LEAD UP TO VOCATION WEEK
30th April 2023 was the 4th Sunday in Easter, also known as Good Shepherd Sunday. The World Day of Prayer for Vocations also fell on this day, and has done for many years. Jesus gave himself so that we might live, a good Shepherd who reminds us, we too are called for a Vocation within the Church. Whether that is priesthood or religious, marriage or single life - God has a particular calling for all of us.
Around this date we reached out to a few people in our diocese to ask them about their vocation and how the Lord let them to it. Read stories below
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2nd May 2023
Most of us probably know Bishop Michael, today we hear from his Dad, Henk Gielen, a Deacon at the Parish of All Saints by the Sea. From growing up in a devout Catholic household to his role as a Grandfather, settle in to read a beautiful testimony from a man who has answered both the call to marriage and diaconate.
Deacon Henk, can you tell us a little about your journey into the Catholic Church? Were both of your parents Catholic, did you attend Catholic or secular education? My parents were both Catholic, I was born in the province of Limborgh. The fourth child of eight siblings. My parents moved to NZ in 1951, I was one so just a baby when I moved. The family settled in a small coal mining village west of Huntly called Pukimera. It was there that the formative years of my Catholic faith were planted.
My dad was a devout man and practised his faith religiously, we had rosary every night and mass on Sundays. My dad had a deep devotion to Mary, when we would say the rosary at night the atmosphere would change and there would be a sense of the Holy Spirit come in to the room. I could always sense the Holy Spirit in my dad. To this day when I say a few hail mary’s that same presence comes without fail and this is a precious gift that I received from my dad through his Catholic faith. I went to Huntly Catholic school (St Anthony’s) and a secular high school (Huntly College).
Whether it's ourselves, spouses, our children or our grandkids, we all know a 'cradle' Catholic who stepped away from the faith at some time, did you ever experience a time like this yourself? In our early married life, Maureen and I drifted from the catholic faith. There was not a moment in where we could say why other than busy life and me wanting to follow my desire to be a farmer and giving it everything that I had. Hard work and fast paced, not enough time for our Lord, the Lord and us separated company as it were and he did not have an important role in our life anymore.
Over several years, we had built up our heard 50/50 sharemilking with 300 cows which was a lot back then. Then we had a crisis in our working life and things changed. I remember the day that one of our brothers came to visit and he mentioned to me, “you should have a bible in your house, do you have a bible?” and I said “no I don’t”. I spoke to Maureen that evening that maybe we should have a bible in our house, the next day to my surprise when I came in from milking there was a big bible on the table, Maureen had gone and bought it straight away - what a beautiful woman and she still supports me to this day.
It just sat there for a time as I was busy with my life and then one day I sat down and read a small piece of the bible, I only read the New Testament the Gospels. The words that Jesus spoke in that bible were written red and they were the only words I would read. It was as if Jesus was speaking to me directly.
From the day I picked that bible up in 1979 I have read a little scripture each day without fail. Some days Jesus surprises me with how he answers my thoughts and prayers with his scriptures. This Jesus speaking through his word has had a profound effect on my life. As I read the scriptures daily, I began to see that my life was off track and my life did not mirror the life that the scriptures proclaimed. I was living for my own gratification and Jesus spoke of living for him and for others not my own ambitions but for his love and loving his people.
Do you think it was this moment you felt God calling you or was it still a slow journey back to the Church? This reading scripture every day turned my life and that of my families upside down. It was like a rebirth a new season for us a reason to live for and a mission in God. God has a plan and purpose for each of us and through this I was just finding mine. I turned my life around and repented. I was a new man in Christ from chasing my ambitions and self-gratification to coming closer to Christ and making sacrifices to live for him.
Life was not so much about me but living for others, of course dying to ourselves which Christ calls us to is a slow process where I wanted to be Christ-like but felt myself continuing to fall into old ways and old habits. However, I was certain of Christ’s love for me, it has kept calling me regardless of and despite my many weaknesses.
Once I found Christ I wished to share my new love of Christ with my family. Michael my son was coming up eight years old, Shawn was seven and Rachel three, my little family did not know what had hit them. From absolutely no belief or mention of God to Jesus becoming the centre of our family life.
You have six children and 15 grandchildren (all pictured below) most of whom we see at Mass every Sunday, you also have a son who is now a Bishop and a daughter who is Leader of Learning for RE at a local highschool. Clearly our Lord was and still is at the heart and centre of your family, what advice would you have for young families now while raising their children? I really believed in having a Catholic wife and so when I was searching for a wife I looked for a woman who was Catholic. On our first date together Maureen and myself spoke about God in great length. At the time Maureen was a CCD teacher (one of the leaders in the sacramental programme). We were married and a couple of years later God graced us with our 6 children. Michael had a vocation to become a priest and the rest of our children followed the vocation of marriage. They all have children 3 each, these children range from 7 months to 23 years old.
