20th may 2018

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Pentecost: Holy Spirit Gift to the Church
For Christians, Pentecost is a holiday on which we commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit on the early followers of Jesus. Before the events of the first Pentecost, which came a few weeks after Jesus’ death and resurrection, there were followers of Jesus, but no movement that could be meaningfully called “the church.” Thus, from an historical point of view, Pentecost is the day on which the church was started. This is also true from a spiritual perspective, since the Spirit brings the church into existence and enlivens it. The Church age began at Pentecost and will conclude when Christ comes back for His own.
This day became especially significant for Christians because, on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon his first followers, thus empowering them for their mission and gathering them together as a Church. This day what the Prophet Joel prophesized was fulfilled, God promised to pour out his Spirit on all flesh, empowering diverse people to exercise divine power (Acts 2:16-21; Joel 2:28-32). What happened on the first Pentecost continues to happen to Christians throughout the world today, though usually not in such a dramatic fashion. The presence and power of the Spirit of God still helps Christians to confess Jesus the Lord, empowers them to serve God, bind them together as body of Christ, helps them to pray, guides them and helps them to be like Christ. Holy Spirit is the gift given to the members of the Church to build up the body of Christ, through prayer, preaching, reconciliation, and other spiritual and corporal acts of mercy. 
On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit empowered believers in Jesus to praise God in many languages that they had not learned in the ordinary manner (Acts 2:5-13). Symbolically, this miracle reinforces the multilingual, multicultural, multiracial mission of the church. Thus, Pentecost is an inclusive and it teaches us how to get along with others with their cultural and language diversity.
Pentecost invites us to consider our own participation in the fellowship, worship, and mission of the church. Pentecost is a time to ask God to fill us afresh with the Spirit so that we might join in the ministry of Christ with gusto. And it is a time to renew our commitment to fulfilling our crucial role in the ministry of God’s people in the world.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Fr Paul
 
Holy Trinity Parish Vision
We are a prayerful and diverse Catholic community in the Eastern suburbs of Wellington,
drawing strength from one another to grow and become fully alive as missionary disciples.
 

HOLY TRINITY PARISH MASS - 10AM SUNDAY 27th May
AT ST PATRICK’S CHURCH
We will be celebrating Holy Trinity Sunday Mass together at St Patrick’s Church. 
For those who are unable to be at this Mass,
there will be the 5.30pm Vigil Mass at St Patrick’s Church.
There will be a shared lunch in the hall following Mass to celebrate our Parish feast day and to celebrate 25 years of religious life for Fr Ephrem.
 Please bring a plate of food to share and leave in the meeting room.
Please note: These will be the only 2 Masses in the Parish on the 27th May  

Prayer for Christian Unity
As people of the new covenant, sealed in the blood of your Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ, we turn to you, O God, for renewed strength to more faithfully
Witness the unity of your family.
We seek the healing touch of your mercy, O Loving God, glorious in your power,
that we might walk with greater trust the way of peace.
Help us to put aside the differences that do not matter, while honouring
the diversity that blesses your all-embracing love.
Move us forward, hand in hand, that your covenant of peace might be the cause of unity for your people and the whole world.
In the name of Jesus, who prayed that all might be one.              Amen.

Fr Ephrem would like to formalise a prayer chain in our Parish. If you would like to be involved in this ministry, please contact the parish office with your contact details and Fr Ephrem will be in contact with you. This prayer chain will pray for the needs of our parish including those who are unwell and in most need of our prayers. The best way we can offer our service is in prayer, so this ministry is suited to all parishioners including those who are home bound and wondering in what ways they can be of service to our parish as this will be individuals and family groups praying in their own homes. We have many requests that come to our priests and it would be good to have a group to help with this.

Pentecost Sunday (20th May) the Sunday 7pm Mass at the Cathedral is the annual Mass to welcome new Catholics to the Archdiocese. All are encouraged to accompany to the Cathedral those who were baptized or received into the Church at Easter.

Change of Venue Vinnies Foodbank Appeal.  St Vincent de Paul Society advises because of major construction work at Pak 'N Save Supermarket Kilbirnie, the six-monthly Foodbank Appeal on Saturday 26 May 2018, 11am-6pm, is kindly being hosted by COUNTDOWN SUPERMARKET KILBIRNIE.   Parishioners are warmly invited to shop on Sat 26 May at Countdown Supermarket Kilbirnie and donate food and toiletry items to the collectors from our parish in the foyer off the back carpark.  Contact is Brendan Quirk, Seatoun & Miramar Conference, ph 3889708.

A plea for warm bedding. St Vincent de Paul Society Seatoun & Miramar Conference is assisting two large families in desperate need of blankets, duvet inners, sheets and pillow cases in good, clean condition, single and queen sizes.  If you can help, please contact Brendan Quirk, ph 388 9708.

Parish Registration forms are available at the back of the churches. If any of your details change or you haven’t yet registered with the parish, please fill in a form and put in the collection basket or email to the parish office. The form is also available to download on the parish website www.holytrinity.parish.nz

HOUSING SOUGHT FOR REFUGEE FAMILIES: Rental housing is needed urgently for two Wellington families: a family of eight and a family of six.  Both are in temporary living situations right now, while a number of agencies are urgently seeking permanent homes for them.  Can you help find an affordable rental home?  Please contact l.beech@wn-catholicsocialservices.org.nz if you can assist.

