Passionist Family Groups - 1990-2018 - Then and Now
The old axiom…if you want something done, then you should ask a busy person…was very true in the case of Family Groups, which were originally established to encourage parishioners to spend time looking out for each other on days other than Sunday, with a true Christian approach to forming a Family for All [not just those with whom we share a culture], and to follow the Christian challenge to….see how they Love One Another.
Paeroa & East Coast Bays were the first parishes to establish the groups [a good Australian invention which we Kiwis copied successfully], in New Zealand in 1988 and since Graham and Shelley Ward were involved in Passionist Family Groups in Paeroa, first as members then as leaders, and had helped some other Waikato parishes – inc Hamilton Cathedral - to establish groups, they were asked by then PP Fr Philip Sullivan, to establish the groups in our parish, and so they became in 1990 the first kiwis to leave one parish and establish PFG's in their new parish - St Thomas More – all the while raising their family of five sons. Glenfield has always been a landing point for immigrants from many parts of the world, and in this regard it was deemed critically important that new parishioners not only felt welcome in our beautiful country, but were also welcomed to become part of our ‘Kiwi Catholic Culture’. So leaders of groups in the parish initially were multinational, coming from Malaysia, the Netherlands, Scotland, England, New Zealand, Samoa, Australia, and the membership of the groups followed suit, with one Grouphaving no fewer than 9 different first languages within its membership…..! The Glenfield parish has never been affluent, and this underlined the importance of keeping monthly get-togethers low-cost or no cost, and since most of the leaders and members were in the 35-45 age group with large families, this was a target comfortably managed. Shelley comments on this factor: "During the 1990's we ran a Fruit and Vegetable Co-op out of our carport[not far from the Church], to raise funds for Passionist Family Groups. Each member paid $11 per week and received fresh, in season fruit and vegetables. Our carport was always full of cardboard boxes for the follow week's delivery. It was a great way to gather the deposit money for our annual PFG camp." Interestingly this same Parish Camp which evolved from the PFG annual camp, extended for a full weekend, and was concluded on Sunday with a Mass celebrated by popular Rosminian Fr John Bland When the best work is done, often nobody sees, and a lasting initiative which evolved following PFG formation was the collection for and distribution of Christmas Hampers to families in need. Also the Pentecost PFG initiative the ‘Our Father’ in varying languages and costumes, followed by the sharing of national dishes. A monthly coffee after Mass was superseded by a weekly coffee hosted by a Family Group. Several of the groups established 27 years ago in 1990 are still operating as ‘old friends getting together several times annually’, but ‘the originals’ have moved into the 60-70s age group and above, and we hope that millennials in their 35-45’s with young children can acknowledge the value of what’s been established in the parish over that lengthy period of time, [and what many of them enjoyed as they were growing up in the parish], and step forward to become involved in continuing the formation of groups. So far in the Holy Father’s decreed Year of the Mission in 2017 with little effort beyond an invitation for any parishioner to join us, a 30 person group consisting of parishioners from South Korea, Malaysia,USA, India, Britain, South Africa, Dubai & NZ has been established, and we sincerely hope that newcomers to the Parish will ‘see how we love one another’ in a genuinely Christian way in our Family for All, and join in a second new grouping which we expect to form in early 2018. Looking ahead, we’d like to see several groups operating during the 35th anniversary year for the Parish,which coincides with the 27th anniversary of the Family Groups’ formation, this depending of course on the ability of our modern parish community to extend their hand of welcome in the same way as many ofthe parish community have been welcomed to Aotearoa in the past. God Bless you all Shelley & Graham Ward "When family groups were first mooted I thought "we can go a few times then forget about it". 25 years later and a stint as group leaders and we are still going. On our first group camp at Camp Adair there was a concert in the evening. Things were quite proper and needed a bit of levity so I got the men in the parish on stage to sing the Mac Davis song Lord its hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way........ We may not have sung in tune but did get noticed by the ladies of the parish! Brian Capper and myself organised the camps for the last few years. It became more difficult with cost as health and safety required all sorts of extra spend. We knew that time was up when the last camp had to be evacuated on the Saturday night due to torrential downpours which flooded the Hunua stream and the camp." Dennis Lyons, Nov 2017 Do you have memories to share. Please email info@stm2018.net Click on archive documents below and photo gallery.
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