January 17, 2010

Friday


I had Confessions and Mass at the Cathedral and it was a blast. Muriella was a powerhouse sacristan who was very directive appropriately and kindly. She set me up for the sacramental ministry in no time. She is very efficient. At the end of Mass many people came up to me because they had always heard of Jesuits and wanted to have one minister to them in New Zealand. Their style of liturgy, though Roman and much like ours, made a lot of sense. They had such a reverence to the liturgy that represented the people. While they respected the rubrics, they were not too concerned about the GIRM as the Americans. It was a Mass with a lot of lay participation at all levels. After all, liturgy means “the work of the people.” The ICEL bishops who may attention to the wording of the liturgy in the English language were having their annual meeting at New Zealand. They came for Mass on Friday morning.

I walked to the Museum on New Zealand today in the large domain (park.) The Museum showed the history and culture of the people, including the colonizers, the Maori, and other newer immigrants. In 50 years, the white New Zealanders will become a minority. The public art across the city and the park is fascinating. It speaks well of the civic pride of the people. Folks seem to enjoy Auckland the life in New Zealand. They realize they are a small nation, but they contribute greatly to the world events. They pride themselves on being peacekeepers in the hot spots of the world.

Dinner with Msgr. David Tonks and Sr. Colleen was quite nice. We met Bishop Patrick Dunn, who is a very compassionate and pastoral bishop. He has a nice comfortable presence about him. We toured the Bishop’s house and the chancery offices and went out to eat at a place called GPH. It was quite good. I had a pizza with lamb sausage and Mediterranean vegetables.

Saturday

I slept poorly last night because I knew I had to arise early to go on my trip. I did not have an alarm clock and my body clock is way off. I awake myself at 3 a.m. these days. I boarded a bus headed for Rotorua, which is a tourist area in the central part of the north island. It took three hours to drive there. The country is much larger than one would believe and it is a fascinating landscape. I could easily adjust to life here, as many people do. It is an immigration hotspot.

We stopped for coffee in Matamata at a place called Ronny’s. They café was huge and loaded with meals and desserts. Apparently, they sell every last piece of food in the store each day. It is reasonably priced. We dropped a Swedish girl off at Hobbiton, where the Lord of the Rings was filmed. Peter Jackson is there filming two new movies, but he won’t let on what they are about. A statue of Golum is in the center of town.

The land is so picturesque. It is a little brown from the lack of significant rain, but it is still extremely green. This is the nation’s dairy land. It is the densest dairy producer in the world. Its exports are mainly to China and Japan. There’s lots of horsebreeding there, but there are over 30 million sheep in a country that has 4.3 million people of which 1.5 are in Auckland alone.

When we approach Rotorua, we saw the commercialization, especially with extreme sports like Bungee jumping derived sports and rolling down the hill in a Zorb, which is a large inflated ball that contains a person that is nested inside another large inflated ball. This Zorb runs down the hill with the person inside. We think we saw the backside of a 250 pound wild pig in the lush bush that leads up to the Rainbow Club where we toured some wildlife. We saw lots of rainbow trout, which grow quite large, and Kiwis, though they are nocturnal flightless birds. After that, we went to the thermal springs and geysers and watched shows about the Maori heritage. The photos tell a better story than my words so I’ll let you look at those pictures. The bus driver, Andy, was so kind and he loved telling me all about the country, especially the special relationship with the Aussies. He is a fascinating man, but sadly he lost his wife to an aneurism 14 years ago and he still mourns his loss. Bianca, from Germany, picked up to live here without knowing a soul a year ago. She has a great vibrant spirit. She took a long drive to the caves to see glow-worms on the ceiling. She thought it was nice but too much money for too long of a drive. Two girls from Korea came down for holiday. They went to a sheep shearing show that they did not care for that much. Oh, the colors of the green landscape is invigorating.

We had an uneventful ride home and it was quite a pleasant day. Then I had to update my blog, which was difficult to do as I’m on the road. Cheers!

Oh, yes, it goofs me up to know that the American SuperBowl is on Monday, February 8th. Also the daylight stays around until after 9 p.m. This is certainly an outdoor culture.