Regional anniversary days or King's birthdays are easy. Many have their own rituals and routines: beach, boat or bach for the weekend is the aspiration for most of us.

In one sense, Matariki is a long-overdue move towards a confident national identity.

Most of our holidays are imports, and many are seasonally out of place or a touch too colonial for the present day.

At the same time, the public ritual of hautapu at Matariki confronts us with another world - the Maori world, which is often invisible to Pakeha consciousness.

It invites us to consider a spiritual side to a holiday that does not fit easily into our dominant national narrative.

Secular culture and karakia

Pakeha New Zealand is one of the most aggressively secular cultures in the world.

And yet, we will soon see the Wellington elite participating in a karakia to atua (divine beings) that many of the attendees do not believe exist — although it would be a naïve or reckless politician who would admit to that view!

I applaud this inclusion of spirituality in the bland intellectual desert of Pakeha secularism.

I also believe there is a reality which the invocations of the whetu (stars) of Matariki engage with.

I am not a sceptical Pakeha politician, virtue-signalling my allegiance to the cultural tide of resurgent Maori identity.

In fact, my view is that the atua being invoked may well decide to engage in human affairs, but I would much rather that they didn't - I doubt their benevolence, not their being.

Despite my qualms, I much prefer a nation where our debate is about the best way to engage with spirituality, rather than whether it has a place at all.

Engaging with the reality of the unseen world allows us to engage in the kind of moral reasoning that can build a flourishing society - one that enables productive political competition instead of a divisive reductionism.

Including Maori rituals and spirituality

The inclusion of Maori rituals and spirituality in public life is in one sense the development of a new civic religion.

Christianity once notionally held that place, but the hypocrisy of the settlers, and their settler churches, led to Christian allegiance being more a matter of public identity signalling than a devout force uniting communal life.

What we are now seeing, in response to the human longing for transcendence, is a re-emergence of one Maori way of being into our public culture.

I welcome that cultural shift.

Rituals, as the English theologian Elizabeth Oldfield recently observed, help us to attend to aspects of reality that we might otherwise not notice.

In a world defined by algorithmic bids for our attention, it is all too easy for us to ignore what ought to be obvious to us.

Maori have never lost attentiveness to those aspects of reality that we call spirituality.

Among Maori, the debate is not whether there is a spiritual dimension to life - that is a given - but about which way of engaging spiritually is good, and has the power to ensure our collective flourishing. Read more

• The Ven Dr Lyndon Drake (Ngati Kuri, Ngai Tuahuriri, Ngai Tahu) is the Archdeacon of Tamaki Makaurau in the Maori Bishopric of Te Tai Tokerau. He holds a DPhil in theology from the University of Oxford.

That was me at age five realising that my beliefs contradict each other.

Growing up in a Maori Catholic family, I struggled to exist within two worlds. My spirituality has never been here nor there, but a constant blend between both Catholicism and te Ao Maori.

Before primary school, I attended Te Kopae Piripono in Taranaki. At Te Kopae, I was enriched in te Ao Maori.

I always felt loved and protected by God and nga Atua.

But because my family have always been very devout Catholics, instead of attending kura kaupapa, I was sent to a Catholic primary school.

It was a huge culture shock.

When they started teaching about the commandments, I was baffled by the first one: "You shall have no other gods before me".

After that lesson, I stared into space, thinking, "Are Atua gods?

Have I been a bad Catholic?

Does God not love me?

Can I not say karakia anymore?"

In my naive mind, nga Atua and God had all existed in harmony, ensuring all was well in the world, and helping each other out.

I was quickly proved wrong.

At six years old, I watched some girls from class stab pointed sticks into the ground for fun.

In true Kaitiaki nature, I rushed to defend Papatuanuku. I sobbed, "Please stop, you're hurting my Mama!"

They ran away laughing and went to our teacher, supposedly ‘crying'.

Instead of my teacher explaining cultural differences, she yelled at me. I was scolded for spreading lies.

She said that Papatuanuku is just a character from a book—she pointed to the cover of In the Beginning, stating it was just a made-up story.

I was left wondering which creation story was true.

Experiences like this continued throughout the years.

At this point, you would be forgiven for thinking I would relinquish my Catholic faith out of resentment, but spirituality is embedded in me.

My spirituality gives me hope and peace of mind.

Don't get me wrong, I have found great conflict with the Catholic church and the weaponisation of religion—from its role in colonisation to the church's opinion on some topics.

I love my understanding of God, and I'll stand by Him, but my values clash with those of the men that speak on his ‘behalf'.

After years of being told my beliefs are wrong, and embarrassed to be a Maori who is also Catholic, I have come to the decision to bugger everyone who tells me my beliefs are wrong.

I've realised, who knows?

Who are they to tell me what's true and what's false?

