The Catholic Church in New Zealand is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, which, inspired by the life, death and teachings of Jesus Christ, and under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and Roman curia in Vatican City (within Rome) is the largest Christian church in the world.

Catholic settlers first arrived in the 1820s, with British settlement of New Zealand. There are now an estimated 508,000 baptized Catholics in New Zealand, around 12 percent of the total population. In New Zealand there is one Archdiocese (Wellington) and five suffragan dioceses with 530 priests and 1200 men and women religious.^{[citation needed]}

Demography

In 2006, around 55% of New Zealanders identified as being Christian, with first Anglicanism then Catholicism and Presbyterianism being the largest denominations.^[1] The Census recorded 508,437 New Zealand Catholics, a 4.7% increase on the 2001 census.^[2] This represented about 12.3% of the overall population of New Zealand, which was measured at 4,143,279 people on census night).^[3]

The number of Catholics increased by 12,900 between 1996 and 2001 and by 22,800 between 2001 and 2006. Catholics were however, the largest denomination only in the Auckland region.^[4][5]

The percentage of Catholics in the 1901 Census was 14 percent, though at that time the church was only the third largest denomination.^[6]

History

Beginnings

The first Mass (and the first Christian service of any sort) conducted in New Zealand waters was celebrated by Father Paul-Antoine Leonard de Villefeix, the Dominican chaplain of the French navigator, Jean de Surville in Doubtless Bay on Christmas Day, 1769.^[7] Nearly 70 years later, in January 1838, the Frenchman, Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier (1807–1871) arrived in New Zealand as the Vicar Apostolic of Western Oceania. He made New Zealand the centre of his activities covering a vast area in the Pacific. He celebrated the first Mass in New Zealand at Totara Point, Hokianga, at the home of Irishman, Thomas Poynton on 13 January 1838. Pompallier was accompanied by members of the Society of Mary (Marists), and more soon arrived. The mission headquarters were established in Kororareka where a printing press was set up. As well as stationing missionaries in the north, Pompallier began work in the Bay of Plenty, and Waikato amongst Māori and in Auckland and Wellington areas amongst European settlers.^[8] In 1840, New Zealand became a British colony after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. The number of Catholic colonists was less than 500, from a total population of around 5000. New Zealand was formed into a separate vicariate by the church in 1842.^[9]

The mission splits

As a result of disagreement between Pompallier and Jean-Claude Colin, Superior of the Marists in France, Rome agreed to divide New Zealand into two dioceses from 1850. Pompallier became Bishop of Auckland and Philippe Viard (1809–1872) became Bishop of Wellington, which included the southern half of the North Island and the whole of the South Island. This decision meant that much of the Māori mission in the North (where most Māori lived) was abandoned as all the Marists working in what became the Auckland diocese, including those who spoke Māori, moved to Wellington. Increasingly the Catholic church was preoccupied with meeting the needs of the largely Irish settler community. The Wellington diocese was divided into three dioceses, with Dunedin and later Christchurch being established in the South Island^[10] In 1887, the hierarchy was established in New Zealand, with Wellington becoming the archiepiscopal see. In 1897, New Zealand was made a separate ecclesiastical province. In 1906, when New Zealand was created a Dominion, there were 126,995 Catholics out of a total European settler population of 888,578.^[11]

Māori

Following 1850, the Māori mission continued in an attenuated form and could not be revived until after the New Zealand land wars of the 1860s. James McDonald was the only missionary to the Māori in the late 1870s. In 1880, Archbishop Steins, the Bishop of Auckland, gave McDonald charge of the Māori mission.^[12] In 1886, Bishop Luck obtained Mill Hill Fathers for the mission. In spite of inadequate resources, the priests were very active. Some, like Carl Kreijmborg were "builder-priests", themselves erecting churches. They also started credit unions, piggeries, dairy farms, and co-operative stores. Many of the priests were German or Dutch and they made life-long commitments to their Māori communities. Some became more proficient in Te reo Māori than in English. Mother Aubert (see below) contributed significantly in Hawke's Bay and later in Jerusalem. Catholic Secondary schools for Māori were established, notably St Joseph's Māori Girls' College, Napier (1867) by the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, Hato Petera College, Takapuna (1928) by the Mill Hill Fathers (later staffed by the Marist Brothers), and, in 1947, Hato Paora College was opened by the Marist fathers.^[13]

