{"id":4948,"date":"2012-12-18T01:44:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-18T01:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/2012\/12\/18\/a-thrilling-finish-to-the-year-and-to-our-first-decade\/"},"modified":"2023-05-10T02:42:58","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T02:42:58","slug":"a-thrilling-finish-to-the-year-and-to-our-first-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/2012\/12\/18\/a-thrilling-finish-to-the-year-and-to-our-first-decade\/","title":{"rendered":"A thrilling finish to the year–and to our first decade"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSpeaking at the Saint Dominic’s College prize-giving ceremony,
\nSister Madeleine compared this year to a particularly thrilling chapter in the
\nsort of book one simply can\u2019t put down at bedtime, but must keep reading
\nfar into the night, with a torch under the blankets if necessary. While the
\nchapter (or, as Mother Micaela later said, the song) has
\ncome to a close or a cadence with the beginning of the summer holidays, the
\nclosing lines were full of motion and excitement, for the last week of school was a busy time for the community in Wanganui. <\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/p>\n

“The song is ended, but the melody lingers on…” Mother Micaela speaks at our tenth anniversary celebration.<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/span> <\/div>\n
\nSince examinations had been held the week before, it
\nincluded little academic work, but students and teachers were kept busy with many preparations for the end of the year.
\nBesides music practices for the final school Mass and for the tenth anniversary
\nMass on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, there was a thorough clean-up
\nday which left the school looking like a rain-washed field and at least one
\nSister looking as if she had been through World War III (no pictures, sorry). On
\nMonday morning, teachers went over final exams with their classes, and in the
\nafternoon everyone took a little well-earned recreation with games organised by
\nthe senior girls. The cleaning day was on Tuesday, and involved expeditions to
\nclean home economics facilities in the croquet club down the street as well as
\nthe new house next door\u2014so it was as well we had had the games on Monday; no
\none would have had the energy to run after Tuesday\u2019s work!<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nWednesday was a free day for the students,
\nbut not for the teachers, most of whom were busily writing or proofreading
\nreport comments or preparing certificates and other paraphernalia for Thursday.
\nThursday morning was occupied by a practice at the War Memorial Hall for the
\nsecondary school prize giving, and that evening teachers, students, parents and
\nfriends returned there for the ceremony, which showed the fruits of a year\u2019s
\nhard work by students and teachers. As well as academic prizes, which are
\nawarded for excellence or diligence in at least three academic subjects, there
\nwere various sports awards and character awards to be presented, and the
\nCambridge certificates from last year, as this year\u2019s will not arrive until
\nJanuary. Two boys and three girls finished Form 7 this year, and their representatives,
\nthe two valedictorians, expressed their love and gratitude to the school and
\nall who have contributed to their education.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAt Matins of St Ambrose on Thursday
\nevening, the Sisters had discovered that the text of Duo Seraphim, which would
\nbe sung at the final school Mass on Friday, came from that day\u2019s first lesson,
\nfrom Isaias the prophet. The next day there was great excitement in the choir
\nloft as a Sister passed around a Benedictine breviary from the cupboard
\n(fortunately the Dominicans were on the same page as the Benedictines that day)
\nto share this discovery with the girls! Unfortunately, after all that, our
\nrendition of the piece was far from perfect, but we hope that Our Lord took
\ninto account that we had indeed practiced, though it sounded as if we hadn\u2019t,
\nand was pleased all the same.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/span><\/a> <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo round off this exciting week, we
\ncelebrated our congregation\u2019s tenth anniversary on Saturday, the Feast of the
\nImmaculate Conception. The festivities began with a solemn Mass in the church, after
\nwhich priests, religious and parishoners processed to Signadou, the new house
\nat 16 York Street<\/st1:address><\/st1:street>,
\nwhich was then blessed by Father Cranshaw. In her speech at Friday\u2019s
\nprize-giving, Sister Madeleine had referred to the fax from Bishop Fellay that
\nwas our Signadou–our sign from God to found a new convent, as St Dominic\u2019s had
\nbeen a ball of fire over the village<\/st1:placetype>
\n of Prouille<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>. In her
\nanniversary speech on the steps of Signadou after it had been blessed, Mother
\nMicaela told the story of how this fax arrived on the 8 December 2002. It was
\nrelayed by Father Delsorte, who came running across from the priory in person,
\nwaving the fax in his hand. Punctuating the more serious matter with wit and
\nhumour, Mother Micaela went on to summarise the growth and achievements of the
\ncongregation over these ten years, and ended with a hope that, though the song
\nof this decade is ended, the melody may linger on– \u201cand may that melody always
\nbe: Salve Regina.<\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe Priests and
\nBrothers presented the Sisters with a beautiful Belgian chasuble, ornamented
\nwith a painting of Saint Dominic.<\/o:p><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAfter the brunch, to which all the parishoners had been invited,
\nMother Rose and Sister Madeleine were driven to the airport, whence they would
\nfly to Auckland<\/st1:city> for the first Children of Mary
\nceremony there and thence to the USA<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>, where they are currently
\nlearning about the administration of boarding schools and also doing some
\nteaching and recruitment. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWe look forward to hearing of their
\nadventures as we drive to Auckland<\/st1:city> and then fly
\nto Australia<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>
\nfor our retreat and the reception of four new novices on the Feast of the
\nEpiphany. As you can see, while the song\u2014or chapter\u2014of 2012 in the Dominican
\ntale is nearly ended, the melody\u2014or the book\u2014gives promise of new themes and an
\nequally exciting plot for 2013. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speaking at the Saint Dominic’s College prize-giving ceremony, Sister Madeleine compared this year to a particularly thrilling chapter in the sort of book one simply can\u2019t put down at bedtime, but must keep reading far into the night, with a torch under the blankets if necessary. While the chapter (or, as Mother Micaela later said, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","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\/4948","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=4948"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5241,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4948\/revisions\/5241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}