On the Memorial of St Paul Miki and Companions last month, Pope Francis gave a few points of reflection on what it means to "journey together in hope" in this Jubilee Year. The three points consist of an emphasis on the (1) journey itself, (2) calling to journey together, and (3) promise of hope. Each is a step to an invitation to conversion - "[the] call to conversion: a call to hope, to trust in God and the great promise of eternal life."1 We can perhaps reflect on the season of Lent using these steps.
We began our Lenten journey this year by welcoming the renewal of our lives in Christ as pilgrims of hope. A conversion in hope that call us as a Church to move forward in prayer and worship together. The season of lent is made of liturgical symbols, prayers, and rituals that help shape this journey:
• Lent begins during Ash Wednesday, when we have the visual symbol of the ashes on our foreheads, accompanied by the words: "remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." These symbols and words set us on the path of the forty days journey, and sets the tone for the entire season.
• We omit the singing the of Gloria and the Alleluia as instructed by the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. 2 By doing so, we allow ourselves to long for the joy that greets us in Eastertide.
• The use of violet as liturgical colour reflects repentance, and the simplistic look of the Sanctuary layout such as with the absence of flowers reflects the internal focus of the season.
The second point from Pope Francis is an invitation for a collective participation...
"The Church is called to walk together, to be synodal. Christians are called to walk at the side of others, and never as lone travellers. The Holy Spirit impels us not to remain self-absorbed, but to leave ourselves behind and keep walking towards God and our brothers and sisters. Journeying together means consolidating the unity grounded in our common dignity as children of God (cf. Gal 3:26-28). It means walking side-by-side, without shoving or stepping on others, without envy or hypocrisy, without letting anyone be left behind or excluded. Let us all walk in the same direction, tending towards the same goal, attentive to one another in love and patience."
Lent is not suppposed to be easy. We remember that in this "journeying" time, we share the season of Lent with those preparing to be received into the Church. As we approach the Easter Vigil, there is an opportunity to experience the sacramental mysteries through the lens of those to be initiated, as well as our
own. Furthermore, we journey together through the period of mystagogy during the season of Easter and onward.
Finally, the promise of hope as our thread of focus leading up to Easter. The liturgical rhythm of Lent is supposed to challenge us and our spiritual complacency. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is offered to urge us not to remain in sin, but to seek the freedom in Christ. Pope Francis poses a few questions for us to ponder on:
• Am I convinced that the Lord forgives my sins?
• Do I long for salvation and call upon God’s help to attain it?
• Do I concretely experience the hope that enables me to interpret the events of history and inspires in me a commitment to justice and fraternity, to care for our common
home and in such a way that no one feels excluded?
Perhaps we can look at the promise of hope at the conclusion of this Lenten season as something to be fully experienced as we embrace the beauty and challenges of this journey. For in doing so, we may be transformed as pilgrims of hope, guided by our mahi (work) in the liturgy and the companionship of one another. ■
"Sisters and brothers, thanks to God’s love in Jesus Christ, we are sustained in the hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5). Hope is the sure and steadfast anchor of the soul."
1. Pope Francis. Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for Lent, 2025.
2. General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 53 and 62(a)(b).
Jubilee Sing Jubilee Pope Francis has called us to celebrate a Year of Jubilee in 2025. Join Tony Alonso, a Grammy nominated composer of sacred music and a scholar whose work responds to the diverse realities of contemporary culture.
An Evening with Tony Alonso, Thursday 29 May 6.30pm, St Francis Xavier Church, Park Ave, Whangarei., suggested koha $10.00 per person
A Retreat Workshop with Tony, Saturday 31 May 1.304.00pm, Baradene College Auditorium, Victoria St., koha. www.aucklandcatholic.org.nz/retreat-workshop-withtony-alonso
A Concert with Tony Alonso, Saturday 31 May 6.30pm, Baradene College Auditorium, Victoria St., $10.00 per person.
