Parish Pastoral Council Election - AUGUST 2020
|
So that parishioners can make informed decisions about who should be nominated and voted for in the election held during this coming August, here are the current members of the PPC.
Retiring:
Remaining:
|
|
Those standing for PCNomination forms are on the table in the foyer, and close on Monday July 27th, 2020.
Download this form here.
Please write your name on the top of the voting paper and select up to 4 candidates by ticking the box next to their name. The voting box will be available to post your votes into after each mass (6 pm Saturday vigil, Sunday 9 am and 10:30 am) on the weekend of the 15th/16th of August. Voting closes on Sunday 16th of August at 12 pm.
Download this form here.
Please write your name on the top of the voting paper and select up to 4 candidates by ticking the box next to their name. The voting box will be available to post your votes into after each mass (6 pm Saturday vigil, Sunday 9 am and 10:30 am) on the weekend of the 15th/16th of August. Voting closes on Sunday 16th of August at 12 pm.
| ppc_election_form_2020.pdf |
Photo and Bio of Those Standing for PCC
|
My name is Rachel Cameron and I have been a member of St Joseph's Upper Hutt Parish for most of my life. I wish to contribute my skills and energy to helping the parish continue to grow and develop as the wonderful, supportive, Catholic community of faith and love I have always found it to be. I have been an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teacher for 20 years and taught at St Joseph's School briefly. I believe this has given me an empathy for others and good communication and interpersonal skills. I was the Secretary of the Maria Assumpta Parish Council in Beach Haven,
Auckland for two years, so I have a good understanding of how to contribute to our Parish Council. |
Nga Te Kuri
53 Years |
My name is Angelique Gordon-Stables and am a candidate for Parish Pastoral Council 2020. First and foremost is to represent all of the members of this parish and the wider community. I intend to further enhance, previous work done by the outgoing councilors and encourage unity and community spirit within the parish.
Through a process of spiritual examination, I made an empowered decision to surrender to our Lord and to join the Catholic Church and was Baptised here at St Joseph’s Upper Hutt in 2019. Although I am completely new to the parish and the Catholic Church, I can only share my enthusiasm for learning about every aspect of the church and gladly take up this life long journey. I have been fortunate throughout my life, given a loving childhood, achieved academic success, worked in careers that interested me, raised a family, and married 27 years. Like everyone else, there have been challenges, some of these I have handled with grace. The most rewarding challenges are those that I have struggled with. I had to learn, and understand many of my own faults before understanding how to help someone else. 1 Corinthians 10:13 reassured me during these times and I am for ever grateful. As a semi-retired business owner, my biggest challenge was to find a worthy cause, where I could offer my time, management skills, procedures, and policy development. Although I can and often work independently, it is having the opportunity to work with other councilors, to build and nurture our Christian community, while offering support for the Parish Priests. Effective communication skills, project management, and analytical skills are essential elements that I have gathered over many years of teaching, coaching, and mentoring. Leadership
|
|
I am Ben Leitch, husband of Rachel and father of 6 children. We moved to Upper Hutt 18 months ago and enjoy being part of the St Joseph’s community.
I believe in the Truths of the Catholic Faith, the completeness it contains and the blessing of having three priests within this Parish to proclaim the faith and serve our community. I also believe we all have a role of service and profession of our Faith. I would work on the parish council to ensure that all we do, puts God first. That we maintain a strong visual and faith presence in the centre of our city and that our fellow citizens would see us a people with hope and answers to their concerns and worries. Crises like COVID provide opportunities to show God at work in our love for our neighbour. We need to take these chances to reach out, not withdraw. Thank you. |
DINY O’KANE
(pronounced Dee-Knee) |
My name is Diny O’Kane. I have been a parishioner of this parish all my life. I was baptized in the old St Joseph’s Church, attended St Joseph’s School and then Sacred Heart College. I am married to a loving and supportive husband, Bill, who is also a cradle Catholic. God has blessed us with six beautiful children (two are still at home) and one granddaughter. Following in the footsteps of the Holy Family and Our Blessed Mother, I dedicated my life to being a stay at home Mum raising our children and nurturing them in the faith. They were all brought up and educated in this parish and at our local Catholic schools.