Go, you are sent… to deepen your bicultural relationship.   Outcome (5c) The Archdiocese captures the shared story of our history

Publications for purchase: Tui Motu $7  NZ Catholic $4
Please note: there is no longer a box for this money at the back of St Patrick’s Church. This will now have to be put into the collection basket. There will be zip lock bags next to the publications that you can put your money in and into the collection basket.

Holy Hour You are invited to a Holy Hour on Tuesday 22 May beginning at 7.30 pm in the Cathedral chapel to pray for vocations to priesthood and consecrated life.  This Holy Hour will include prayers, Scripture, times of silence, singing and conclude with Benediction followed by supper.  All are welcome.

Teaching Night @ St Anne’s Hall, Emmett Street, Newtown. Hosted by Catholic Charismatic Renewal Wed 23rd May at 7:30pm. Speakers: Rainer Hensel & Michael Powell Theme: The Gift of Discernment. Evening includes Praise & Worship, group discussion and fellowship.  Everyone is welcome!

Life in the Spirit Seminar This seminar will be conducted at the Church of Sts Peter and Paul, Lower Hutt on seven consecutive Tues evenings 5 June - 17 July except for the 4th week which will be on Mon 25 June. Do you want to encounter Jesus on a deeper level? Come and be blessed.  information on the poster on the notice board.

Cancer Society VOLUNTEER DRIVERS NEEDED Transport to Cancer Treatment Volunteers needed with their own car and full licence to drive people to and from treatment appointments. If you want to make a real difference in your community, become part of our wonderful Volunteer Driving team for the Cancer Society Wellington. CONTACT Moana Uerata Jennings on 04 389 0050 or volunteering@cancersoc.org.nz. See noticeboard for further details.

WANTED! New or barely used, quality shoes of all shapes and sizes including children's shoes for our BIG shoe sale to be held in June (info to follow in later bulletin).  As well as raising the funds we need to purchase a new organ or keyboard this is a community service project to provide quality shoes at a huge discount to those who cannot afford to buy good shoes at full retail prices.  If you can help, please call Monica on 567 8267 or email her at devinesofwaterloo@gmail.com.  We can pick up or alternatively shoes can be dropped off in a specially marked box in the foyer of St Peter and Paul's church whenever it is open.  Thank you in advance for your support!

Soup Kitchen 2018 Street Appeal. For the last 117 years thanks to the generosity and goodwill of the people, the Compassion Soup Kitchen has been able to serve a hot meal to vulnerable people in our community with no questions asked. This year we invite you to join us in helping to maintain the services we currently offer at the Soup Kitchen, and to help build and develop new projects that will give those we serve a sense of purpose and a place to call home. Look out for our amazing team of Soup Kitchen volunteers that will be stationed all around Wellington on Friday 25th May. Any donation will be greatly appreciated, as every little bit counts. Donate online at https://compassion.org.nz/support-us/donate/.

The Sisters of Compassion and the Catholic Parish of Wellington South invite you to celebrate the 183rd anniversary of Suzanne Aubert’s birthday.  Mass will be celebrated at 6pm on Tuesday 19 June 2018 at St Anne’s Church, Newtown.  Hospitality will follow in the church hall following mass.

Burying a Poet: A photographic exhibition of the tangihanga of James K Baxter on display at the Suzanne Aubert Heritage Centre from 1 June. Open Mon-Sat 10am-3pm | Sun 12noon-3pm. Email: heritagecentre@compassion.org or Ph. 04 282 1953.

The May 20 – June 2 issue of NZ Catholic is out now. Some headlines are: Private NZ screenings of Paul movie. Christians in Science tackle ultimate questions. Communion issues for inter-church couples. Call for courage at seminary Mass. The next issue of NZ Catholic will be published on June 3.

Barista Role at the Home of Compassion Our Lady’s Home of Compassion has a paid barista position available. Hospitality is an important part of this role. Hours are 10am – 3pm Wednesday to Saturday; 12pm – 3pm Sunday. We are open to splitting this to a weekday/weekend role for the right applicant. Please email islandbay@compassion.org.nz if you are interested.

The Fernie organ at St Mary of the Angels On Friday, 15 June 2018 at 7:30 PM there will be a pre-launch at St Mary of the Angels of a book about the design and building of the Fernie organ situated in that church. It is a fascinating insight into how the organ came to be built and the thought and ingenuity which was behind its construction.  At 8pm, Chris Hainsworth, a former pupil of Maxwell Fernie and currently the titulaire at Béziers Cathedral, will give a recital of French music selected to demonstrate the versatility of the instrument. You are very welcome to attend this important event.

Orpheus Choir of Wellington. Durufle Requiem The concert is at 7.30pm on Saturday 26th May at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul.  Doors open at 6.30pm and tickets (priced $30 / $15) can be obtained from Ticketek ( http://ticketek.co.nz/) or at the door. The concert's programme features the Te Deum by Dvorak and Durufle's Requiem, the latter the first NZ performance in its full orchestral version.  The concert is presented in collaboration with the New Zealand School of Music Orchestra and our acclaimed soloists are Jenny Wollerman (soprano) and James Clayton (baritone).

​We pray for the members of our Parish families who have died recently including Fr Brian Austin and those whose anniversaries occur around this time including Margaret Walsh, Michael Lavan, Agnes Ashby, Gerard Cook, Danny Ryan, Catherine Dobbs and Sr Regina Dobbs.  Our prayers are also with those who are unwell especially John Rogers, Graeme Adams and Steve Kuzmicich and for the wonderful people who are caring for the everyday needs of the sick in our Community.