Latest news with #Pastors
Newsroom
11-05-2025
- Newsroom
The bra-stealing rascals of Aquinas
In 1956 Aquinas students raided Knox College and stole the cutlery and cooking utensils before dumping them at Selwyn and Arana halls. The police were called and the culprits eventually confessed. James Ng, a resident from 1954 to 1958, described a recurring prank that involved fishing line to pull the chapel bell in the middle of the night; and in the winter of 1955 the students poured water on the flat roof to create a skating rink. Dominican Friar, Father Tom Fitzgerald, arrived at Aquinas in December 1957. He came to Dunedin to take over as superior at Aquinas and parish priest at Sacred Heart. He worked hard to create a spiritually uplifting atmosphere at Aquinas and to foster the hall's reputation as a 'house of study'. The residents were not always obliging He had little tolerance for disorderly behaviour. In conference with the dean of students and committee of the Students Association at the start of the 1958 academic year, he announced: 'Aquinas Hall is the property of the Dominican Fathers. Inmates of the Hall may do only those things which they are permitted to do by the owners of the Hall.' His warning fell on deaf ears. Just a few weeks later students from Aquinas raided Dominican Hall. Fitzgerald interviewed every member of the hall personally to find out who was responsible. He charged the Students' Committee with the bill for damage and wrote a furious letter to the ring leaders: 'Be good enough to present yourself at my office today, to show cause why [you] should not be dismissed from residence at Aquinas Hall, in view of the fact that, being responsible for the behaviour of students on the premises of Dominican Hall, 44 Park St, Dunedin on the 18th inst., you did allow them to enter by night the private apartments including bathrooms and dormitories, of the women proprietors and residents there, in the course of which entering, roof tiles and windows were broken, accessory soiling and inconvenience were caused, and later the building was exteriorly bespattered with mud, the ornamental pond was flooded, and metalwork and flower pots in the same were broken…' Really great photograph of Dominican Brother Martin Keogh wearing the traditional black scapular of a co-operator brother, taken from the newly published Preachers, Pastors, Prophets: The Dominican Friars of Aotearoa New Zealand by Susannah Grant * He was succeeded by Father Paul Jackson, dean of students at Aquinas from 1960 to 1975. Jackson, known variously as 'Jacko', set the tone. He ran the hostel with a light hand but was serious about study and spirituality and considered Aquinas 'a university community of scholars and Christian gentlemen'. The students at Aquinas enjoyed an active social life. The initiation of freshers usually involved early morning wake-ups; in 1968, freshmen were woken at 5:30am and mustered on the grass beside the chapel for a 'vigorous drill' of press-ups and knees-ups in their pyjamas. The day's initiation ended with a party in the television room. In 1970 the wake-up came at 4am. Freshers started the day 'very cold, very wet and very dirty, not the best time for a bath in flour and mud in the bush above the convent'. The students usually marked April Fools' Day, too. In 1966 they tied a goat to the chapel bell, which delivered a solitary mournful toll every time the animal reached the end of its tether. Aquinas entered some memorably shocking floats in the university capping processions. That of 1967 took the form of a church with a flaming cross and an effigy of Martin Luther King being hanged. The students dressed as Klu Klux Klansmen under a banner that read 'The Clueless Clots'. In 1969, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that the police objected to and banned many of their signs, Aquinas won a prize for their float titled 'Piggy Muldoon Smothers Otago University'. Hostel raids were still common in the sixties. In 1964 the Dominican Hall girls penetrated as far as Jacko's bedroom, tossing confetti everywhere and pasting newspaper on the windows. The Aquinas boys stole bras from Dominican Hall and strung them up like flags. A month or two later, when the residents at Aquinas had let their guard down, the girls broke in and put molasses on the stair rails and black nugget on the toilet seats. * By the end of the 1970s Aquinas was in serious financial difficulty. In 1978 a Board of Governors was established to assist the Dominicans with the administration of Aquinas. They needed a radical plan to get the college out of debt. In August 1978 the board voted to accept female students for the coming year. But even with more students paying higher fees (up 20 percent from 1978) the college still struggled. Food and power costs had increased, and the college had to borrow more for urgent repairs. In February 1980, with support from the College Board of Governors, it was recommended that Aquinas be closed at the end of the first term. The existing debt combined with rising running costs was insurmountable. With support from Otago University Chancellor Jack Somerville and ex-Aquinas residents they managed to battle on until the end of the year, but on October 5, 1980 the college celebrated its last formal dinner. Within a few weeks exams were over and the college began to empty out. The house chronicle recorded 'emotional scenes as some of our lady students left today. Tears and hugs for our lucky members of the community who were home.' Aquinas was sold to the Elim Church, who sold it on to the university. In 1988 the university reopened a student hostel on the site under the name Dalmore House, and later restored the original name. At time of writing, Aquinas College houses 152 students; the chapel has become a gymnasium. A mildly abbreviated chapter taken from the newly published history Preachers, Pastors, Prophets: The Dominican Friars of Aotearoa New Zealand by Susannah Grant (Otago University Press, $60) is available in bookstores nationwide. As heirs to a spiritual tradition dating back to the early thirteenth century, the friars have served in New Zealand as university and hospital chaplains, parish priests, liturgists, itinerant retreat leaders and theologians. Although no longer involved in active ministry the New Zealand friars continue to fund and facilitate Aaiotanga – the Peace Place – a community space in downtown Auckland focused on peace and social justice issues.