I grew up with immigrant parents adapting to a new life in a new country and I could not speak English until I attended school. Being raised in a Dutch family and living in Aotearoa, New Zealand, immersed me in both cultures. I was also richly blessed by living with a Tongan family for a year, while doing voluntary service, teaching in a Catholic School in Tonga. This gave me a deep insight into a completely different culture. Following this, I worked in a bank; in accounts and in credit control before becoming a fulltime mother. I have excellent budgeting and organisational skills. I taught and coordinated Children’s Liturgy for many years; and have been a member of a Passionist Family group for 29 years. I am conscientious, reliable and trustworthy. Furthermore, I am prudent in my decision making and when helping others. As a reserved person, I discern and stand up quietly for what is right. If it is God’s will that I am elected, this will mean responding to my baptismal call to participate in the church’s mission and the life of our parish more fully. Being familiar with the parish’s past and as a member of the Parish Pastoral Council, I will assist our Priests in the responsibility of leading our parish forward to the best of my ability. I will also be able to help implement the parish’s plan by drawing on my life experiences and my God given gifts. I will listen and be open to other points of view, be respectful, committed and use my talents to help bring about our Parish’s vision. |
|
My name is Josephine Bourke, and I have lived in the Parish for more than twenty-five years. For much of that time, I have been involved in the music ministry, along with my husband Denis. I also have long experience in the areas of education and music and have been part of the Liturgy Committee for some time.
Founded on the ‘..Christian values of faith, hope, love and service..’, and keeping in mind the requirement for mission in the Church, I believe that we should celebrate our achievements and prepare for renewal with an enhanced commitment to prayer and spiritual outreach. Our Parish is blessed with a number of organisations that base their work on these principles, although it appears that their successes are not always fully known to the wider Church community. It would be good to see these more fully highlighted, so that prayers may be offered to their continued success. As far as the Parish Plan is concerned, there are many challenges involved, but as Cardinal Dew noted, ‘..in time a way will be found to deal with these..’. Perhaps the first step would be to consider the current financial situation of our Parish, and work on improving this so that we can fully cover our weekly costs. At the same time, expanding our prayer outreach might be a useful approach. I believe that my qualifications and experience in management, music, adult education and religious studies would allow me to contribute to the next stage of Parish development, which is likely to include (as noted in the Parish Plan):
|
|
My name is Kristina Lambert-Vickers and I have been a part of St Joseph’s parish for my whole life, this parish is so special to me as my husband was confirmed into the Catholic faith at our church and both my children were baptised at the convent chapel. I attend St Joseph’s school and my eldest son is currently attending the school. My grandparents (Teresa and John McDonald) have been active members of our parish for many years and I hoping to follow in their footsteps by being on the Parish council. I am currently a member of the Wellington Eucharistic convention committee and involved with FOSS (Friends of St Joseph’s School).
\We have a very special church here in Upper Hutt, it is at the centre of city and I like to think that this represents how our parish and faith sits at the centre of our lives. There is so much opportunity to do some wonderful work for those in our parish and local community who need extra helping hand or need spiritual healing or guidance. And I am so excited to this as being a part of the plan for our parish. |
|
My name is Mary Meo and I have been a parishioner of St Joseph's
for 13yrs. If elected, I would like to be part of a Parish Council which works on professionally scoping and then authorising a complete refurbishment of the Presbytery. I am also keen to see the spirituality of our parish grow by using such means as e.g. annual missions, visiting speakers, adoration, parish novenas etc. |
|
My name is Phil Griffiths and my vision for St Joseph parish is that St Joseph’s Parish will play a more vibrant role in the community. I believe as Catholics, we are called to be the light on the hill. As the Church founded by Jesus Christ, and being blessed with the presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist, we not only should be, but can be, the vibrant, nurturing and loving community that we are called to be. I am looking forward to the opportunity to serve this parish. I have been an active member of the parish since I moved here about 5 years ago. I have had the honour of serving St Joseph’s in various ways, currently being a Proclaimer of the Word, Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist, catechist for the RCIA team run by Fr Connors. I am also a member and strong believer in both the Legion of Mary and the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart. I still actively look to deepen my relationship with Jesus, my Saviour, and His Church. I actively follow Catholic national and international news, as well as reading and watching both educational and devotional books about our Faith.
