Bishop expected next week

Press, 13 May 1987, Page 34

Bishop expected next week

Christchurch’s • Catholic Bishop-elect, the Rt Rev. Basil Meeking, is expected to arrive in Christchurch next week, three weeks before his ordination. The diocesan administrator, the Right Rev. Matthew Duggan, had spoken to Monsignor Meeking in Rome on Sunday evening, but there had been some confusion over flight times, so a definite arrival time had not yet been set, said the director of Catholic Communications in Christchurch, the Rev. Ray Schmack. Monsignor Meeking would be ordained as the seventh Catholic Bishop of Christchurch in the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on June 3 at 7 p.m. The diocesan consulters met yesterday morning to discuss final arrangements for the ordination, before telephoning Monsignor Meeking again,

said Father Schmack. Monsignor Meeking, who was bom in Ashburton, and has been working at the Vatican in Rome for the last 18 years, would probably want to spend some private time with his brother, Mr lan Meeking, on his arrival in Christchurch, Father Schmack said. Cardinal Thomas Williams, the Metropolitan of New Zealand and Archbishop of Wellington, would preside at the ordination. It will be the second such ceremony in three years. Bishop Denis Hanrahan was ordained as CoAdjutator Bishop on June 6, 1984, and succeeded Bishop Brian Ashby as the sixth Catholic Bishop of Christchurch in July, 1985. Monsignor Meeking was appointed Bishop by Pope John Paul II on April 3, two months after Bishop Hanrahan’s sudden death.