"Bishop Peter was the first bishop of the Diocese of Palmerston North which was created in 1980. After many years of service, he retired in 2012 but still continues to be an active member of the Diocese. Bishop Peter is a respected writer and leader of retreats who, in his retirement, is still busy at local, national, and international levels." (https://pndiocese.org.nz/bishop/bishoppeter)
In Learning from the Roman Missal (Liturgy, Dec. 2024), we looked at some aspects of our history which made it necessary for the Second Vatican Council to restore and renew the liturgy. Some of the language we previously used highlighted this need: we used to speak of the priest as if he were the person who “celebrated” the Mass, which the congregation merely “attended.” The Church’s teaching is that the whole assembly “celebrates” the Mass, and that “rites which are meant to be celebrated in common… should be celebrated in that way rather than by an individual and quasi privately.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1140)
The Council intended to restore the congregation’s right to “full, conscious and active participation” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 14). The implications of this are spelled out for us in the General Instruction of the
Roman Missal (GIRM) and the prayers of the Missal.
The GIRM is careful not to exclude local customs and alternative practices any more than necessary. But where it explicitly allows for alternatives, it usually adds the phrase “provided that,” and what comes after that phrase is based on the need to be faithful to the meaning of that part of the Mass. Being ‘inclusive’ is not open-ended; meaning is what determines best practice. That is the surest way of doing at Mass what the prayers of the Mass say we are doing.
In this follow-up article, I offer further examples of how this applies.
SINGING
After affirming the importance of Gregorian chant, the Missal goes on to affirm that “other kinds of sacred music” can be used - “provided that they
correspond to the spirit of liturgical action and further the participation of all the faithful” (GIRM 41). In 1903, Pope St Pius X had already forbidden choirs to take over the singing in ways that deprived the congregation of actively participating in parts of the Mass that belonged to the whole assembly. The liturgy was not to be treated as if it were a concert. (It was Pope St Pius X who first used the phrase, which the Second Vatican Council made famous: “full, conscious and active, participation.”)
SACRED IMAGES
The Roman Missal affirms the ancient practice of placing statues and other sacred images within the church building for veneration – provided this is done in ways that do not draw attention to the statues/images and away from what is happening in
the celebration of Eucharist (cf GIRM 318). Where this happens (e.g. having an illuminated statue of Mary in the sanctuary during Mass) people rightly complain that this is a distraction.
BELLS/GONGS
The rubrics of the Missal allow for “a small bell” to be rung, “if appropriate,” “as a signal to the faithful” (150). It used to be appropriate at every Mass, because its purpose, as a signal, was to let the congregation know when certain moments of the Mass had arrived. They had no other way of knowing, because the priest spoke the words quietly, in Latin, and with his back to the congregation. Often, they could not even see the elevation of host and chalice at the consecration. So, the bell was rung. It was rung again to alert the congregation that it was time for Holy Communion.
Today, there may be times when the congregation, or parts of the congregation, cannot see or hear, which makes this signal “appropriate.” It has no other purpose. It is not part of the ritual of the Mass! Nor is it part of our adoration. In fact, our adoration at the time of the consecration is best supported by deep silence as we watch and listen. A bell or gong at that time shatters that silence.
SACRED SILENCE
“Sacred silence is also part of the celebration” (GIRM 45). (Perhaps nothing ‘kills’ the liturgy more than wordiness.)
The nature of the silence differs according to the different parts of the Mass where it is needed; (GIRM 45). Its purpose at the penitential rite is for recollection. (That is what we are deprived of if that turns into a ‘sermon’!)
After a reading or the homily, silence is for the purpose of reflecting on what has been heard. After Holy Communion, it is for personal prayer.
Silence before the celebration is for personal preparation – but it is preparation for participating in worship by the community (liturgy.) The kind of greetings and courtesies that are natural when we gather to be a community (carried out in a subdued manner) properly belong to the occasion. General conversations do not. Liturgy is neither a private time, nor a social occasion. It is a communal time. ■
The Australian Pastoral Musicians Network and the National Liturgical Council are delighted to announce our 2025 National Liturgy and Music Conference.
1 – 3 OCTOBER 2025, HILTON
ADELAIDE
The conference vision builds on the theme of the 2025 Jubilee Year of Mercy: Pilgrims of Hope We are invited to consider the liturgy and other religious gatherings as places of renewal and rebirth. Journeying together in hope, nurtured and transformed through sacrament and song, we are inspired to bring the merciful love, peace and hope of the risen Christ to the world.
INTERNATIONAL KEYNOTES
Rev Ricky Manalo, CSP, Ph.D., is a Paulist priest, composer, theologian and missionary. He studied composition and piano at the Manhattan School of Music, theology at the Washington Theological Union, and liturgy, culture, and sociology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. Ricky’s music, is known for its diversity in style and his compositions have been featured during the Papal Masses of John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis. He has spoken and performed across six continents, offering academic lectures, keynotes, workshops and concerts.
