Saturday, June 03, 2006
On a mission!
Having had several incidences recently of trying to injure ourselves in all manner of adventure sports, we felt it was time for a break. 
We had arrived in Rotorua and I was on a mission. Ever since finding out that we were going to New Zealand my family were interested in tracing my great uncle, Father Rice. My grandma (his sister) recalls that he was a member of the catholic missionary group the Mill Hill Fathers who came to New Zealand to try to convert Maori people to catholicism.
He had been a priest at St Michael's Catholic Church in Rotorua from 1939-1942 so we set off in search of it and here is the photographic evidence.
I met the current priest Father Aherne and he invited me to the presbetary to see if he could find out any further information. We looked through a book which listed all the Mill Hill fathers and Father Rice's name appeared several times. This book was like a diary of what the priests got up to - nothing bad of course! After we had read about his life, we looked through a record book from 1939 that listed all the masses Father Rice gave, eg. christenings and weddings. It was strange seeing his original handwriting from so long ago.
All in all, I took up about 45 minutes of this poor priest's time. I'm so glad I went though. It's pretty surreal standing in the church imagining what it would have been like in 1939. It's made me want to find out more about my family history. Even better if it takes me to places like New Zealand!
We had arrived in Rotorua and I was on a mission. Ever since finding out that we were going to New Zealand my family were interested in tracing my great uncle, Father Rice. My grandma (his sister) recalls that he was a member of the catholic missionary group the Mill Hill Fathers who came to New Zealand to try to convert Maori people to catholicism.
He had been a priest at St Michael's Catholic Church in Rotorua from 1939-1942 so we set off in search of it and here is the photographic evidence.I met the current priest Father Aherne and he invited me to the presbetary to see if he could find out any further information. We looked through a book which listed all the Mill Hill fathers and Father Rice's name appeared several times. This book was like a diary of what the priests got up to - nothing bad of course! After we had read about his life, we looked through a record book from 1939 that listed all the masses Father Rice gave, eg. christenings and weddings. It was strange seeing his original handwriting from so long ago.
All in all, I took up about 45 minutes of this poor priest's time. I'm so glad I went though. It's pretty surreal standing in the church imagining what it would have been like in 1939. It's made me want to find out more about my family history. Even better if it takes me to places like New Zealand!
# posted by Rhodri @ 8:59 am 
