Pastor

Dear Everyone,

My formal farewell from among you takes place just after the 9.00am Mass this morning. I am truly grateful to my Our Lady Star of the Sea parish family who have accompanied me over these past nearly nine years. It seems to me to be singularly appropriate to conclude my service among you on All Souls Day, straight after All Saints Day. My special gratitude goes to the leadership groups within the Parish that quietly and effectively steered us through the years: I am particularly thinking of our Parish Leadership Committee, our Parish Finance Committee, and the Youth Core Group. And too many to mention individually are the many volunteers who serve the Parish in assisting in countless ways. I also owe a deep debt of gratitude to Parish Secretary Linda Van Heerden and Parish Finance Officer Diana Mascarenhas who have been the "front face" of the parish so effectively all these years.

We have been blessed indeed to have Father Terry among us all this time and it is good that he is remaining on and I am sure he will be a great support to Father Robert as he starts his time here. Thank you Fr Terry for your faithful witness and generosity.

Next Sunday I am honoured with a mihi whakatau as parish leaders and parishioners from here bring me over to Christ the King Parish in Owairaka to formally hand me over just before their 10.00am Mass that morning. Informally I will have been in residence for a few days getting the house in order and will celebrate the Friday morning 10.00am Mass there on Friday 7^th November.

We celebrate two great feast days of the Church this weekend – the Communion of Saints on Saturday (All Saints' Day) and the community of all the Faithful Departed who have gone before us on Sunday (All Souls' Day). One day we will all become members of the Faithful Departed and we hope here on earth and in Heaven to become saints as well. A "saint" after all is a "friend of God" and that's why we ask them to pray for us and that's also why we pray for the happy repose of the souls of all our loved ones who have gone before us. It is hard to leave family and friends isn't it? But that sense of loss is made up for by the generous welcome I have already from parishioners at Christ the King, Owairaka. I ask pardon lastly of any here in beautiful Howick parish whom I may have hurt or offended in any way over the years.

Pray for me as I shall for you.

Loving and upholding you all from here.

Father John