At the end of the day, respecting other people's beliefs is all we need to do. We don't all need to believe the exact same thing.

If you're like me, struggling to blend your spirituality smoothie, I can only suggest keeping the blender going. Eventually, it will all smooth out.

• Whakairitaua Rukuwai (Taranaki, Te Atiawa) studies at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University Wellington.
• First published in Salient. Republished with permission of the author.

It made the comments in its submission to the Finance and Expenditure Committee about the Budget Policy Statement 2022.

Inequality has increased during the Covid crisis and both short-term and long-term measures are required to deal with this, Caritas said.

Listening to local and most-affected communities would help, Caritas suggests. This way the Government will be better informed to tackle ongoing crises.

Its submission spells out five specific concerns for the Government to consider.

Housing

Unaffordable, unavailable housing is an issue numerous support agencies are anxious about.

The cost of living is scarily high. Rental prices have surged yet again to an average of $575 a week. That's an increase of 7 per cent on last year. If you're living in Porirua, you'll be spending an average of $670 a week.

"The rent increases are huge and it's having a real impact on whanau, their ability to provide the necessities," says Porirua's Salvation Army Nicki Dutton.

"Lots of people are staying with friends or staying in cars, a lot of overcrowding. I've heard recently of a family of 13, extended whanau in a three-bedroom house."

Caritas says access to a wide range of safe, affordable and healthy homes remains one of New Zealand's most pressing social issues. It's a concern that is affecting people across the country.

It would like to see a broader approach to accommodation being taken: including it "in the objectives relating to physical and mental wellbeing, and the just transition."

Environmental support

Caritas says increased climate funding to address the climate emergency needs to be accountable to taxpayers and communities most in need.

"Assessment of impact needs to be based on criteria relevant to local communities," says Caritas.

"We support directing proceeds from the Emissions Trading Scheme to the new Climate Emergency Response Fund (CERF), and look forward to seeing clear directives, funding criteria for projects and evaluation of impact towards New Zealand's climate response."

Health and COVID-related funding

Caritas submitted that the government needs to prioritise appropriate funding and relevant data for Maori, Pasifika, the elderly, people with disabilities and those with underlying health conditions.

The health system's overhaul needs to take sufficient account of subsidiarity - that decisions be made at the most appropriate level to ensure responsiveness and accountability to local communities.

Technology

Caritas welcomes new technologies and greater digital connectivity to provide jobs and more sustainable ways of working.

Technology and the economy must serve the common good of humanity, the Agency cautioned. "Nothing can replace face to face encounters and the need for genuine human connection and interaction."

It recommends an "integrated approach to providing services" to allow "full participation in ways appropriate to different people."

Te Ao Maori

"We support inclusion of Te Ao Maori perspectives with the Living Standards Framework as applicable to the wellbeing of all ... and which also supports a long-term intergenerational approach to wellbeing," Caritas wrote.

Source

• NewsHub
• Supplied: Caritas Submission on Budget Policy Statement 2022

A pivotal part of this involves the "Doctrine of Discovery". This doctrine (which is enshrined in Catholic law) was used internationally as justification for Christians to claim land belonging to non-Christians.

Maori Council executive director Matthew Tukaki says the Council's request for an apology came after a number of hui last year, aimed at addressing issues of historic racism amid the anniversary of Captain Cook.

"Right across the indigenous world, from Canada to Australia to the South American countries, such as Brazil and Argentina, were claimed by those European monarchies as if no-one lived there, and it was a terrible time for many people".

"In fact a lot of cultures were extinguished, their language was extinguished, and Australia had seen the extinguishment of literally dozens, if not hundreds, of indigenous languages."

Tukaki says he Catholic Church in New Zealand has said it is open to the Council's request for an apology.

"Over the last couple of months, we've also had significant contact with other indigenous peoples who have been fighting the Doctrine of Discovery".

"There's been some really positive soundings coming from the Church".

"We have been in discussions with people over at the Vatican and we're hopeful of something, and what's different this time is the difference in the leadership of the Church."

Bishop Patrick Dunn, president of the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference and Bishop of Auckland, says the Church is consulting over the matter.

Once it has completed its consultation it will release a definitive statement.

"The Catholic Church of Aotearoa New Zealand takes this matter seriously indeed," he says.

"As a result of representations made by the Maori Council and others, the Catholic Bishops are consulting with appropriate people including relevant experts.

"This process is likely to take some time as it needs careful scrutiny before we can make a considered response."

Tukaki says despite the doctrine's widespread use, most non-Maori New Zealanders don't know much about it.

"It's like understanding the whakapapa, you've got to go right back to the beginning where things began... in order to understand where you need to go."

One of the cases it was notably used was in the Wi Parata vs The Bishop of Wellington case of 1877. In this case, the Treaty of Waitangi was declared "a simple nullity".

Source

• RNZ
• Image: Newshub