sabbatical summary

Sep 30, 2024

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Later this year I will enter my fortieth year as a priest and the confluence of several factors in recent years seemed to suggest that the time was right to take a time of evaluation, reflection and direction-setting for the future, in short, I felt a need for a few months of Sabbatical leave.

I wrote to my bishop, Bishop Michael Gielen with my request and I am grateful to him for his support and encouragement.

I was serious about using this opportunity well. As many readers know the cost of weeks overseas is not insignificant and intensive sabbatical courses are expensive (one highly regarded three-month course costs $40,000 + travel) so a bit of picking and choosing with careful planning and juggling was needed, with often difficult choices between what I wanted to do, what I could afford to do, and what would be most beneficial for Food For Faith and my other ministries into the future.

In a FFF post a few days before I left New Zealand I had highlighted my concern that the vast majority of baptised Christians in our land have no regular contact with their church community. The stats for Catholics indicate that only ten percent of those baptised are currently feeling connected. The Catholic NZ news agency CATHNEWS picked up my concern and my focus headlining their feature on my sabbatical “Disconnected Catholics – an Opportunity”.  I liked that and this phrase stayed with me throughout my sabbatical months.

April & May –  Iowa USA

I left New Zealand at Easter flying directly to Iowa USA where a good friend is a Parish Priest and a little house on a lake was offered. So for April and May I lived alone Monday to Friday lakeside and helped with Sunday Masses through the Easter and Pentecost weeks.

These weeks were the most relaxing of the five months with days spent reading, walking, and the unexpected joy of receiving and collating the contributions to my Fifth Gospel Living project. Now I have received the final proof copy of the collection which will be published in the next few weeks. Watch this space for info on where to get your copy of Fifth Gospel Living.

During the Iowa weeks I also enjoyed a couple of Theology in the Pub sessions – one named “Ponderings in the Pub” and the other “Thirsty Souls”. Great gatherings of enthusiastic people over good food and drink.

Finding the pulse – proof that we are being held in love by God.

Early June – Balquidder Scotland

My sister Kathryn lives in Edinburgh with her husband and two late-teen children. It was great to see them and to enjoy their wonderful company. One unexpected highlight of those days was a little trip Kathryn and I took to some family roots recently discovered during some ancestry research. We travelled to Balquidder, an hour from Edinburgh, and visited the church (now only ruins remaining) where my Greatx6 Grandparents were married on 21 January 1795.

This place is a sacred place, known as a Thin Place – where heaven and earth intersect – and where St Angus visited from Ireland (7thcent) bringing Christianity to the area.

June – August. Assisi and the North of Italy.

It was a great joy to have the opportunity to live with a Franciscan community in Assisi for six weeks. This community was generous in their welcome and warm in their hospitality and friendship. – a home of ten friars in the heart of Assisi, about half way between the basilica of St. Francis and the town square, Piazza del Commune. Each week-day I attended an Italian language school and made some good progress with my language studies. Food For Faith has a significant following in Italy and my language skills need to improve to keep up the regular communications.

A couple of years ago I met an enclosed Augustinian community of nuns in Venice, last year giving a two-day retreat, and happily responding to another request for their annual eight-day retreat this year. The monastery is home to a parish community for daily Mass which I offered. I’m not too sure if the parishioners understood my pigeon Italian homilies!

I spent the month of August once again with the community of Fidenza in the north of Italy. Over the past fifteen years I have been greatly blessed by their friendship and inspiration, often joining a gathering of 350 people of all ages, families and friends, for a week-long vacation in the far north of Italy, days spent over slow food and walks, games, daily prayer and Mass with shared experience of Christ.

The annual week-long Rimini Meeting (subtitled “for Friendship among People). This year the gathering of three-quarters of a million peoplve over the week was “If we are not after the essence then what are we after”. This week was filled with lectures and exhibitions, and a daily highlight was the many catch-ups with coffee and beer and food.

The Vacation of the Fidenza Community


Over the next few months moments and memories of these months will pop up in FFF reflections. The experience of these months was more than I could have hoped for and i am grateful to all who made it possible.

 

2 Comments

  1. God is gracious and good. These memories are precious. Tx for sharing.

    Reply
  2. Sounds like a really great sabbatical. A good mix of prayer, people, relaxation, scenery and memory making. Look forward to insights gained and an answer to the disconnect in our churches.

    Reply

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