R Rita F Ferrone is a New York-based scholar, writer, and speaker on issues of liturgy and catechesis in the Catholic Church. She has authored several books on liturgy, including A Pastoral Guideto Pope Francis’s Desiderio Desideravi (Liturgical Press), and is co-author of the liturgical formation resources Foundations in Faith and Livingthe Eucharist. Rita is a contributor to both scholarly and general periodicals, and is a columnist for Commonweal magazine. Her views have also appeared in the mainstream media, including CNN International, and the Washington Post.
An absolute MUST for all liturgists, musicians, clergy, cantors, choristers, lay liturgical ministers, composers, teachers, conductors, liturgy teams, campus ministers and all who love liturgy and music.
SAVE THE DATES: REGISTRATIONS OPENING JANUARY 2025 For all enquiries, contact: liturgy@liturgybrisbane.net.au
The APMN & NLC gratefully acknowledge the support of
This Jubilee year, be open to the gift of hope
Christian hope is more than cockeyed optimism.
Alice Camille is a U.S. writer, religious educator, and retreat leader. She writes the monthly "Testaments" column for US CATHOLIC magazine (Claretian Publications). Alice is is the author of Working Toward Sainthood (Twenty-Third Publications) and other titles available at www.alicecamille.com.
Reprinted with permission by U.S. Catholic. U.S. Catholic is published by the Claretian Missionaries. Call 1-800-328-6515 for subscription information.
Are you a hopeful person? Is it possible to become one if hope’s not your signature attitude?
This is the question of the year, since Pope Francis designated 2025 as the Jubilee for Pilgrims of Hope. Also known as a holy year, this Jubilee began Christmas Eve 2024, when the pope opened a door in St. Peter’s Basilica that’s only unsealed during holy years.
Before we go further, what exactly is a Jubilee? The Hebrew word from which it derives means goat, oddly enough. Ancient Israel announced a Jubilee every 50 years by blowing the shofar, which is a ram’s horn.
A Jubilee was a “year of the Lord’s favour,” a.k.a. a time for community-wide justice.
This implied, among other things, that debts were forgiven, indentured servants were given their freedom, and land confiscated for a variety of reasons was restored to its original owners.
It’s impossible to say if Jubilees were ever enacted as frequently and scrupulously as Mosaic law outlined. They wouldn’t have been good news for wealthy enslavers and landowners, obviously. They would have made procuring loans in the years preceding the 50th year nearly impossible to do.
Christianity put a new spin on Jubilee: not as a time to erase monetary debts but to remit sins. The first Christian Jubilee was in 1300, when Pope Boniface VII declared it should be celebrated every 100 years.
People liked the first one so well, though, that in 1342 the practice was adjusted to occur every 50 years. In 1389, Urban VI
Alice Camille
piously preferred to observe a 33-year cycle of holy years to honour the presumed duration of the life of Jesus. Despite differences of opinion about when they ought to occur, Pope Boniface IX celebrated a Jubilee in 1400.
Pope Martin V instituted the practice of opening a holy door to inaugurate the year. After this, Jubilees returned more or less to the 50-year cycle, interrupted by a few European wars in the 1800s. These days, Jubilees are observed every 25 years or whenever the pope determines to have one.
What are we to do in a Jubilee year?
Considered a time for pilgrimage, the most complete observance is to take a pilgrimage to Rome. From the earliest Christian Jubilees, passage through the holy door granted the pilgrim a plenary indulgence (full pardon for their sins).
Since a trip to Rome isn’t possible for many Catholics, each diocese is urged to open its own holy door so more people can participate. Some parishes even designate their own ceremonial Jubilee door so that anyone can ritually claim pilgrimage right where they live.
In more recent times, Jubilee years have engaged thematic emphases. In 1900, Pope Leo XII called for an awakening of faith among Christians. Pope Pius IX summoned the church to work toward a better society in 1925. Pius XII pulled out all the stops by announcing the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in
1950—and expanding the college of cardinals to represent the world outside of Italy. The first post-Vatican II Jubilee, held by Pope Paul VI in 1975, was dedicated to worldwide reconciliation. Buddhist monks were among the first pilgrims through the holy door.
