Fair play in sport and society: Archbishop kicks off on ‘a level playing field’

Positive values on the sporting field – fairness, an equal chance of success, unbiased
refereeing – are equally important in society, says Catholic Archbishop John Dew in
'kicking off' the Catholic Church's annual Social Justice Week.
 
As Social Justice Week (11-17 September) falls this year in the first week of Rugby
World Cup competition, Catholic social justice agency Caritas has focused on the
theme 'On a level playing field' to examine issues of fairness and the common good
in the light of Catholic social teaching.
 
Archbishop John Dew says the vision of all people living as a human family in fullness
of life is one that becomes more difficult to achieve in an unequal society, and in a
world marked by extremes of wealth and poverty.
 
"As sports spectators, we will be looking over coming weeks to see that regardless of
who wins the Rugby World Cup, it will be a fair competition.  We expect rules to be
agreed on and enforced by unbiased referees.  We expect that sports grounds will
allow for an equal chance of success – for example that one side won't be playing
up-hill or kicking into the wind for the whole match."
 
Archbishop John Dew said it was time to blow the whistle on inequality.  "It would be
great if New Zealanders put as much enthusiasm and effort into ensuring we have a
fair society, as we do into cheering for success on the sporting field.
  
"New Zealand has been a world leader in the growth of inequality, and this leaves
people on the fringes of society whose life isn't as good as human life should be. 
Luke's Gospel talks about compassion for the poor.  People who follow the Gospel
are obliged to reduce inequality and poverty in our society."
 
On behalf of the Bishops, Caritas has prepared resources for parishes, schools and
the wider community to help reflection on the theme: 'On a level playing field'. 
Caritas is also launching a blog site 'Level with me – Who's the FAIRest of them all?".
It will offer a rough guide to the relative social equality/inequality of the 20 nations
competing in the World Cup, and the opportunity to explore and debate the issues. 
It will be available at www.socialjusticeweek.org.nz or through the Caritas website
from Wednesday 7 September.
 
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Archbishop John will kick off Social Justice Week with a pep
talk for a group of students from St Patrick's and St Catherine's Colleges at the St
Catherine's school gymnasium on Wednesday 7 September at 3.30pm.  As Head
Coach for the Catholic team, he will be urging them to keep their eyes on the ball,
in working together to achieve the goal of a fair and just society.
 
Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand is a member of Caritas Internationalis, a
confederation of 165 Catholic aid, development and social justice agencies active in
over 200 countries and territories.
 

New Mass Times

REMINDER:
As of Sunday 3rd April our Sunday Mass time will change - Mass will be at the new time of 8.30am (NOT 9.30am).

and ….

beginning Monday 28th March our WEEKDAY Mass Times will change. They will be Mondays and Thursdays only but will remain at the usual time of 9.15am.

Christmas Mass Times

Christmas Mass times at Saint Matthew's, Hillcrest are as follows:

Vigil Mass: 9:00 PM Friday 24th December 2010

Christmas Day: 9:15 AM Saturday 25th December 2010

Birthday Celebrations for Mary the Mother of Christ

Today 19th September at 3 pm at St Matthews Church (Hillcrest), Siverdale Road. All are warmly invited to join in this beautiful service and afternoon tea.

For inquiries Ph. 07 8560314 (Teresa).

Catholic bishops oppose extension of Easter trading hours

New Zealand's Catholic Bishops strongly support Dunedin Bishop Colin
Campbell's
opposition to extending Easter trading hours in the Waitaki district.

Bishop Campbell has written to MPs to ask that they maintain
Parliament's tradition of
rejecting further changes to Easter trading by using their conscience
vote against the Shop
Hours Act Repeal (Waitaki Easter Trading) Amendment Bill, due to have
its first reading
today.

"Obviously, allowing trading on Good Friday and Eater Sunday would
undermine New
Zealand's Christian traditions. However, while the three and a half
shop-free days remain
significant holy days for many New Zealanders, their significance
extends beyond religion,"
said Bishop Campbell.

"These holidays have become times for family and community groups to
gather, hold events
or rest, opportunities which are becoming increasingly rare. If this
current Waitaki Easter
Trading Bill gets passed, it would come at the expense of family and
community time and
simply be another step towards opening up Easter trading throughout New
Zealand".

The bishops' social justice agency Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has also
written to MPs
asking them to oppose the Bill. Caritas has made submissions on the
subject during the
numerous reviews and Private Member's Bills which have unsuccessfully
reopened the
debate 10 times in the past 20 years.
"Time and time again churches and various other community groups have
been forced to
defend keeping three and a half days a year shop-free," says Bishop
Campbell. "This is
despite numerous conscience votes from Members of Parliament who support
limiting
shopping days to 361 and a half a year".

Parish Meeting to Discuss Proposed Building Plans

Sunday 29 August, 2010
St Matthew’s Catholic Church

Commences: 15 minutes after end of mass for the day, approx 10:45 AM.
Venue: Left side of church to allow use of screen.

It is planned that the presentation would be complete within about 20 minutes, with questions and discussion to follow.

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Background:
You will recall that on 10 May 2009 we held a parish meeting to discuss the possibility of building a Parish Centre extension to the church. At the time a set of working plans were shown, and costs and possible source of funds briefly discussed. A postal vote followed that presentation. Voting forms were returned from 101 of 181 eligible voters in the parish, and of these, 95% were in favour of the proposal to build a parish centre. A few suggestions re the plans were also received.

Since that time there has been quite a bit of activity, much if it quite time-consuming. There have been discussions with Silverdale Normal School, with agents of the Ministry of Education, with the Diocese. There was a desire to link our plans with those of our local community neighbours (the school and village), and also to realise some funds from the sale of surplus land behind the church. There was also a need to investigate different options for the building design and scope. All these things take time, but we are now at a stage where it is appropriate to get more guidance from the
whole parish community.

Scope of meeting:
There have been substantial changes to the design and scope of the original plans. We have been assisted in this by Kathrine Avery, a qualified architect and former parishioner of St Matthew’s. Thepresentation will take you through the process to where we are now. It will also indicate options that need to be decided on before we proceed further. This will be the main purpose of the meeting.

There will be estimations given of costs for the various building options shown, and there will be an indication of where some of these funds could come from and an indication of how much of a shortfall we will need to raise to proceed further.

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Important:
This is an important information exchange event, and you are all encouraged to attend. Hard copies of the proposals will be set-up at the back of the church for several following weeks to allow parishioners to have a considered view and to encourage discussion and feedback. Please give feedback to the parish secretary or to committee members – written feedback is particularly valuable if there are more complex issues raised.

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

My Dear parishioners of St Matthew’s and all visitors,

The reading of today provides us with one of the very moving, dramatic and instructive stories of such acceptance in the Gospels.

The woman who had a bad name comes to Jesus and kisses and washes his feet with tears. The sign of repentance.

Every saint is a reformed sinner. A saint is the one who recognises the ‘sinner’ part in himself or herself.

Today Jesus invites us to cancel debts and forgive those who have trespassed against us: Yet our wounds may be deep.

Forgiveness may seem unthinkable. But if we do not forgive, then how can we say the Lord’s Prayer and truly mean it?

May God Bless each and everyone of you,
Fr Joseph