The first and so far only visit to New Zealand by a Bishop of Rome was significant for both Catholics and the wider community.
Catholic
Events In History
17 May 1922
James Liston, the assistant bishop of Auckland, was found not guilty of sedition following a high-profile court case.
26 December 1879
In Christchurch, 30 Catholic Irishmen attacked an Orange (Protestant) procession with pick-handles, while in Timaru, 150 men from Thomas O’Driscoll’s Hibernian Hotel surrounded Orangemen and prevented their procession taking place.
9 April 1850
Nine Sisters of Mercy arrived in Auckland on the Oceanie with Bishop Pompallier and a number of priests.
10 January 1838
French Bishop Jean Baptiste François Pompallier arrived in Hokianga. His party celebrated their first mass three days later.
Articles
Missionaries
The Christian missionaries of the pre-1840s have been described as the 'agents of virtue in a world of vice', although they were not immune to moral blemish themselves. Read the full article
Page 5 - Wesleyans and Catholics
How Maori responded to the arrival of Wesleyan and Catholic missionaries in the Bay of
Page 6 - Printing the word of God
From the mid-1830s the printed word became a new weapon in the campaign to bring Christianity to
The Spanish Civil War
While New Zealand had no official involvement in the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s, a small number of New Zealanders fought in Spain (six were killed) or served as doctors and nurses. Many others supported the Republican war effort through fundraising efforts back home. Read the full article
Page 3 - Attitudes in New Zealand
The deaths of at least six New Zealanders in Spain went largely unnoticed at home. But some groups within New Zealand saw Spain as more than a ‘far away side issue’.
Women Together
Catholic Women's League of Aotearoa-New Zealand
In 1983 the league claimed that it was 'the major lay organisation in the Church both in numbers and activity'. Read the full Women Together Essay
Sophia
Network of Catholic feminist women interested in feminist theology and spirituality, and in the promotion of more inclusive liturgy, theology and decision making in the Catholic Church. Read the full Women Together Essay
Biographies
Frederick Weld was only briefly premier, but he later became a serial colonial governor. That he, a Roman Catholic, could lead a colony showed how different New Zealand was to Britain.
A French bishop living amongst hostile British settlers in New Zealand, Pompallier was sympathetic to Māori concerns, and for his time had an enlightened view towards Māori.
Suzanne Aubert – later Mary Joseph Aubert – was a Catholic nun, nurse, teacher and pioneering social worker, who sometimes had to battle church and government authorities in order to help those in need.
Main image: Pompallier
This distinctively French-looking building at Russell in the Bay of Islands is a monument to early Catholic missionaries.