St. Pope John Paul II celebrated the 2000 Jubilee for the forgiveness of history’s great sins and included many gestures of interfaith reconciliation. Pope Francis called for a Holy Year of Mercy in 2015. And now, this Jubilee Year 2025, it’s time for all Catholics to take a pilgrimage of hope in a post-pandemic world that could surely use a fresh infusion of it.
What is hope to a Christian? First, it’s one of three theological virtues along
By Lothar Wolleh - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons. wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=116866077
with faith and love. St. Paul declared these the “three things that last” when all else falls away. They last because they unite us with God—hence the term “theological” virtues.
The gravity of this idea suggests that Christian hope is more than cockeyed optimism. It’s not just being upbeat about the future when others lack enthusiasm. The theological virtues not only orient us to God, they also originate in God. In plain English, we’re hopeful about our future destiny in God. And we can’t be hopeful about this without divine help.
Christian hope is also contrasted with the twin vices of despair and presumption. Despair belongs to those who feel they’re so lost they can never find their way back to God. Despair can also belong to their loved ones who are sure those who leave the church— whether through a deliberate disavowal or a simple falling out of practice—are outside God’s mercy for good.
Presumption, the other counter-vice to hope, is the delusion that we earn our way to God by doing certain things: performing good works, accumulating sacraments, stockpiling prayers and pieties. Or, conversely, by not doing certain things: the so-called impure thoughts and actions, traditionally those of a sexual nature.
Hope puts the lie to this fractured thinking. Longing for union with God means longing with God for a world of justice, peace, and compassion. These grander goals take our gaze off our personal vices or virtues so we can see with a God’s-eye view.
Hopeful people move toward this visionary world despite the many obstacles to these goals. Yet Christian hope is realistic, as Dominican theologian Vivian Boland points out. Hope admits the difficulty and suffering in our present reality.
Still, it maintains courage in failure or disappointment because Jesus Christ has overcome the world.
Jürgen Moltmann even goes so far as to say that it’s only in those situations that seem to contradict hope—suffering, evil, loss, and death—that genuine hope is realized. We can’t really be hopeful when all is going well since our faith isn’t challenged. It’s only when things fall apart around and within us that hope is born and can be exercised.
Apocalyptic climate change, war and violence, widespread addictions, racist structures, a lopsided economy, fear and mistrust of outsiders—I’d say we have plenty of reasons to give birth to hope in our generation. Being pilgrims of hope in this Jubilee year 2025 is going to require of us much more than walking through a doorway.
This month, the Sunday of the Word of God (January 26) is also marked this holy year as a celebration of the world
of communications. Rome issues a special invitation to pilgrims who are broadcasters, journalists, writers, or media workers of every kind. Since we’re all potential communicators of hope in our social media and personal presence, we can participate right where we are.
You might keep a hope journal, recording hopeful quotes, courageous stories, and clipped articles of positive breakthroughs. You can invite others to view inspiring movies and documentaries, and less of the dystopian stuff. Resist the click bait of inflammatory pseudo-news that’s aimed at selling ad space. We can pray every morning to be better pilgrims of hope as we move through situations and contexts of our day. Even if hope isn’t presently your thing, be open to receiving this grace. ■
Reprinted from Music and Liturgy – The journal of the Society of Saint Gregory, Issue 381 March 2024 Volume 50 No 1, article by Allen Morris. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Blessings have been in the news recently, and sometimes they have created controversy.
At the end of 2023 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued the Declaration Fiducia Supplicans (FS) (‘Trust that calls on God’). Subtitled ‘On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings’, the Declaration explores the distinction between sacraments and sacramentals, and between the more formal ritualised, liturgical blessings and simpler forms of blessing which stand as powerful witness to the Church’s proper care for people in all sorts of circumstances.
And it is because of this latter that the Declaration has sometimes been found controversial. FS urges pastors to respond positively to all requests for prayer informed by a desire for spiritual encouragement – including when they are made by people whose relationships in life are seen by the Church as irregular. Notably the Declaration urges careful pastoral care of people who are in
relationships that, from an objective point of view, the Church sees as morally unacceptable (for example those who live as husband and wife but who are unable to celebrate the Sacrament of Marriage, or single sex couples). To focus exclusively, or obsessively, on the whys and wherefores of what is irregular in such relationships, obscures the gift of saving grace that God freely offers always and everywhere.
