A visit to the Vatican

Tu Tangata, Issue 33, 1 December 1986, Page 48

A visit to the Vatican

It was history in the making in more ways than one when Maori Catholics visited the Vatican in Rome to ask for the appointment of a Maori bishop. In the first place, it was the first time in the almost 2000-year-old history of the Catholic church that an ethnic group had submitted such a proposal which also included a declaration for an Aotearoa Maori Catholic Diocese. And in a lighter vein but no less significant, Vatican protocol was set aside to allow the presentation of the submission to be done in classic Maori style. New Zealand Catholic Maori Council chairman Dan Whata, one of the delegation which visited in October, believed the uniqueness of the submissions meant more time was needed by the Catholic authorities to make a decision. “The formal reply to us was that the application had been received with due respect,” said Mr Whata. “We didn’t go there on the basis that we would get an answer straight away. We already knew that the submission itself was unique. Because of that fact, that nothing like it had been done before by any ethnic group worldwide, we knew there would be a special requirement to really look closely at the submission itself. “Their lawyers couldn’t find any precedent for it.

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“I knew they’d have to be fairly careful in their deliberations because they wouldn’t want to create a precedent by which other groups could take unfair advantage. “The circumstances were unique as was the submission it was history in the making.” The submission, which was in a specially Maori designed cylinder, was handed over to the president of the Congregation of Evangelisation, Cardinal Tomka, in a ceremony far removed from standard Vatican protocol. Cardinal Tomka agreed to allow the presentation to be guided along Maori protocol lines. “The Cardinal did his mihis to us and I told our speakers to speak in our language not English,” said Mr Whata. “The reason for that was we did not want to lose the significance of what we were saying it was best therefore to convey our message in our own tongue. “The Cardinal agreed to let me translate what was being said for him. That way there could be no misinterpretation. “After we spoke we sang our waiata and I could see that the Cardinal was visibly moved by it all. “In fact he had a written speech all laid out but he set that aside and addressed the group spontaneously. He made reference to the fact that our singing reminded him of his homecountry -Yugoslavia.”