There were family prayers in our house each night, mass on Friday evening followed by fish’n’chips and most importantly mass every Sunday. Jesus was the centre of our young families life and in all important matters and decisions we would pray as a family and seek direction form the Holy Spirit and everyone was a part of it. No voice was too little or no child was too young to hear the holy spirit.
My goal in bringing up family was to make sure each child knew Jesus in a personal way. So in their own unique way they could feel the love of Chirst and know him personally. I have an expectation of the Holy Spirit that it will guide my children in a way that they can feel it as I did as a child with my Dad.
Now my job is focussed on helping my Grandchildren to know God in a personal way whether it is teaching them songs or praying with them and asking my older grandchildren about how their relationship with God is and if they are going to church. My children make a joke about how it doesn’t matter how old you get, your not too old to be asked “did you go to church this weekend?”. I also ask my grandchildren “have you been saying your family prayers?” and the little grandchildren will come and tell me “Opa mum hasn’t been saying family prayers” then I will tell the parents say your prayers tonight with so and so please. The Grandchildren love it and off they go home to say their family prayers.
Tell us about your call to the Diaconate, was it something that you heard very loudly being called to do or was it a slow continual prompt that you had to spend a lot of time discerning. Can you tell us about sharing your news with family and friends. My call to the Diaconate, was a gentle and persistent call, as I tried to follow Christ, Jesus is my dearest and best friend. I want to draw ever closer to him and when we do this he will ask things of us. This has happened in my life, it can be letting go of material things and even people as he lead me by his Holy Spirit. The Lord would ask little tasks of me and little sacrifices to make and as I worked with the Lord each day he drew me even deeper into himself.
I remember asking my wife Maureen what she thought of me being a Deacon, at the time she was not sure, so I left that decision for a few years, Maureen wasn’t ready. After a few years Maureen came to me and said if I was serious that she would support me 100%. Being a deacon was not a decision I could make on my own, my wife and my children were a part of this process we prayed as a family and I also asked for their blessing as a part of my discernment and then there is the community of God and the Bishop the decision can not be based on me alone. I was ordained a Deacon on the 15th April 2005 which means I have been a Deacon for 18 years.
Lastly, as a parishioner who is blessed to hear many of your homilies, the Holy Spirit just flows out from you with every word to spread among the people. Other than serving the Lord by assisting at daily Masses, can you tell us a little about your personal prayer time I have a devotion to our Lady and consider her as my mother, I find our Mary is kind to me and always there for me. To put it simply I belong to a small intimate family. Mary, Joseph and Jesus, also Michael the Archangel is dear to me.
I started by reading the bible reading what God was saying through the scriptures. Then I joined a small prayer group where I met with like-minded people where I was able to worship with others and learn more about my faith.
Now I pray every morning before getting out of bed this entails, reading the scriptures of the church for the day and reflecting on them. At night when I go to bed I always hold the rosary beads in my hand so when I awake the first thought is to pray. I hold rosary beads in my pocket and whenever I feel them I remember to pray. I try in my prayer life to have a living relationship with Jesus even though I also do the set prayers each day. I know now it is about going to God all day and speak to him as I go. I try to attend mass at least four times a week and the Lord is never far from any activity I do. I still go to a small prayer group each week with like minded people and intercede for others to come to know Christ. When my family is in crisis we will get together and pray for the intentions of that particular person.
28th April 2023
Meet the Heeney Family from the Parish of All Saints by the Sea
Colin and Jill met through Colin’s cousin, and after becoming good friends and attending events together such as Hearts of Flame, married 16 years ago. Jill was from a large family and always felt called to marriage. Colin spent some years in the seminary before realising the call to the vocation of marriage was stronger. After leaving the seminary, some time later he reconnected with Jill who had just returned from missionary work overseas. The rest as they say is history …. but to fill you in …. After marriage prep in the Auckland Diocese they entered into the Sacrament of Marriage, it has been a fruitful time since being blessed with 7 children.
After being gifted 5 of their own children, with the grace of having an openness to life, they were called to permanently foster a 6th child. This involved plenty of prayer time as a couple as well as with their older children. Not long later God blessed them with their 7th child - the baby of the family.
I asked what they non negotiables are for their prayer family time.
