Happenings In New Zealand

On Friday 19th February 2016 most of the Sisters of the New Zealand communities gathered in Tauranga to mark the 75th Anniversary of Cluny Sisters presence in New Zealand. We also have the privilege of all council members of the province present for the 1st provincial council meeting. The celebration was held on Saturday 20th February. It began with a thanksgiving liturgy in the chapel followed by a PowerPoint presentation. This enabled the sisters to share memories of their experiences over the years. After afternoon tea we all gathered at the Catholic Cemetery in 18th Avenue to remember and pray for our deceased Sisters who are buried there. Nineteen sisters rest in peace in this place. We thank God for their lives and for their service to the Province and the mission.

Hooray!!! At long last we have managed to establish a wonderful group of vibrant women to join us as Cluny Associates. We have had three successful gatherings to initiate them to be part of our mission. The first gathering saw us with 11 interested ladies. Today the number has increased to 15 ladies. They are from the Parish of St Thomas Aquinas. Four of the members are from the St Mary’s School staff. They all have a great love for the Sisters and the work of the Province. They are of different ages and cultural backgrounds.
We are very blessed to have them wishing to commit themselves to our Cluny way of life and mission. We celebrated together the feast of St Joseph which they organised themselves. It was significant for them and they thoroughly enjoyed it. They are still sharing their experience of being part of the Cluny charism.
Our hope as community is to involve the expertise of these women in ways to help us with the running of our Retreat Centre. The ladies are also very keen to support us in any of our mission works. We feel very blest to have such a wonderful group of women willing to walk with us.