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Canterbury Formation Weekend – Pudding Hill 18-20 March 2005

Eighty people from the Canterbury and Nelson regions gathered at Pudding Hill near Methven the weekend before Easter for their annual Passionist Family Group Movement formation weekend. Twelve parishes from Timaru in the south to Nelson in the north were represented.

The weekend was to have been led by Fr. Peter Kennedy CP, but due to his mother’s illness and eventual death Fr. Brian Traynor CP stepped into the helm at short notice. He traveled across from Sydney especially for the weekend despite having been in Christchurch a few weeks earlier for the commissioning of South Island directors, Murray and Aileen Straight who also participated in the Pudding Hill weekend.

This years theme of “The Potter”, the One who moulds us, led to some very creative endeavors in clay by both young and older participants. But the exercise that produced the most fun and tears of laughter was the cricket ball on the horizontal board routine which graphically demonstrated the tensions that can develop in a family group. All of the family group leaders present could identify with what was being played out in front of them and the following discussion on how to avoid or resolve such tensions was illuminating for all.

The weekend concluded with a Palm Sunday procession followed by celebration of the Eucharist and a special thank you to Fr. Brian for his unstinting commitment the PFGM Canterbury region and for his creative input into this years programme which was adjudged by some Pudding Hill participants as one of the best in the last twelve years.