Catholic Diocese of Hamilton, NZ

07/09/2026

What does justice actually ask of us?

As we begin Social Justice Week, for some, yesterday’s homily offered a reminder that social justice begins with something even more fundamental than the causes we champion: the dignity of the human person.

Every human being is created in the image and likeness of God. From that dignity flow both our human rights and our responsibilities towards one another.

Pa John reflected on people who, in very different times and circumstances, challenged society to recognise that dignity: Michael Joseph Savage, Martin Luther King Jr, Mahatma Gandhi and St Teresa of Calcutta to name a few. Ultimately, it is Christ Himself who gives us the measure:

“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Social justice is not only about what we believe is right. It asks something of us: to respond with justice, courage and love — in our personal choices, our communities and the structures of society. The way we treat the most vulnerable reveals how seriously we take the dignity of every person.

06/09/2026

Happy Father’s Day!!! Love to see our communities celebrating together and getting the grandkids involved too!

“Saint Matthew’s Parish turned Father’s Day into a sizzling celebration after Sunday Mass, treating parishioners of all ages to a festive barbecue alongside their usual morning tea and coffee.

Powered by the Jubilee BBQ Trailer from the Hamilton Catholic Diocese Pastoral Services Team, volunteers cooked up a complete sellout, leaving not a single sausage behind. Event organizers praised the trailer for making operations seamless, highlighting the event as a perfect example of parish community spirit in action.”

Thanks to Mike Baird for sending this in.

31/08/2026

🌿 Today we mark the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. 🌿

“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” Isaiah 2:4

These words from the prophet Isaiah open Pope Leo XIV’s message for this year’s World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, as he invites us to contemplate the gift of life, cherish the earth that sustains us, and recognise the deep connection between peace and care for creation.

Today also marks the beginning of the Season of Creation, the annual ecumenical celebration of prayer and action for our common home, running from 1 September to 4 October. This year’s theme is Living Waters.

We take time to revisit Wonder Beneath the Surface: The Ocean, Responsibility and Our Shared Home, from our latest Kete Kōrero.

Marine scientist, ocean photographer and videographer Bella Muir takes us beneath the surface, sharing the extraordinary beauty of our oceans and reminding us of our responsibility to care for them.

🌊 "The ocean’s future is our future.” To read more from Bella, swipe across or read at www.cdh.org.nz/kete-korero

If you love these incredible underwater photographs as much as we do, follow Bella on Instagram for more of her photography and adventures beneath the surface.

Read Pope Leo XIV’s message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation:
https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/messages/creation/documents/20260815-messaggio-giornata-curacreato.html

30/08/2026

Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace.

Our hearts are heavy as we remember Sister Pauline Leonard CNZM, who passed away in Wellington over the weekend.

Sister Pauline led our school as principal for 14 years, guiding its growth and leaving a legacy we still see today in our Creative Arts Centre. In 2003, she was made a Companion of the NZ Order of Merit for her decades of service to education.

Our thoughts are with her RNDM sisters, family and all who knew her. E te whaea, moe mai rā. ❤

28/08/2026

A little bit of exciting news to bring home from Christchurch! 🎉

Kete Kōrero, our diocesan magazine, received two awards at the Australasian Catholic Press Association Awards last night for the publishing year of 2025.

Winner – Best Original Artwork for God Given Gifts.

Highly Commended – Best Content: Cultural Expressions for A celebration of unity, faith and hope, which captured some of the beautiful moments from our Jubilee celebration for Pentecost at Saint Mary of the Cross Mackillop, Rotorua last year.

Kete Kōrero is about capturing something of the life of our Church as it is being lived right here in our Diocese. The people, stories, faith, cultures and moments that make up our Catholic community, ultimately (hopefully) bringing us closer to Him.

Every edition is a collective effort, so a huge thank you to everyone who shares their stories and contributes to our Kete. It was pretty special to see some of that work recognised alongside some major Catholic publications from across Australia and New Zealand.

Please send your submissions to [email protected]. Don't forget too - we have the new feature "By the well" where we answer one of your questions.

27/08/2026

A pretty special guest speaker for tonight’s ACPA Awards Dinner in Christchurch and one we can ‘claim’ as one of our own! Frank Ritchie was received into the Catholic Church this Easter, in the Catholic Diocese of Hamilton, after many years as a Wesleyan Methodist minister.