We are more important to God than all the sins we can commit because he is father, he is mother, he is pure love, he has blessed us forever. And he will never stop blessing us.1
1. Dicastery tor the Doctrine of the Faith. Declaration Fiducia Supplicans On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings (FS) 28. Vatican Press, 2023. FS and a subsequent elucidatory document, can be downloaded at https://www.vatican.va/ roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/ rc_ddf_doc_20231218_fiducia-supplicans_en.html and https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/ congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_ doc_20240104-comunicato-fiduciasupplicans_ en.html
We are not always ready to receive that grace, but that does not prevent God offering it, and for such grace to slowly turn our hearts, our lives, ourselves, more and more towards the living God. Rather than closing doors on people, the Church is charged with helping them to know the reality and power of God’s love:
To make…people feel that they are still blessed, notwithstanding their serious mistakes, that their heavenly Father continues to will their good and to hope that they will ultimately open themselves to the good. Even if their closest relatives have abandoned them, because they now judge them to be irredeemable, God always sees them as his children.2
FS emphasises the importance of avoiding a naïve relativism – all things, all relationships, being equivalent and equal – and in the particular case of praying with and for those in ‘irregular’ relationships, of avoiding what is not matrimony being recognised as matrimony.3
But, again, the Church is called to witness to and live from God’s saving love. We affirm the original blessing of Creation – even as we see the consequences of original and personal sin in all of our lives. And most especially, as Christians, we affirm what we again and again learn – in and from and through the Paschal
2. FS 28
3. FS 4, 5
Mystery of Chris’s triumph over sin and death: how the Lord seeks to lead us to all that is good and best and eternal and eternal and beautiful. The image of Christ freed from the bonds of death standing over the fallen doors of Hell, and firmly grasping the hands of Adam and Eve to draw them with him to newness, light and life is a helpful one to hold on to. It acknowledges the challenges we have faced and face, but also how the power of God reveals to us his love for us, and enables new response from us.
A further helpful and alternative image is offered in FS:
…even when a person’s relationship with God is clouded by sin, he can always ask for a blessing, stretching out his hand to God, as Peter did in the storm when he cried out to Jesus, ‘ Lord, save me!’ (Matt 4:30). Indeed, desiring and receiving a blessing can be the possible good in some situations. Pope Francis reminds us that ‘a small step, in the midst of great human limitations, can be more pleasing to God than a life which appears outwardly in order but moves through the day without confronting great difficulties.’4
In this way…
…what shines forth is the beauty of the saving love of God made manifest in Jesus Christ, who died and rose from the dead.5
4. FS 28
5. FS 29
FS encourages us to consider how blessing in all its dimensions is something for us to seek to receive and share, not only in the most formal ecclesial settings (for example in celebration of the sacraments, and at which mostly clergy will preside) but in all the circumstances of our lives. We are not to ghettoise the sacred, but to embrace the presence of the Lord who walks with us always and everywhere, so that we might learn to walk more faithfully with him.
The Roman Ritual includes a Book of Blessings (BB). An English language edition of this was published in 1989 by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States of America.6 This edition of the Book of Blessings also includes a variety of proper blessings approved for use in the United States, notably blessings related to the feasts and seasons of the liturgical year and for various other needs and occasions (for example the blessing and commissioning of lay ministers). No edition of this invaluable pastoral resource has been published for the Church in England and Wales, although our Bishop’s Conference has approved the United States edition for interim use in England and Wales.7
6. Book of Blessings, 1989, Collegeville, MN, Liturgical Press. An abridged text A Shorter Book of Blessings is also published, which includes only the blessings that are celebrated outside Mass 7. cf https://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/ Resources/Rites/RiteRitual.shtml from where the texts for 'Prayers of Blessing for Liturgical and Pastoral Ministers' can be downloaded.
The Book groups blessings under various categories:
• Part I Blessings directly pertaining to persons (including blessings of families, engaged couples, on the occasions of birthdays; students and teachers, ecumenical groups)
• Part II Blessings related to building and to various forms of human activity (including the blessing of building sites, new homes, offices, tools, animals, fields and flocks, before and after meals)
• Part III Blessings of objects that are designed or erected for us in churches, either in the Liturgy or in popular devotions (including the blessing of a baptistery or font, church doors, images for public veneration, bells, organ, and Stations of the Cross).