The Spinoff
02-05-2025
- General
- The Spinoff
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending May 2
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books' stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Preachers, Pastors, Prophets: The Dominican Friars of Aotearoa by Susannah Grant (Otago University Press, $60) This sound fascinating. Here is the publisher's full and fulsome blurb: 'Preachers, Pastors, Prophets draws on a rich collection of archival material and oral interviews to tell the story of the Dominican friars of Aotearoa New Zealand. Heirs to a spiritual tradition dating back to the early thirteenth century, the friars' lives are shaped by their commitment to the Order's motto: Veritas (Truth). They have served as university and hospital chaplains, parish priests, liturgists, itinerant retreat leaders and theologians, and in media and justice roles. Never a large group, they have nevertheless reached deep into Catholic life in Aotearoa, working up and down the length of the country and across denominational boundaries. Although no longer involved in active ministry the New Zealand friars continue to fund and facilitate Aaiotanga – the Peace Place – a community space in downtown Auckland focused on peace and social justice issues. More than the history of a religious organisation, this is the story of a group of dissimilar – often eccentric – individuals who worked in a range of ministries; of the faith that united them as brothers and gave purpose to their mission as preachers; and of their impact on the communities and churches they served in Aotearoa New Zealand. Alongside the many positive achievements of Dominican ministry, this account also addresses previously silenced stories of abuse of power. Preachers, Pastors, Prophets is not a sacred history. It's a human history. Like Grant's previous book, a study of the Dominican sisters, Preachers, Pastors, Prophets offers a window into a particular world and the ways that world has transformed over time.' 2 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, $30) Hunger Games fans are calling this best book in the series yet. 3 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Fourth Estate, $35) Hugely popular crime novel enjoying a sales bump due to the fact that the author is appearing at Auckland Writers Festival very soon. 4 When the Going Was Good by Graydon Carter (Atlantic Books, $40) Nostalgic for the golden age of magazines? This is the book for you. 5 Unforgetting by Belinda Robinson (Quentin Wilson Publishing, $40) The daughter of playwright Bruce Mason shares her memoir of abuse at the hands of a childhood nanny. RNZ's Kathryn Ryan talked to Robinson about her story, here. 6 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, $26) Wonder if anyone on the Blue Origin flight read this Booker Prize winner? 7 Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work by Sarah Wynn-Williams (Pan UK, $40) 'The shark brings Wynn-Williams many gifts, if by 'gifts' we mean big shark bite marks on her torso and lifelong trauma. It also seems to ignite her already eldest-sister-of-four levels of ambition and determination into shooting flames. But the shark's greatest gift, as far as the reader is concerned, is a truly unbelievable-seeming yarn and the ability to spin it.' Read more of Julie Hill's review of this book, here on The Spinoff. 8 Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako, $25) Welcome back! The small book that has done big things pairs well with The Spinoff's guide to Te Tiriti. 9 Northbound by Naomi Arnold (Harper Collins, $40) 'The way Arnold has managed to condense nine months and 3028 kilometres into bang-on 300 pages is impressive throughout. From the nature descriptions, to the meal recaps and interactions she has with other walkers – the story includes many small but perfectly formed vignettes – like that chat with Doug – that illuminate more than their page space would suggest.' Wrote The Spinoff's Liv Sisson in her glowing review of Arnold's odyssey. 10 Eurotrash by Christian Kracht (Serpents Tail, $30) Purchasing for the cover and title typeface alone. Here's the blurb: 'A rambunctious, tragicomic absurd road trip novel about a wealthy Swiss-German mother and son. Realising he and she are the very worst kind of people, our unnamed middle-aged narrator embarks on a highly dubious road trip through Switzerland with his terminally ill and terminally drunken mother. They try unsuccessfully to give away or squander the fortune she has amassed from investing in armament industry shares. Along the journey they bicker endlessly over the past, throw handfuls of francs into a ravine and exasperate the living daylights out of their long-suffering taxi driver. The crimes of the twentieth century are never far behind, but neither is the need for more is a bitterly comic, vertiginous mirror-cabinet of familial and historical reckoning. Kracht's novel is a narrative tour-de-force of the tenderness and spite meted out between two people who cannot escape one another.' WELLINGTON 1 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, $30) 2 Covid Response: A scientist's account of New Zealand's pandemic and what comes next by Shaun Hendy (Bridget Williams Books, $40) Professor Shaun Hendy returns us to the Covid years and how and why government made their decisions about what to do and when. It's a very readable piece of literature: smartly arranged in chapters with subheadings and including chapters outlining what to do in future. 3 Sea Change by Jenny Pattrick (Bateman, $38) The unstoppable Jenny Pattrick (author of The Denniston Rose) is back with this novel imagining a tsunami has devastated the Paekākāriki community on the Kāpiti Coast. Aptly, the novel has been reviewed over on paekākā 'Four novels for the price of one,' enthuses this reviewer on The Guardian. 6 Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (Viking, $38) Something about an heiress and two writers battling to tell her story. 7 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, $26) 8 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber $25) Welcome back brilliant friend! The slim novella that might well be staging a return to this hallowed chart due to the fact that the movie adaptation staring Cillian Murphy is now out in cinemas around Aotearoa. 9 Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House, $32) The latest book that's telling you how to change your life.