Religious orders

Many religious orders came to New Zealand. The Sisters of Mercy arrived in Auckland in 1850 and were the first order of religious sisters to come to New Zealand and began work in health care and education.^[14] When Patrick Moran arrived as the first Catholic Bishop of Dunedin in February 1871, he was accompanied by ten Dominican nuns from the Sion Hill Convent, Dublin, and they proceeded to establishing their schools within days of unpacking.^[15] In 1876, the same bishop obtained the services of the Christian Brothers who opened their Dunedin school in that year. In 1880, the Sisters of St Joseph of Nazareth came from Bathurst to Wanganui where they opened 7 schools between 1880 and 1900.^[16] The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart arrived in New Zealand in 1883 and established their first community at Temuka, South Canterbury.^[17] During the next twenty years Mary MacKillop, the founder of that congregation, visited New Zealand four times to support her sisters.^[18] Also Suzanne Aubert who had come to New Zealand in 1860 at the invitation of Bishop Pompallier, and had worked in Auckland and Hawkes Bay established her order the Sisters of Compassion - the first Catholic order founded in New Zealand for women - in Jerusalem in 1892.^[19] In 1997 the New Zealand Bishops’ Conference agreed to support the “Introduction of the Cause of Suzanne Aubert”, to begin the process of consideration for her canonisation as a saint by the Church.^[20]

Development

On 6 March 1980, the Auckland Diocese and the Wellington Archdiocese were split to created the dioceses of Hamilton and Palmerston North respectively. The prominence of churches in New Zealand’s cities, towns and countryside attests to the historical importance of Catholicism in New Zealand. St Patrick's Cathedral in the Auckland diocese was established in 1842, and was renovated and re-opened in September 2007.^[21] St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin was constructed between 1878 and 1886. Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington is the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Wellington and was opened in 1901, although it was not until 1984 that it became officially, the Cathedral.^[22] The highly esteemed Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch was opened in 1905. The latter three buildings were designed by the prominent New Zealand Catholic architect, Francis Petre. There have been three New Zealand Cardinals: Peter McKeefry, Reginald Delargey and Thomas Stafford Williams. All three were at the time Archbishop of Wellington and Metropolitan of New Zealand.

Pope John Paul II became the first Pope to visit New Zealand in 1986. He was given a State welcome and presided at services attended by thousands.^[23] He called for respect between cultures in New Zealand:

The Māori people have maintained their identity in this land. The peoples coming from Europe and more recently from Asia have not come to a desert. They have come to a land already marked by a rich and ancient heritage, and they are called to respect and foster that heritage as a unique and essential element of the identity of this country.^[24]

In 2001, the Pope transmitted an apology for injustices done to the indigenous peoples of Australia, New Zealand and the islands of the South Pacific, and asked for forgiveness where members of the church had been or still were party to such wrongs. The apostolic exhortation also condemned incidents of sexual abuse by clergy in Oceania.^[25][26]

The church today

In 2006 there were over half a million Catholics in New Zealand. Though numerically speaking, the church continues to grow, in recent times numbers of priests, nuns and brothers have declined, and the involvement of laypeople has increased. Catholic organisations in New Zealand remain heavily involved in community activities including education; health services; chaplaincy to prisons, rest homes, and hospitals; social justice and human rights advocacy.^[27][28] Approximately 11% of New Zealand students attend Catholic schools.^[29] Catholic charities active in New Zealand include the St Vincent de Paul Society,^[30] and Caritas Internationalis.^[31]

Recent political engagement by New Zealand Bishops have included statements issued in relation to: indigenous rights and Treaty of Waitangi issues; the rights of refugees and migrants; and promoting restorative Justice over retributive justice in New Zealand.^[32]

As with a number of other countries, the Catholic Church in New Zealand has had priests convicted of child sexual abuse.^[33]

Education

The first Catholic School in New Zealand was opened in 1841, a year after the Treaty of Waitangi. Initially, Catholic missionaries, led by Bishop Pompallier, focused on schools for Māori. In 1877, the new central government passed a secular Education Act and the Church decided to establish its own network of schools. The system expanded, rapidly. All Catholic schools are now integrated into the State system of education under the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975. This means that all the operating costs of the schools are met by the Government of New Zealand, although the site and buildings continue to be owned by the local bishop or a religious order^[34]

In 2010, there were 190 Catholic primary schools in New Zealand and 49 high schools. Around 64,000 students were enrolled in 2008, or 11 percent of all students in the New Zealand school system. Academically, the schools do very well. Between 1994 and 2010, the rolls in Catholic schools increased by almost 22 percent.^[35]

The New Zealand Catholic Education Office assists in the running of Catholic schools in New Zealand.

Dioceses

The six dioceses (listed here from north to south) are:

• Auckland
• Hamilton
• Palmerston North
• Wellington: (which includes Tokelau)
• Christchurch
• Dunedin

Religious Orders in New Zealand

• List of Catholic Religious Orders in New Zealand