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 Bethlehem now has a new roof Bethlehem now has a new roof. We have been so blessed by the kindness and generosity of so many people who have enabled us to totally re-roof the entire building. A local builder and his team made the most of the summer weather and were able to complete the project in only a few weeks. The entire damaged wing, “Our Lady’s Wing”, has been completely refurbished and looks wonderful.
We are now completely open for business, with our new and improved building. The desire of the St. Bernard’s Community to develop their social justice programme led to a brainstorm to go on retreat to discuss how we could make this happen. We wanted to involve the students in a social justice action as well as the theory behind the action and then use this experience to be the platform by which we would shape our programme back at school. Our Friday night started with a fish and chip meal in Featherston, as it was the liturgical season of Lent. As we ate we talked about why traditionally we give up things like meat on Fridays. We spent Friday night at Nazareth and discussed the Catholic Social Justice Principles late into the night. On Saturday morning we had breakfast and got into our sponsored gears from Bunnings Warehouse Naenae and set to work. Our goal was to move and stack as much firewood as we possibly could! The crew machined this task, with the fastest loading time of a caged 8×4 trailer being 1 min 58 secs! Even when time was called, the boys were keen to keep going and so did another load to clear the last paddock. After getting showered the boys were welcomed into Bethlehem to share in the community meal which was probably a new experience for most of the boys we brought. It was a chance for them to meet the community and fellowship! It was amazing and we even had dessert – made from fresh – not a packet! Yahoo! We went back to Nazareth to watch Entertaining Angels – The Story of Dorothy Day, who was a hands on advocate and tireless campaigner for those who nobody else cared about. This coincided with the 80th Anniversary of the Young Catholic Worker Movement. On Sunday we gathered for a Eucharistic para-liturgy in the morning and spent some more time reading over different social justice publications we had brought with us, so our boys could see the breadth of social justice work in the Church. Our discussions then turned to what were we going to do once we returned to school. What things we were going to put in place. The comment came from the boys themselves that once we do a retreat like this and have our eyes opened up, we don’t want to return to school as if nothing has happened! We want to do something and make things happen! Plans were made and things are underway as we speak. As the teacher in charge of this event, I guess the moment of revelation about the Spirit really moving was generated when both the boys, and the community asked –when is the next one?!! Nick Wilson
Thanks to all of our very generous benefactors. Due to your incredible generosity, we have been able to totally re-roof BethlehemOn Saturday 8th September, Wellington and the Wairarapa experienced a severe nor’westerly storm. As well as torrential rain, there were wind gusts of over 150km/hr. Unfortunately our Bethlehem Retreat Centre lost the roof off the east wing. Most of the painted galvanised corrugated steel together with the wire netting, building paper and purlins were blown off the wing. Some of the pinex ceiling linings were blown away with much of the remaining pinex ceiling linings left water logged and/or bowed down with moisture. All the carpet and underlay were saturated by heavy rain. Some of the framing has become saturated resulting in the timber expanding and cracking gibraltar board wall linings. While insurance will cover the damaged portion of the roof, other sections of the roof have been weakened and we are planning to completely replace the rest of the roof. This will be a very expensive undertaking but one that is necessary for the long term future of the building.  Damage to bedroom ceiling  Hugo our builder preparing the roof for the tarpaulin  Water on wooden floor  Water damaged wall  Carpet being removed to be dried out  The once straight chimney  Pots collecting water from the open roof  Where the roofing iron was blown off during the storm  Carpet damage If you are able to donate towards repairing this facility, please send your donation to:Magnificat Community Charitable Trust
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