We have had some wonderful Dominican Jubilee 800 celebrations around the country. Scroll down the page to find reports and photos from Auckland, Wellington, Wakatipu, Southland, Fielding, Christchurch and Invercargill…
Dunedin
Over 100 people were at the Jubilee Mass in Dunedin’s Holy Name church on December 6.Bishop Colin Campbell, himself a Dominican ex-pupil, celebrated the Mass, 30 people took liturgical roles and the children from Sacred Heart school sang the Jubilee hymn as the recessional. All were given prayer cards as they entered the church and some Badges were awarded to those involved in Education- Diocese Education manager, primary school principals, tertiary educators (Anne Kennedy and Sr Jan Ogilvy) and the associate editor of Tui Motu, Sr Elizabeth Mackie.
Photos:
Sr Jan Ogilvy and Sr Paddy McCann at the altar with the Jubilee candle Paddy made
Sr Jan Ogilvy, Bishop Colin and Kathy Mayo
Look who was welcoming us in the foyer
Entrance procession led by Paul Richardson, principal of Sacred Heart School
Auckland
The Auckland gathering at Blockhouse Bay started with a silent procession and lighting of candles. Kevin offered a reflection on “St Dominic and the significance of Now!” After a time of reflection, we focused on St Albert, feast-day, since he delighted in and mused upon the wonders of God’s amazing creation. We might see whether he speaks into our need for ecological awareness today! We each shared one word about our connection with the Dominican charism. A few of the words shared were: Preaching, Veritas, Courage, Light, Depth, Joy, Contemplation, Human Rights, Outreach, Patience, Family, Open-minded, prayer, speaking, Yearning, Dialogue and Hopeful. We concluded our day in prayer and with the distribution of Dominican Prayer Cards and badges. Download a copy of Kevin’s reflection here: Reflection from Kevin Toomey – Opening Celebration for Jubilee 800.
Wellington
A wonderful celebration in Wellington on Saturday 14 November. Some of the highlights are shown in the photos below:
- Heath from Challenge as St Dominic
- Judith and Kay Blackburn sharing the light of Dominic
- Pope Honorius confirming find of order of preachers
- A young Dominic studying, moved by the hungry and going off to sell his books
Wakatipu
Our celebrations began on Sunday at St Patrick’s church in Arrowtown with a liturgy led by Sr Mary Anna OP, followed by lunch with our Parish community. The globe was brought forward at the beginning of the liturgy in recognition of our belonging to our global Dominican family – sisters, nuns, brothers and laity. On Monday morning at St Joseph’s School, a Dominican School since 1883, we explored ways we could preach through our words and our actions, thereby keeping the spirit and vision of Dominic alive in our life time. Later on Monday, our Dominican family met together at Sr Mary Anna’s house to pray and reflect and celebrate with food and wine. And the celebration will go on…
Southland Celebration
All five Dominican founded Southland Schools attended our Jubilee 800 Mass (with the exception of Verdon seniors as there was insufficient room for all students). The celebration began with a powhiri, calling on all those involved with the procession and welcoming all the schools present. The Junior Verdon group sang a waiata and the boys did a short haka. This set the tone for our Jubilee Mass! The opening procession included kete, candles and banners.
All the schools had a part to play in it. A short drama about Dominic followed the homily, the gifts of bread and wine were preceded by liturgical movement, Sr Cecily’s St Dominic Song was sung with much enthusiasm and at the conclusion of our joyous celebration representatives collected their Jubilee kete (basket) and processed out to continue shining the Dominican Light! Click to see a video of the procession.
Feilding Celebrations
A highlight of the Feilding celebration of the opening of the Jubilee year was the presence and participation of the Deaf community. Feilding is the seat of Dominican life in the lower North Island. Ex-pupils of St Dominic’s School for Deaf Children and members of the Deaf Ministry inspired us with the joy of Dominic. The chaplain for the Deaf, David Loving-Molloy reflected on the sending out of the seventy-two disciples and traced the story of Dominicans in New Zealand in a way that captured the spirit of the Jubilee. Through their use of banners and sign-singing the Deaf community reminded us that Preaching is so much more than the spoken word. The Deaf community, Sisters, ex-pupils, other members of the Dominican Family and many friends remembered, celebrated and encouraged one another in a liturgy of word, pictures, movement and sign. The sense of community that we experienced in the liturgy continued in the lunch that followed. May the joy of the opening of the Jubilee year spread far and wide as we, too, go out to our world.
Read David Loving-Molloy’s reflection here: Reflection for 7th November. A few photos from the Jubilee Opening Gathering in Feilding today, Saturday 7 November 2015:
Celebratory Mass and lunch at Christchurch
Bishop Barry Jones celebrated Mass to recognise the Opening of the 800th Jubilee of the Dominican Order on Saturday 7 November 2015. After Mass those who attended enjoyed a shared lunch. Photos: Margaret Cox welcomes everyone, Bishop Jones gives Homily and some of the people who attended enjoying catching up over lunch.
Evening Prayer in Invercargill
Our Evening Prayer in Invercargill on 7 November in the Basilica foyer with the first verse and chorus of Christ be our Light. We then listened to a small part of the Master General Bruno Cadore’s letter to the Order for the opening of the eight hundredth Jubilee of the Order. After the solemn lighting of our Jubilee candle the people then lit their candles from it and we processed into the Basilica for a simple Evening Prayer. We concluded with the Jubilee Prayer and a hymn to St Dominic then returned to the foyer for a cuppa and chat as we continue to celebrate and FAITHFULLY AND JOYFULLY PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL OF PEACE.