{"id":4900,"date":"2015-09-14T21:51:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-14T21:51:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2023-05-10T23:34:35","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T23:34:35","slug":"out-of-the-winter-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/2015\/09\/14\/out-of-the-winter-silence\/","title":{"rendered":"Out of the Winter Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nThe solemn and fog-like silence that has settled over the Wanganui
\ncommunity through the bleak winter months may have lead some of our readers to
\nimagine that the sisters in New Zealand had decided to hibernate during this
\ncold season. Though it was tempting, this has not been the case. Our
\ntaciturnity has been more due to over<\/i>-action
\nthan in<\/i>action. We have been as busy
\nas\u2026summer bees\u2026in winter! But now that the long-awaited holidays are here, we
\nhave time to take a leisurely look back over the past season and recount for
\nyou some of its main events.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe first month of winter was fairly uneventful; that is, it
\ncertainly held events like mid-year examinations, piles of marking, mounds of
\nreport writing and torrents of inquiries from the pupils as to whether or not
\nthey had passed \u2013 but these are all standard events. We were proud to see some
\nof the pupils who had put in their best during the first half of the year have
\ntheir efforts rewarded with academic ties which were distributed at one of our
\nMonday morning assemblies. <\/o:p><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nFrom there we quickly pass on to July, a month which marked
\na special page in the life of the Children of Mary Sodality here in Wanganui:
\nits ten year anniversary. Such a milestone had to be given a special
\ncelebration, behind which there was much planning, preparation and cooperation. <\/o:p><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAlmost all members of the sodality were able to gather together at a local hall for an evening of memories, games, songs, fun and feasting. May Our Lady continue to watch over her children and the good work they do in our parish.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nJune, July\u2026August came next! And August can only mean one
\nthing: Saint Dominic\u2019s Day<\/i>. Many a
\nsister surely had been keeping in mind that well-known truism of Mother General\u2019s:
\nIf you can survive until Saint Dominic\u2019s
\nDay, you can survive the rest of the year. <\/i>The great feast day, and the
\nencouraging fact that we had survived to see it, was heralded not by trumpets,
\nbut by the sweet tone of our new bell, which was found for us in Europe by our
\nparish priest and fixed onto the exterior wall of the boarding school entrance
\non the very eve of Saint Dominic\u2019s feast day, so that its ringing (though at
\nthat stage still a little uncoordinated, the bell-ringer yet in need of some
\npractice) for First Vespers announced that the feast day had arrived.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nLike the Sisters at Rosary Convent, we too sang First
\nVespers in the church with our pupils, the brothers and the officiating priest.
\nAfter the Rosary we headed back to the boarding school, to the quaint little
\n\u201calfresco\u201d arrangement under the carport \u2013 the only space that was undercover
\nand large enough to seat the sisters, priests, brothers and approximately
\nthirty girls! The blue tarpaulin and fairy-lights gave it a pleasant atmosphere
\nand we there enjoyed our pizza, salads and dessert.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIn remembrance of the thoughtful gift Saint Dominic made to
\nhis sisters, our guests were bequeathed with small, personalised wooden spoons\u2026though
\nthey were to be kept more for their aesthetic and sentimental value than for
\npractical purposes\u2026unlike St Dominic\u2019s wooden spoons, we\u2019re sure. He no doubt
\ndidn\u2019t have to tell his sisters, \u201cNow don\u2019t<\/i>
\nuse these spoons to eat with \u2013 they\u2019re only souvenirs<\/i>!\u201d
\nas Mother had to several times remind the young (and not so young) recipients.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nNo Saint Dominic\u2019s Day would be complete without the
\ntraditional game of Spotlight, so after dinner the girls eagerly ventured out
\ninto the dark field to see if they could find their way to the fortress (and
\nthe chocolate treasure it held) without being identified and thrown into \u201cjail\u201d.
\nAfter a few more indoor games we ended the evening suitably by singing Compline
\nwith the girls. On the actual day of the feast the sisters attended the school
\nMass with the secondary boys and girls and afterwards entertained our tertiary
\nmembers, friends, benefactors and former pupils with a brunch, towards the
\nclose of which the weather turned quite dismal. By the afternoon the rain had set
\nin well and truly and we were denied the satisfaction of what was sure to be a
\nsweet victory over the school netballers we had intended to play (and beat)
\nthat afternoon. To this day the match has not yet taken place, being postponed
\nto an indefinite date; but fate cannot be avoided \u2013 sooner or later our opponents
\nwill have to face their fears, and we will be sure to make known to our readers
\nthe glad tidings of our victory as soon as it is in our possession. Thus, with
\nno netball game to raise our heart-rate and zap our energy, the feast day ended
\nwith a tranquillity that, though uncustomary, was not unwelcome.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nFortunately most of our school girls had not yet succumbed
\nto the winter ills that were, and in fact still are, in circulation, for their
\nvoices and high spirits were needed for the Inter-house Music Competition that
\nwas held mid-August at the local Girls College hall. The three school houses
\ncompeted against one another in a competition that had Australia and New
\nZealand as its theme. Each house had to present a team piece, a test piece and also
\nsubmit entries for the senior and junior instrumental categories. The judge
\noverall was impressed with the quality of the girls\u2019 voices and their
\nmusicianship, and the final results show how close the houses are in their
\nmusical skills \u2013 the two houses Bologna and Prouille tied for first place,
\nwhile Calaroga was only just behind. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nBut the evening of entertainment did not end there! After a
\nshort intermission the Form 3 and 4 girls performed for their small audience
\nShakespeare\u2019s Macbeth<\/i>, which was, in
\nspite of a few hiccups, giggles and lost lines, a pleasing success, making us
\nvery proud of the fine abilities of the girls, and caused not a few of us to
\nstart thinking about next<\/i> year\u2019s
\nperformance.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIt seemed that the whole school breathed a sigh of relief
\nafter that concert, which had required so much planning and practice, and let
\ndown its defence system, for the influenza hit us hard and the many casualties,
\naffecting the whole school, caused us to have to postpone the annual
\nfundraiser, once more a Bike-a-thon. A week later than the initial date, then, the
\nsisters and pupils who were still healthy jumped onto their bikes and peddled
\nin circles for an hour, in an attempt to help out our school finances. Those
\nwho had per lap pledges were enthused to make as many laps as they could, and
\nalso to try to beat last year\u2019s record of laps \u2013 this year one of our year 10
\ngirls made the record, achieving 111 laps in an hour, and still remaining
\nstanding afterwards.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe Bike-a-thon marked the end of another lap of school, and
\nthe beginning of the next part of the cycle \u2013 holidays. May God, Who has so
\ngenerously granted to us a busy and fruitful term, see fit to help sisters and
\npupils alike rejuvenate and recreate ourselves so that we are fit and ready to
\nhop back on our bikes and cycle \u201conwards and upwards\u201d in the last term of the
\nyear.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The solemn and fog-like silence that has settled over the Wanganui community through the bleak winter months may have lead some of our readers to imagine that the sisters in New Zealand had decided to hibernate during this cold season. Though it was tempting, this has not been the case. Our taciturnity has been more … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apostolate","infinite-scroll-item","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4900"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5273,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4900\/revisions\/5273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}