Newcomer already familiar

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 4, Issue 45, 28 April 1987, Page 11

Newcomer already familiar

Father Michael Leonard Tomasi is a newcomer to the Waimarino and to St Joseph's Catholic Church in Ohakune, but he is already a familiar face to many residents. Father Tomasi began his studies of the Priesthood in 1948 at Mount St Mary's Green Meadows, Hawkes Bay after completing his schooling at St Bede's College in Christchurch. He was ordained as a Priest in 1 954 and taught at St Bede's for one term before moving on to Hato Paora College in Feilding. He was a teacher at the college from 1955-1971, with a two-year break while at St Patrick's College in Wellington. In 1971 he was appointed Superiorand Novice Master to the Marist Father's Novitiate in Palmerston North and was there until 1981 when he was appointed Rector and Superior of the Seminary at Mount St Mary's in Hawkes Bay. Father Tomasi's most recent appointment is curate at St Joseph's Catholic Church in Ohakune, the position left vacant by Father Bernie Vella earlier this year.

Father Tomasi will be assisting Father McCormack in administering to the spiritual needs of the Catholics of the Waimarino and also offering assistance to those people who ask it, not restricting help to the Catholic faith alone. Father Tomasi's initial aim is to visit the homes of all parishioners registered with St Joseph's and says he is looking forward to becoming involved with the community.

Father Tomasi's training for the Priesthood took place before the implementing of Vatican II, a movement instigated by Pope John 23 in 1959. Vatican II was a council led by the Pope, made up of Bishops and Cardinals and theological advisors from around the world with the aim of updating the Catholic Church to bring it into line with the modern thinking and approaches of the time.