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OOPS! – APOLOGY
“ARE YOU IN THIS PAGE” LISTED WRONGLY IN NEWSLETTER
In the Parish Newsletter for Sunday 1 March, the Centenary News section is incorrect in saying that the pictures of young people have been posted to this website. Because of possible privacy issues, it was decided to simply display the pics on a board in the foyer of St Josephs Church, as below:
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THIS IS THE YEAR OF OUR PARISH CENTENARY –
IT STARTED ON 19 MARCH, THE FEAST OF ST JOSEPH
This year we are marking the 100th birthday of St Joseph’s Parish!
After a preparatory novena of Masses, the first official event was the Centenary Mass celebrated at St Joseph’s, Takapuna on the evening of 19 March, the feast of our patronal Saint. The celebrant was Auckland Bishop, Patrick Dunn, whose summary of the parish history included reference to his own service as a curate at St Joseph’s for five years from 1980’s.
For the Centenary Mass, the statue of St Joseph, holding the Christ child was moved from its grotto near the entrance, to the altar to the right of the lectern.
In this picture, Parish Priest, Monsignor David Tonks, is thanking Bishop Pat (seated behind in mitre) and other priests who had served the parish for their presence and participation. In his homily, Bishop Pat said the Church has been involved with the land on which the church stands for 173 years, having been bought in 1846 by Bishop Pompallier from a William Bellingham.
The whole Mass has been recorded on video, which is now available for viewing and downloading directly from this hyperlink: <https://player.vimeo.com/video/325576884>
THIS WEEK’S CENTENARY NEWS IN THE
PARISH NEWSLETTER
(Each week in the printed Parish Newsletter, on page 3, there will be an up-date of Centenary news and events).
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ARE YOU IN THIS PICTURE?
This photograph taken in 1982 at St Patrick’s Cathedral of candidates for confirmation includes a number of St Joseph’s Takapuna parishioners. If you can identify yourself, please phone Terry Dunleavy (0274 836688) to discuss the possibility recording for inclusion in our Centennial Booklet your recollections of our parish at that time.
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OUR PARISH NOW HAS A PAPAL BLESSING
Thanks to the efforts of Monsignor David Tonks, acting promptly on the wishes of the Centenary Committee, the three churches that comprise our Parish have received from Pope Francis a Papal Blessing (see image below) to mark our Centenary.
The original has been framed, and features at the right just on the side wall just inside the front entrance from the foyer to the church proper.
terry (2)____________________________________________________
Parishioners Email Database:
For ease and speed of communication to parishioners, we’d like to assemble an Email Database for each Catholic household in the parish. Please email your family name, street address, phone number and email address to Morna at: stjosephtakapuna@xtra.co.nz
We absolutely guarantee that these details will be confidential to the Parish Office and will not be used for anything other than notification of Parish events.
In addition, in the near future, once a new Parish digital data programme has been installed, we will arrange at all Sunday Masses on a date to be decided for paper forms to be distributed to collect email data.
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WANT TO PRAY TO OUR PATRON SAINT?
The statue of St Joseph has its own grotto, just inside the Takapuna Church, to the left as you enter.
CENTENARY PRAYER TO ST JOSEPH
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TELLING THE WORLD WE ARE 100
Large signs telling passers-by that our Parish is 100 years old have been erected at St Joseph’s (above), St Luke’s Bayswater (immediately below), and at St Vincent De Paul, Milford (at bottom).
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A HISTORY OF ST JOSEPH’S PARISH, TAKAPUNA – 1
What’s posted here is the first of documents we have been able to find that relate to the history of our parish. The original document has been converted to a PDF format, and pages can be followed by clicking the downward-pointing arrow at the bottom left.
St.J. Morgan2A HISTORY OF ST JOSEPH’S PARISH, TAKAPUNA – 2
Here is another brief history of our parish (author unknown) but seems to be factual:
EARLY HISTORY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL, MILFORD
Here is an early history if St Vincent De Paul Church, Milford, written many years ago by long-time Milford parishioner, the late Ken Miles. We hope that a current attender at St Vincent De Paul will help us bring this account up to date.
st.VdeP history
Past Parish Priests
This pdf file contains a list of priests who have served at St Joseph’s Parish since its inception:
St.J Past Priests
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HAPPY CELEBRATION OF 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF ORDINATION OF FATHER CHRIS BRADY
A well-attended Mass at St Joseph’s Takapuna marked the 30th anniversary of the ordination of Father Christopher Brady. It was also the official observation by the Church of the feast of Saint Patrick (17 March having fallen on a Sunday). Among the celebrants was Bishop Denis Browne, who ordained Father Chris in 1989. Seen above after Mass (from left): Fr Rafael Lobo, Fr Robert O’Brien, Fr Chris, Bishop Browne, Monsignor David Tonks.
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LET US HAVE YOUR MEMORIES AND PHOTOS
Parishioners will have their own memories of their associations with St Joseph’s Parish, and the many priests who have served us so well over the years. If you want to share these memories, and are willing to include them in the official record of our Centenary Year, please email them, in the first instance, to:
If anyone has photographs of past personalities or events, if you are able to scan them and email to Terry, please do so; otherwise if you lend them to Terry for a day or two, he will scan and return the originals to you.