Frank shared some extraordinary stories from his work as a broadcaster and as founder of Media Chaplaincy New Zealand, including accompanying journalists in the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque attacks.

He reminded us Catholic communicators to not shy away from what makes our work distinctly Catholic: People, he said, are craving to have their humanity spoken to. In a world constantly telling people who they should be, what they should want and where they fit, we have something different to offer: the conviction that every person is created in the image and likeness of God and is worthy of dignity and respect. If you’re writing about the faith, show why this faith is worth picking up. Show why it’s worth exploring.

Coming from someone who has only just found his way home to the Catholic Church himself, that landed rather beautifully.

Great to have you with us tonight, Frank …. and welcome home.

27/08/2026

What would St Thomas Aquinas do?

A brilliant session this morning at the Australasian Catholic Press Association conference, with James Bergin exploring AI, ethics and what all of this means for those working in Catholic communications.

Rather than simply asking “can we use AI for this?”, James challenged us to ask “should we?” and to think carefully about the purpose behind the technology we use.

His VOICE framework gave us a good takeaway that is easy to remember:

Verify – sources, facts and intent
Orient – away from sensationalism and towards Christ
Innovate – for the new evangelisation
Challenge – encourage critical and creative thinking
Encourage – be weavers of hope

There was plenty of acknowledgement of the risks: bias, misinformation, deepfakes, privacy and the temptation to value efficiency above everything else but also some extraordinary examples of AI being used for good: in medicine, accessibility, disaster response and more.

Technology can be an incredible tool, the question is what we choose to do with it.

25/08/2026

What does it mean to be there for someone when you can’t change what is happening?

In the latest edition of Kete Kōrero, one of our on-call hospital chaplains shares a glimpse into this often unseen ministry. From answering the phone, walking into the unknown, praying with families, and simply staying alongside people in some of the hardest moments of their lives. It is a ministry of presence, compassion and accompaniment for those who are frightened, grieving or facing the unknown.

Read The Ministry of Presence in the latest Kete Kōrero, available in parishes and online.

www.cdh.org.nz/kete-korero

Please keep all of our hospital and prison chaplains, priests and all those who respond when called, as well as those they accompany in your prayers.

22/08/2026

At this point, two Sundays in a row, our page is starting to look suspiciously like the Diocese of Christchurch. 😆

Last Sunday we shared Bishop Michael’s homily while he was visiting our Diocese. This Sunday, we’ve crossed diocesan lines ourselves, and after hearing Fr Monty’s homily at Mass at the Pro-Cathedral in Christchurch this morning, this one was simply too good not to share.

He began with a line from a theologian writing more than 100 years ago:

“Jesus preached the Kingdom, and what emerged was the Church.”

It raises a fair question — why do we need the Church? Why priests, sacraments, structures and rituals? Why can’t we simply follow Jesus, pray to God ourselves and leave it at that?

Fr Monty brought it back to something beautifully Catholic: people matter, places matter and physical things matter.

God chooses to communicate his life to us through tangible things — through people, water, oil, bread and w**e — and through his Church.

He shared the story of a missionary priest who would travel four or five hours to celebrate Mass with a remote community in Africa. They gathered under a tree, a tree stump became the altar, water and w**e were scarce and when the bishop came for Confirmation, even the chrism had to be carefully rationed.

So much about how they celebrated looked different, but the essentials remained — priest, confession, Eucharist, Confirmation and community.

The Church can adapt to different times, places and cultures, but what Christ gave us remains. The circumstances might change; where we gather, what the altar looks like, how plentiful the w**e or oil might be, but the sacramental signs themselves aren’t things we simply invented. They are part of the tangible, embodied way Christ chose to meet us

“People matter, places matter, physical things matter.”

God meets us through them, and through the Church Christ gave us. When we remain faithful to what Christ gave us, while adapting what can be changed, we remain faithful to Jesus and to the Church he founded. Where what is bound and loosed on earth is bound and loosed in heaven.

21/08/2026

One of the stories featured in the latest Kete Kōrero comes from the Parish of The Holy Family- Morrinsville, Te Aroha & Paeroa where the Holy Family Youth Group in Morrinsville transformed their parish hall into The Upper Room. They invited senior parishioners to be their guests for an evening of dinner, dessert, music and fellowship.

Lovely to see young people and older parishioners gathering around a table, sharing stories and building community. Let us know if you have hosted something similar in your parish.

📖 Read Grace Madsen's story in the latest Kete Kōrero, available in parishes and online.