• Part IV Blessings of articles meant to foster the devotion of the Christian people (including the blessing of religious articles and rosaries)
• Part V Blessings related to Feasts and Seasons (including blessings of Advent wreath, Christmas trees and Manger scene, of throats, food, mothers and fathers)
• Part VI Blessings for various needs and occasions (including blessings of pastoral and liturgical
ministers; arriving and departing parishioners)
FS emphasises the virtue of the simplest forms of blessing that allow ministers freedom and spontaneity in their pastoral accompaniment of people’s lives.8 BB encourages us to a fuller appreciation of the liturgical form of the more ritual blessings:
The typical celebration of a blessing consists of two parts: first, the proclamation of the word of God, and second, the praise of God’s goodness and the petition for his help. In addition there are usually rites for the beginning and conclusion that are proper to each celebration.9
In many cases, BB provides two ritual forms for blessings – one for use during the celebration of Mass, and the other for use outside of Mass.
If our experience of pastoral blessings has been ‘a quick prayer and a sign of the Cross’, BB urges us to something more worthy. In particular it emphasises the value of a proclamation of Scripture, and reflection on God’s word.
The purpose of the first part of the celebration is to ensure that the blessing is a genuine sacred sign, deriving its meaning and effectiveness from God’s word that is proclaimed.
Thus the proclamation of God’s word is the central point of the first part and the word proclaimed should provide a basis for the introductory
comments and the brief instruction on the readings, as well as for any exhortation or homily that may be given, as occasion suggests.10
The pastoral nature of blessings means that often there will be need for adaptation of the given rites to particular circumstances:
In the adaptation of celebrations a careful distinction must be made between matters of less importance and those principal elements of the celebrations that are here provided, namely the proclamation of the word of God and the Church’s prayer of blessing. These may never be omitted even when the shorter form of a rite is used.11
10. BB 20 11. BB 23
Image from Adobe Stock
BB also emphasises that these rites are not things done to or for people but are works that the faithful are to participate in, fully, actively, consciously. Ministers are invited to work to draw the faithful into the action of praising God, praying to God and preparing to receive and put to best use, God’s blessing.
The purpose of the second part of the celebration is that through its rites and prayers the community will praise God and, through Christ in the Holy Spirit, implore divine help. The central point of this part, then, is the blessing formulary itself, that is, the prayer of the Church, along with the accompanying proper outward sign.12
As works of the Church and not only the work of this or that particular a minister, there will often be great advantage when the Blessing Rite is enabled by a number and variety of ministers:
For the planning of a celebration these are the foremost consideration:
a. in most cases a communal celebration is to be preferred, and in such a way that a deacon, reader, cantor or psalmist, and choir all fulfil their proper functions;
b. a primary criterion is that the faithful are able to participate actively, consciously, and easily…13
The Book of Blessings, and Fiducia Supplicans, urge us to make the most of every situation to turn to the Lord and seek his help that we may all of us and always live by his grace. Let us all pray that we will. ■
12. BB 22
13. BB 24
The Book of Blessings is available for purchase at the Diocese of Auckland Liturgy Centre (check page 28).
Pastoral Ministry among Maori and Pasifika in the Third Millennium
Rev Hemi Ropata (Society of Mary)
Wednesday, 25 June 5-6pm via Zoom
Parish Ministry in Aotearoa New Zealand
Emily Sit (Director of Mission & EvangelisationPalmerston North Diocese)
Wednesday, 20 August 5-6pm via Zoom
Raising a Catholic Family in the Third Millennium
Cameron & Cheryl Surrey (Catholic Parents)
Wednesday, 08 October 5-6pm via Zoom
Reflections on Jubilee 2025 –Pilgrims of Hope
Fadi Yalda (CTC Biblical Studies Lecturer)
Wednesday, 26 November 5-6pm via Zoom
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Daily Prayer 2025
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Sourcebook for Sundays, Seasons, and Weekdays 2025
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Workbook for Lectors, Gospel Readers, and Proclaimers of the Word 2025 (Canadian Edition)
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At Home with the Word 2025
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Rebekah Eklund Michael R. Simone, sj | LTP
Break Open The Word 2025
Gives the readings and psalms for each Sunday with a commentary designed to provide not only background to the text but assistance on how to proclaim it. A pronunciation guide is included, as well as a section entitled "The Ministry of Reader".
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