Catholic Parish of Whanganui

Happy Christmas and New Year

Holiday Mass Timetable January 2022

No Bookings Required

Sunday Mass
Holy Family 5:30pm (Sat Vigil)—Vaccine Pass (Unlimited)
St Mary’s 9:30am—Vaccine Pass (Unlimited)
St Anne’s 4:00pm—No Pass Required (50 Limit)
St Anne’s 5:30pm—No Pass Required (50 Limit)

Weekday Mass—Mon, Tue, Wed, Thru, Fri & Sat
St Mary’s 9:00am (Mon 27 Dec— Sat 29 Jan) -- No Vaccine Pass Required (50 Limit)
(One daily Mass for the city at our central location)

Reconciliation (Rite I)
St Mary’s 8:30am—Friday & Saturday

The Parish Office will reopen Monday 17 January 2022

UPDATED: Saturday 1 January 2022
(All information will be posted here as soon as it comes to hand )

Vaccine Pass Entry to Some Masses

Masses from Thursday 30 Dec - ORANGE

Weekday Masses will be vaccine pass free (50 Limit)

Sunday Masses reduce to:
Holy Family 5:30pm Sat Vigil—Vac’ Pass (Unlimited)
St Mary's 9:30am Sun—Vac’ Pass (Unlimited)
St Anne's 4:00pm Sun—No Pass Required (50 Limit)
5:30pm Sun—No Pass Required (50 Limit)

Please remember when entering our churches to:

Show vaccine pass when requested (only at vaccine pass events)
Use the QR Code or manually sign in
Sanities Hands
Wear a face covering (requested)

Welcome - Nau Mai. Haere Mai.

We are glad you have found us and are wanting to know more about what happens here in the Catholic Parish.

Please feel free to browse the webpages and make use of the downloadable free resources provided here.

If you have any queries not answered here you can contact us by phone or email through the contact information provided at the bottom of each page.

Photo: Hāto Hōhepa (St Joseph's Catholic Church)
Hiruhārama (Jerusalem)

Sunday 21 March 2021 Whanganui Parish Pilgrimage to Hiruhārama (Jerusalem)

Parish Calendar

Download the Booklet to Participate

Participant Booklet

Synod Questionnaire

PN Diocese Synod Site - How to Take Part

The previous deadline of 30 November 2021 has been extended and submissions can now be made up until 31 March 2022.

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT TO THE DIOCESE - SYNOD 2021/2023

On 7 March 2020, Pope Francis announced a synod “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission”. In May 2021, the Synodal process was changed into a three-year journey for every diocese worldwide, culminating in Rome in 2023. Pope Francis wants everyone to participate. He wants to hear the voice of all the baptised, especially those whose voices are seldom heard.

Our diocese hasn’t had a Synod before, so this is new territory for us. With the blessing of Cardinal John Dew, the Archdiocese of Wellington have offered to share their experience with us to help us in our process. Right now, we are in the process of creating a team to plan and lead our diocesan synod. They will be responsible for resourcing parish communities, for promoting the synod and for encouraging participation. Finally, they will bring our submissions together into a single document. Everyone is invited to make a submission.

The synodal process is both a global and local experience. Pope Francis is addressing the whole world and we want to do our very best to respond and involve as many people as possible. Given the expansiveness and importance of this project, I think we need to give of our best, including making use of our best people. In my experience, good consultation demands everyone’s input, right from the outset. So, please give some prayerful thought about how we can all best approach this project to give us the best results. In this case the widest and most comprehensive feedback to share with our bishops and lay people who will meet with Pope Francis in 2023.

Ehara taku toa, i te toa takitahi,ēngari e toa takitini.
My success is not mine alone, it is ours
The greatest success we will have is from working together.

Where to from here?

Please look at the official website https://www.synod.va/en.html Don’t be put off by the church language; the team will address this issue.

October 2021 - The Synod process will begin with an Opening Mass on Sunday 17 October at 6.00pm Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Palmerston North. Everyone is welcome to attend. On that day each parish will mark the beginning of the Synod celebrate at Sunday Eucharist.

November 2021 - The consultation process will begin in each parish. More information will follow about this from the organising team.

January 2011 - We will hold a pre-synodal meeting with representatives from across the diocese. The details will follow later this year.

Lastly, and most importantly, this work of creating a synodal church will only bear fruit if we make it a prayerful experience and open ourselves to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. One of the documents we have received so far encourages the use of an adaptation of a prayer (Adsumus Sancte Spiritus) that was used at each of the Vatican II sessions and various Synods since then.

Fr Craig Butler
Local Administrator

SYNOD 2021 - 2023 PRAYER

We stand before You, Holy Spirit,
as we gather together in Your name.

With You alone to guide us,
make Yourself at home in our hearts;

Teach us the way we must go
and how we are to pursue it.

We are weak and sinful;
do not let us promote disorder.
Do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path
nor partiality influence our actions.

Let us find in You our unity
so that we may journey together to eternal life
and not stray from the way of truth
and what is right.

All this we ask of You,
who are at work in every place and time,
in the communion of the Father and the Son, forever and ever. Amen

Vatican Synod Website

Cardinal Dew's Homily Notes for the Opening of the Synod

From Cardinal Dew: In his words to the Diocese of Rome on 18th September, Pope Francis said, “I came here to encourage you to take this synodal process seriously and to tell you that the Holy Spirit needs you. It is true: the Holy Spirit needs us. Listen to him by listening to each other. Leave no one behind or excluded. It will be good for the Diocese of Rome and for the whole Church, which is not strengthened simply by reforming structures (that is the great illusion!) or by giving instructions, offering retreats and conferences, by issuing guidelines and programmes. All those things are good, but as part of something else, namely our rediscovery that we are a people meant to walk together, with one another and with all humanity. A people that, here in Rome, embraces a wide variety of communities and situations: an extraordinary treasure, in all its complexity! However, we need to pass beyond the 3 or 4 percent that are closest to us, to broaden our range and to listen to others; at times they may insult or dismiss you, but we need to hear what they are thinking, without trying to impose our own concerns: let the Spirit speak to us.”

Rededication of Aotearoa New Zealand
to Mary, Mother of God, Assumed into Heaven15 August 2021 to 15 August 2022

Te Ara a Maria

This Commissioned Artwork is now on tour around NZ. Information will be posted here soon regarding it's visit and veneration in the Catholic Parish of Whanganui which will take place in the first half of 2022

Te Ara a Maria Website

For those unable to get to Mass, please feel free to access daily Mass below from St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney

Lived Streamed Sunday and Weekday Masses
St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney

Click to Visit the Cathedral YouTube Chanel

Present & Past Newsletters

Parish Newsletters

NB: If you do not receive a confirmation email, you will need to resubmit this form, but please do check your email address is correctly typed before submitting.

Parish Picnic 2021

Want to know more about what the Catholic Church believes on any topic today? Have a read of the Catechism of the Church and the Q&A style Compendium.

If you would like to learn more about the Catholic faith and how to become a member of the Church, we would love to hear from you.