So the seminary has a new rector.

‘From which diocese?’, Marty hears you ask.  And you may well ask.  Not a diocese immediately connected with New Zealand, to be fair.  Yes, that’s right, our new seminary rector is not from these fair shores.  In fact, he’s from Australia; a country, if Vizzini from the Princess Bride is to be believed, which is entirely peopled with criminals.  But I digress.

Monsignor Peter Jeffrey is his name.  He is in his 70′s and was ordained, according to NZ Catholic, in 1963.  Within a decade of his ordination he was appointed to the seminary staff at Corpus Christi seminary (1972-1977) before becoming rector (1978-1984).

It seems he was given a chance when young and raw – what a pity that the opportunity extended to him when young is not been extended to younger, more energetic, newer clergy in New Zealand.  I can only imagine the surprise in Rome when our bishops asked for someone not from New Zealand.  Rather unusual, to say the least.

As an observation, it seems that our older bishops seem only to want to appoint from those within their own age cohort.  The little coterie still runs the show, it seems.