From our Bishop - December 2025
As we draw near to the close of this extraordinary year of Jubilee, our hearts cannot help but lift in praise for the abundance of grace we have received. What a holy and hope-filled year it has been. As Catholics, we stand within a sacred lineage of remembrance and thanksgiving. Our Lord’s birth we are soon to celebrate reminds us that God enters history to redeem, restore, and renew. In that same spirit of jubilee, we pause to give thanks once more for the moments through which the Lord has revealed His presence in the life of our diocese throughout this blessed year.
In late January, in communion with the Church throughout the world, I opened the Jubilee Year for our diocese in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral. Throughout the year, many groups celebrated Jubilee Masses, both there and elsewhere. Many pilgrims journeyed
to our designated pilgrimage sites. As part of this year of pilgrimage, we re-established the Eucharistic procession on the Feast of Corpus Christi around our Pro-Cathedral.
This year’s Lenten season was a truly blessed period of spiritual preparation. It was an honour to welcome 67 individuals, who were either baptised or received into full communion with the Catholic Church at Easter. The desire of adults to join our Church, known as a new spring time of faith, is a growing experience shared by Catholic communities around the world.
At our first Catholic Business Network lunch of the year, we heard from Peter de Keratry, a globally respected leader in Catholic fundraising and development, to begin planning for the campaign to rebuild the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. Many left inspired to think not just about the big, public moments of generosity, but the quiet, daily choices to give, lead, and love.
Around 200 people participated in the Lenten journey of Fiat and Exodus, where groups of women and men throughout the diocese took up a guided spiritual journey of penance and prayer. In April, around 130 women gathered in Marian College for a special retreat, centred on the Jubilee Year theme of Hope. Around 90 of our men did likewise later in the year.
Unforgettably, on Easter Monday, the world seemed to stop as Pope Francis was called to his eternal rest, and millions around the globe joined in witness for his requiem. With hope and great joy, we welcomed Pope Leo XIV. May his mission be blessed, may his heart be strengthened and may the whole Church walk with him.
Jubilate is our diocesan sacred music programme and is now in its tenth year. Late May saw the first of this year’s seven concerts, bringing 900 singers and an audience of around 2,000 together in song.
In the middle of the year, in the same spirit of HOPE we announced that Warren and Mahoney, one of the country’s leading architectural firms, will design the new Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and its surrounding precinct. I am confident that they will walk with us in building a worthy house of worship, to glorify God and to welcome His people. It will be a place where heaven and earth meet.
In late June, over 120 young people from throughout the diocese gathered for Revolution 2025, the Catholic Youth Team’s junior Youth Camp. The last Sunday in July saw more than 200 young people, leaders and families from throughout the Diocese, gather in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral and City Church for the Jubilee Festival for Young People. In September, 115 campers between the ages of 13 and 18, converged on Woodend for Antioch. These encounters with Christ are so important for our young people.
In early July, a vocations retreat was held for men discerning the call to priesthood. This is something very close to my heart and I am encouraged by the interest being shown in God’s call to discern this vocation. Please pray for the our seven seminarians as they seek God’s will in their lives.
We were blessed to join with Cardinal John Dew for A Night at the Conclave in early August. More than 650 gathered in the James Hay Theatre to participate in an evening of rare insight and reflection. Cardinal Dew’s presentation was informative and inspiring, leaving people with a deeper understanding of the conclave and a renewed appreciation for the faith, service and humanity underpinning the election of a Pope.
August was a very busy time of year as around 190 people gathered in Temuka for our second annual Diocesan Prayer Conference, which offered beautiful moments of prayer and reflection and a lot of conversation.
Pilgrimage is at the heart of a Jubilee year. In September, a day-long local pilgrimage from Christchurch to Akaroa took place, recalling the arrival of Bishop Pompallier there, seeding the Church in this part of the world. In late October, I was glad to join thirty Catholics from our region on a 6-day diocesan pilgrimage to Northland, to sacred places at the foundation of the Catholic faith in New Zealand, more about this later in Inform.
On 1 November, the Church recognised St John Henry Newman as the 38th Doctor of the Church, a title reserved for a select few, whose lives and writings are proclaimed as especially worthy of study and devotion. I have always liked his hymn, “Lead, Kindly Light” which features as a suggested hymn for the Night Prayer of the Church in English speaking countries. This additional honour bestowed on St Henry Newman is significant for the English speaking world as, prior to his conversion to Catholicism, he was and remains revered by the Anglican Communion, as a leading theologian of the Oxford Movement. I am the Catholic bishops’ representative on the Anglican Roman Catholic Commission of Aotearoa New Zealand and am grateful that the Church’s further recognition of him is another point of unity between ourselves and the Anglican Communion.
After a period of consultation, the Te Rangimarie Maori Catholic chaplaincy accepted my invitation to relocate to the new cathedral precinct. Earlier this month, the chaplaincy moved its liturgical home to St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral where they will remain until our cathedral is built. Their chaplain, Fr Monty Bamford has written more about this later in these pages.
Earlier in December, Catholic Social Services moved to a new location. After over 60 years of operations, they have joined the other agencies of the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch at 391 Moorhouse Avenue.
As we conclude this Jubilee year, I invite you to join with me
in giving thanks for all we have received. The many events, gatherings, and milestones we have shared are all signs of God’s enduring presence among us, encouraging us to trust, to unite, and to never lose hope. My prayer is that this same spirit continues to inspire us as we look to the future, trusting in God’s providence.
May the joy and peace of this holy season fill your hearts and homes. Wishing you and your loved ones a blessed and hope-filled Christmas.
Yours in Christ
+ Michael Gielen
Bishop of Christchurch
