Auckland Community Church
Te Hahi Waka Huihui i Nga Tangata o Tamaki Makaurau

Family Circle February 2007

People news - On the move

Cathy has gone to Baltimore for several weeks

Coming Events

Big Gay Out - 11th February - church stand with MCC, we need: comfortable furniture, volunteers to staff it, creative people to decorate it.

Big Gay Out - 11th February - evening service at 7pm combined with MCC at the Quaker House 113 Mt Eden Road. No service in St Matthews that evening

Newcomers dinner - at Mark and Alan's, Mt Roskill, on Tuesday 20 Feb – bring a plate to share if you want (but not required)

Blokes on Bikes - Glenn & Steve

A cycling trip down the USA – well it was a dream that became a reality, 2700 miles by pedal power.

On August the 2nd we flew out of Auckland for Vancouver on the start of the adventure. After ten days in Vancouver getting supplies and trying out the trailers we peddled off north over the Lionsgate Bridge. It was the first of 49 days of cycling in the sun to the Mexican border. Yes 49 days of no rain a small amount of sea fog and travel at a pace that allows you to see lots and eat more. We camped at state parks where the facilities were excellent, all the hikers and bikers camp together so it is a chance to swap stories and get insight and tips for the road. There are too many highlights to tell and hundreds of pictures to show but the Redwoods, the Golden Gate Bridge and the hospitality we encountered stand out.

We averaged 60 miles each day which gave time to sightsee along the way and chat to those that wanted too. The world is a small place when you get talking with other Kiwis from Auckland and expat Kiwis with friends in common. Having been a little concerned about riding on the right and the traffic it was not a worry but the first roundabout felt distinctly strange. The traffic was courteous and at one point riding a cycle way on the edge of the freeway was an experience.

All in all an adventure to be repeated with plans to ride from Vancouver to New York in the making.

Retreat camp / Time out together

About 20 of us enjoyed a spiritual day accompanied by Jenny Harrison, mostly reflecting on our lives through the imagery of a garden. There was also some quiet time, sharing in groups, walking, swimming and very nice meals.

Thanks to Alastair for doing a great job making the arrangements.

Book Review

Seminary Boy, a memoir by John Cornwell (published 2006) reviewed by Alan

John Cornwell evokes a vanished time in this moving and troubled memoir of his adolescence spent in an isolated junior seminary

He was born into a destitute family with a dominating Irish-Catholic mother and an absconding father during World War II in London. At age 13 he escaped from this world to an utterly different one. He was sent to Cotton College a remote seminary for boys intended for the Roman priesthood. Here the priests were addressed as ‘sir’ rather than ‘Father’ as a reminder of the College’s secret foundation in the 17th century when to be a Catholic priest in England was illegal. He, himself, was given the nickname “Fru”, short for the Latin Frumentum Bene i.e. Corn-well.

Fru was awestruck at first by the deep ascetic harmony of the life of the priests and pupils, the beauty of the church’s liturgy and music and by the sense of God’s presence that he felt in the steep wild countryside all around.

But this impression changes and the tension between sex and religion becomes a recurring theme, especially after he falls in love with another boy. The author writes vividly of this intense but wholly innocent relationship.

In her review of this book Karen Armstrong (who has herself written a memoir of convent life) comments that women are supposed to be the more emotional sex, but that her convent was very dull compared to life at this all male junior seminary ! Fru never does become a priest – leaving after one year in the senior seminary. He left the church as well not returning till after 20 years – though he comments that he almost didn’t make it after the shock of the subsequent liturgical/musical changes.

The characters in this unforgettable memoir leap off the page like characters in a novel. Unputdownable.

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Contacts:
curl by email: info@aucklandcommunitychurch.org.nz
curl by phone: Cathy and Liz (64)(09)578 1292 or Hugh Dyson (64)(09)579 1850
curl by snail mail: c/- 187 Federal Street, Auckland, New Zealand.

This date was last updated on 18th May 2006 - the page may have been updated later than this!