St Peter and Paul, Lower Hutt, were one of the early parishes in New Zealand to adopt the Passionist Family Group Movement. It is still going strong and in July 2010 celebrated 20 years of building community within the parish.
On the first weekend of July 2010, PFG members took a leading part in all Parish Masses. Members were Greeters, Leaders, Readers, Eucharistic Ministers and took up the Offertory. The regular music was supplemented with power point presentations that had been used at previous Formation Days, including the song” Shoulders”, which was accompanied by a collection of photos from the last 20years. At the start of each Mass, the new PFG parish Banner was presented and hung on the front of the lectern.
Throughout the month of July, the PFG painting was also on display in the church, and there was a special display in the Foyer featuring the PFG Logo and “the Aims and Goals of the Movement”. Each Family Group also displayed photos in the Foyer.
A Parish Dance was hosted by PFG on the last weekend of July in Lower Hutt’s Horticultural Hall. It was open to all parishioners and was attended by about 200 people. Many people contributed to the success of the evening. Live music was provided by the band “No Strings Attached”, which comprised several musicians from the parish. A celebration cake was made and iced by parishioners and many people helped on the day with the setting up, door duties and cleaning up afterwards. A commemorative booklet was produced in which there was an article from each Family Group as well as letters of congratulations from the Parish Council and our National PFG Leadership. Sponsorship in the booklet was obtained, to help keep the cost of the function to parishioners, down.