Having recently retired as Principal of Sacred Heart Girls’ College, I realized that I needed to be part of a Parish community so when Ian McGill asked if I would be interested in producing The Philomena, I agreed.

Although I live just around the corner, Sacred Heart’s association with St Joseph’s since before the school moved from its site next to the church has meant that I had been mostly attending Masses there in the 19 years that I worked at Sacred Heart.

St Philomena’s community is very welcoming but in order to get to know people better I joined the daytime Caritas group (retired people can do that!), reflecting on Lent and sharing faith, prayer, readings and thoughts with each other.

Thanks to Lorraine Gordon’s hospitality, we met weekly in the staff room at St Pius X school. Discussion was honest and lively and, had our leader not been so efficient, would have gone on longer than the hour we had agreed on. Several of us have decided to continue to study and discuss the readings on the Tuesday after each Mass.

Hospitality is obviously a real part of this parish. Masses at St Philomena’s are happy, family occasions and it’s wonderful to see so many children welcomed and enjoying themselves on the Sundays that Father Earl is available. Easter Sunday was a particularly joyous occasion, a real celebration of the Lord risen among us, thanks to musicians and singers and the enthusiasm of the whole congregation.

In her Easter message Joan Chittister gives us something to think about:
The resurrection to which Easter calls us—our own—requires that we prepare to find God where God is by opening ourselves to the world around us with a listening ear and a seeing eye. That means that we must be prepared to be surprised by God in strange places, in ways we never thought we’d see and through the words of those we never thought we’d hear.

We are so fortunate that we live here and now and camping “up North” in January I became aware of places in Aotearoa/New Zealand where signs of God might be found, seeing Tane Mahuta that wonderful kauri tree which has been growing since Christ walked on Earth, and Cape Reinga, which we visited in misty drizzle. I explained to a young man visiting from the UK that Tasman was a man and that the Three Kings Islands were out there somewhere in the mist and he had named them for the Magi. As I walked back to the car I realized that it was 6 January, Epiphany Sunday, and felt that I had been given a very special gift to treasure. A special place for all New Zealanders.

Thank you for your welcome and your contributions.

Diane Kawana