In 2006 nearly 70,000 Maori identified with Catholicism but Pa Petera, Father Peter Tipene, believes fewer and fewer Katorika Maori are turning up on Sundays.
He says that with the election of Pope Francis it’s a good time for the church – and for Maori who follow the faith – to reassess and take stock.
At Christ the King church in Mount Roskill Pa Petera serves a multicultural community of Filipinos, Indians, Chinese, Pakeha, and Polynesia. In this cosmopolitan mix there aren’t too many Maori present.
Maori Catholic priests, like the kotuku, are beautiful birds that are rarely seen. From Auckland to Cape Reinga there are just three, and Pa Petera, the 14th be ordained, is the only full-timer.
Pa Henare Tate, has retired to Motuti in the Far North while Pa Tony Brown is on sick leave, recovering from a stroke.
Five more serve in other regions.
Earlier in the week he told a funny story about his own family’s expression of faith. “My own nieces and nephews, I’ll take them away for the weekends and we’ll have a great time and I’ll say to them, ‘Mass in the morning?’ And they’ll go, ‘If we’re up.’ And I’m the parish priest! These mongrel nieces and nephews. They’ll swear black and blue ‘Oh, Pa’s my uncle,’ but they never darken the door of the church. Good, lovely people but going to Mass every Sunday or being part of a faith community isn’t a big deal. There’s no connection there.”
He believes that’s a situation replicated across the country. It’s a sentiment which probably started from his own and successive generations have become lost to the church.
The rituals of miha, Mass, are important because they reinforce a relationship with Jesus Christ, he says. How the church can re-engage itself with Maori is a question he asks himself repeatedly. “It’s a hard question. I am always thinking, ‘what do I do to grab them back?’ ”
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