Fr. Francis taking the Blessed Sacrament to the altar of repose where the faithful waited in anticipation to pray and adore the Lord. For the next few hours until midnight, a holy hour was conducted before the altar by different Catholic groups and communities from around Wellington. At midnight, the statues and the crucifix were all covered as a preparation for the Paschal mystery to unfold.

Good Friday was a day of prayer and fasting. After the lauds in the Church at 8am, all the community went over to St. Joseph's church where we led the Stations of the Cross in an outdoor gathering together with the parishioners. At 3 pm, the Good Friday liturgy and the homily given by Fr. Alliston, encouraged us to reflect on the priceless sacrifice of the cross which won our redemption. The climax of the day took place with the screening of the film "Passion of the Christ" a film that never fails to bring tears to our eyes.

Holy Saturday this year started with Lauds and the Office of Reading at 8am in the Church. This year is really special as we celebrated Easter Vigil Mass was celebrated in St. Gerard’s Church after Many Years. The liturgical celebrations started with the service of light that happened at the car porch. As the congregation proceeded into the church, the blessed new fire became the source of light for the paschal candle and our individual candles. The celebration in the church continued with Fr. Alliston chanting the Exsultet. In the liturgy of the word, we heard the history of salvation with the proclamation of seven readings from the Old Testament followed by the Great Gloria right before the epistle was proclaimed and the then the great Hallelujah as we acclaimed before the Gospel. Fr. Francis preached the homily that centred on the good news of the resurrection. The celebration then continued at our dining room.

On Easter Sunday at 10.30 am, the celebration at St. Gerard's was special one. The resurrection of Jesus was clearly evident by the joyful celebration of the Eucharist. The priest, the acolytes, the choir and the congregation were swept into a spirit of true Easter joy. The celebration ended as always with a marvellous spread on the table in the dining room where we all gathered for fellowship with a song in our hearts. There is no doubt that we are a joyful people and Hallelujah is our song!