I am a qualified life coach and CBT practitioner, as well as having had formal training in sales, sales management, project management, database administration, computer hardware and business administration. My teen years were spent on a variety of jobs, including market gardening, railway workshop and circus hand. My professional career started in my early 20s, in retails, working up to retail management and training. As a retail tutor, I was also called in to tutor basic computing skills, which led to time spent as tutor up to 1st year polytechnic level and further training in both software and hardware. For the last 20 years, I have been involved in account management, staff training, sales training, telesales, mostly in the areas of printing and signage. The Parish Review has now been approved by Cardinal John and provides an excellent plan for moving forward. The plan many good ideas and suggestions. Our first priority is to build the spiritual and communal life of the parish, both individually and as a parish. I think that this has become a priority since the Covid-19 lockdown. In talking to many parishioners, I have noted that feelings of isolation, loneliness and abandonment were felt especially our elderly and disabled. We need to build our community so that we are ready if a similar situation arises again. The parish review had some good ideas for this. Developing our Faith as a parish is an important starting point. The Parish Review, as well as the 2016 parish council guidelines issued by Cardinal John, provide some good suggestions. The Eucharist and sacraments must remain central I believe a balanced combination of new ideas and traditional practices will help our parish growth as well as our outreach to Catholics who are no longer attending Mass. I would love to hear your views also. And if you have any questions, would like to know what I think on a particular issue, would like to meet me or would prefer to read my full resume before making a decision, please do not hesitate to contact me. My phone is 9747481 or cellphone 0221085302 or email me on phil.t.griffiths@gmail.com You can also catch up with me on FaceBook. |
|
My name is Rachel James-Leitch.
When I am discerning who to vote for in these circumstances, I want to know about a person’s relationship with Jesus and whether they listen to His voice in their life decisions. A tough ask and probably not one we should be making a personal judgement on regards others. But I’m saying this because I believe it is not just about our personal skill set but more importantly our willingness to listen to and follow what Jesus wants for His people here in our parish. God will provide all that we need for the task, and more, if we are following His will. But for those who do want to know more about me: my family and I have been faithful parishioners in various parishes across 3 dioceses. I am very happy to now call St Joseph’s home. I have mainly served in the areas of children’s and youth ministry, adult catechesis, prayer and liturgy groups. But my life’s vocation is being a wife, mother, and teacher, and to fulfil these roles I need to call upon my Lord daily for his wisdom, sustaining love and mercy. |
|
My name is Remy Harris and I am a devout catholic from an Indian tradition. I come from many generations of Catholics in Kerala, India. I have been with St. Joseph’s parish community for thirteen years now. I hold catholic values and practice Catholicism each day through a combination of daily prayer and Mass. To me, Christianity is not just a religion but truth and life. Being a follower of Christ, I endeavor to live my life in a loving, caring, sharing and giving manor. I would like to offer my time and talents to the Church all whilst balancing my commitments to family, work and community. I would feel very privileged to work with the St. Joseph Church parish priest and community to contribute to its day-to-day operations and growth.
|
|
My name is Wendy Hill, founder of Greenstone Doors Charitable Trust Counsellor and Social Worker; Retreat Coordinator for Rachel’s Vineyard Retreats. Wendy had been working in the field of pregnancy counselling and support for many years before setting up Greenstone Doors Charitable Trust, which “supports women and their whānau through pregnancy and into a future with hope”.
Through her work with grief and loss and as a mother of seven and grandmother of 19, she is well familiar with the challenges families face. New to the Parish of St Joseph’s she is keen to contribute to the life of the Church. In all she does, Wendy draws deeply from the rich and practical spirituality of her Catholic faith. |