Obviously grace every night as they sit to eat but I loved hearing about their evening prayer time. Night prayer consists of a roster system, every child has a day of the week leading family night prayer - 7 children works perfectly for 7 days in a week! This consists of intentions for family and friends especially, but also any intentions for those around us. Prayers will also consist of an Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Angel of God and/or St Michael the Archangel prayer.
Colin and Jill pray the rosary daily, whether together or apart. A recent trip with them to the Tyburn monastery, I learnt that the rosary is also prayed on long car rides. Each row of their very full van, especially when there are extras too, will lead a decade. They also pray Novenas on a regular basis.
Both from very loving Catholic homes themselves, I was interested to know what they felt was perhaps the difference in raising a family now compared to their own time growing up. Colin very quickly answered with a response of time pressure, we do seem to be a more rushed society these days. Also the conflicting voices our kids are faced with in the secular world today, in the past, even if people weren't Catholic, society in general was more aligned with Christianity as a whole. Jill also added the logistics of being a family of 9, all with different interests and extracurricular activities was a challenge!
Colin and Jill are big on the importance and the Graces gained from being involved in their local parish where a lot of their friends are also based, this leads to being able to socialise with ‘like minded’ families. They have attended many Family Camp Weekends organised by the Hamilton diocese.
Colin is also on the children liturgy roster as well as meeting with a weekly men's group. Both are on the morning tea roster for the weekly hospitality following Sunday Mass. Jill has recently started up a very successful mothers prayer group who meet twice a month to pray for our children/grandchildren.
Being part of Teams of Our Lady marriage group, they meet monthly with other Catholic married couples helps to strengthen their marriage even further. From the Teams website - “ Belonging to ‘Teams’ opens up a whole new world for communication between husband and wife, and with other like-minded couples”
They both encourage their children to be actively involved in Church ministry as well, with the boys Altar serving and the girls singing. The older kids attend the Parish Youth Group on a Friday.
St Joseph, Pray for us and our Families
27th April 2023
Part Two with Fr Rico!! Following on from our very popular post last night, I wanted to share a little segment about Fr Rico. Thank you for sharing with us Father! May God continue to bless you in your ministry.
In his own words :
I celebrated my 25th Sacerdotal anniversary last year and my ordination is 31st July.
I had been brought up in a catholic household but not that active in the parish at least in my growing up. My mother became active in the parish and in church organization gradually as I grew up until I entered the seminary. I did not think of priesthood up until I joined a summer work camp (youth christian leadership summer work camp). After the work camp I began to be active in the parish until finally I decided to enter the seminary but did not have yet that resolve to be a priest.
Priesthood was a developing and on going discernment in the seminary until I seriously decided to be a priest when I proceeded to study in the theological seminary. I had been assigned to various assignments in my home archdiocese, archdiocese of davao---parish and archdiocesan assignments.
Nonetheless, in the Diocese of Hamilton, New Zealand I had been assigned in Tauranga, Opotiki and at present in Te Awamutu (taking residence in Te Kuiti). I have been in New Zealand for almost five years now.
26th April 2023
This recent photo of Fr Rico was taken by our lovely Dianne in the schools office, at her local Church, St Mary of the Sacred Heart Parish Church Ōtorohanga. We dug this interview out of the archives as Fr Rico talks about our calling to be missionaries
Today’s Gospel from St Mark (his feast day was moved from yesterday because of Anzac day) finishes with the following below, we are all asked to share the Good word! Fr Rico captures this perfectly!
𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙨, 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢, 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙪𝙥 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣: 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙂𝙤𝙙 𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮, 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙪𝙩, 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩.
25th April 2023
St. John Berchmans, patron of altar servers, pray for us.
A calling for a Priestly Vocation, whilst coming from God, still has to have a willing ear to listen and answer. What better place than close to the Altar during the most Holy Mass for discernment, even it's just planting that seed for 20 years time. Please always keep our Altar servers in your prayers, pray for more of our youth to join this ministry. It's not always easy for them to stand up in front of their peers and serve the Lord, but the graces they receive from doing so, keeps them coming back week after week. Whether it's Priesthood or married life they are called for, we pray they answer the call to their true vocations.
Photos by : Parish of All Saints by the Sea
24th April 2023
Today’s entry is easy, it was already written for us thanks to SunLive the Bay's news first. It follows recently ordained Fr Adam, currently assistant Priest at Parish of St Thomas Aquinas, Tauranga Moana.
Fr Adam's article was spread over two weeks, you can read them here
Week 1 : https://www.sunlive.co.nz/.../316566-a-quandary...
Week 2 : https://www.sunlive.co.nz/.../317016-the-day-god-gave...
Photo credit : CDH pastoral team, Fr Adams ordination 2022