Bishop to install Parish Priest

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 1, Issue 41, 3 April 1984, Page 2

Bishop to install Parish Priest

Father Neal Wilson of St Joseph's Catholic Church in Ohakune is to be formally installed as Parish Priest by Bishop Peter Cullinane at the Maungarongo Marae next Sunday. The Maori people of the area will present Father Wilson as their Missioner to the Bishop. Father Wilson will be the the third parish priest so presented ... Father Brian Condon and Father Gordon Kerins were both Maori missioners and parish priests before him and both were installed at similar ceremonies on the marae. The ceremony is a formal confirmation of the ap-

pointment which Father Wilson took up when he returned to Ohakune at the end of January.

He had previously served as assistant parish priest in Ohakune from 1981 to 1982 when Father Kerins was here. He then spent a year away at Mt Albert in Auckland before returning to Ohakune to take up his new appointment. Because it has become the practice for the members of the Maungarongo Marae to host celebrants of mass on the marae every second Sunday of the month, this ceremony will be performed there rather than in St Joseph's Church. This will give Bishop Cullinane, who is from Palmerston North, an opportunity to meet with all his parishioners. Other people and friends who wish to attend and observe the ceremony will also be very welcome on the marae. The ceremony begins at 9.30am with a traditional Maori welcome followed by an open-air mass.