CPoN ‘PEARLA OF A NIGHT’ CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF PFG’S IN NZ
E toru nga mea There are 3 things
Nga mea nunui That are most important
E ki ana It is stated
Te Paipera In the Bible
Whakapono Faith
Tumanako Hope
Ko te nui The most important
Ko te aroha Is love
And so began the welcome to our anniversary Mass held at St Patrick’s church on 13 October involving all 3 worshipping communities of the Napier parish – St Mary’s Taradale, St Thomas More Onekawa and St Patrick’s,Napier.
How blessed we were to have a new parish priest backing the Movement and preaching from the pulpit how important being community is.
During the procession of the gifts a basket with a loaf of bread, bottle of wine, thermos and knives & forks was taken up to represent group gatherings since 1991 involving food.
There have not been many parish-wide celebratory events over the past 5 years following the ‘amalgamation’ of our parish communities so the 30thAnniversary of the Movement provided the perfect excuse to pull us together. Tell people tickets are limited and there is likely to be a flurry of activity – as was the case for this event!
The evening was called ‘A Pearla of a Night’ to acknowledge pearl as the ‘30th’ anniversary stone. People were encouraged to wear pearls or dress as if they were!
Careful preparation and a great turn out of helpers saw us seat 130 people into the parish centre with room for the stage to be folded out to allow for our musical trio “Men in Black”. Once the pot-luck meal was finished we only had to fold down one table and there was a dance floor all ready to go!!
Our band played music from the 50’s, 60’s & 70’s and yes, people did indeed get up and dance. The atmosphere was wonderful and how lucky were we to have Lynn & Rob Hill attend. Family group members are the fortunate ones to benefit from their faithfulness and hard work in setting up and promoting this Movement in New Zealand.
Congratulations on 30 years of Passionist Family Groups in New Zealand.
Norma Bellamy
27 years involvement with Family Group Movement
Napier
