Background the search for a Maori Catholic Bishop

Tu Tangata, Issue 35, 1 April 1987, Page 25

Background the search for a Maori Catholic Bishop

na Pierre Lyndon

In all the years since the pakeha first came to these shores, founded Christianity and signed the Treaty of Waitangi all in that order few could foresee a pilgrimage to Rome, the centre of the Roman Catholic Church, by representatives of the Maori people. It would be a pilgrimage back to the very place from which Bishop Pompallier first received his instructions to bring the gospel to New Zealand.

Certainly a few years back, even to the 19605, the rural Maori Catholic I knew could not have envisaged such a monumental idea that a party of 15 whanaunga or relatives go to Rome with an important kaupapa or concept from the Maori people: that of a separate Maori Bishop for we tangata whenua. . .

I remember old Sam Tohu from my past. He had married into our hapu, but was many miles away in Hokianga. On the Maori map this is an important place. It was from here that the first New Zealander, Kupe, departed, and later where Pompellier founded the Catholic Church.

Like nearly everyone I know from Hokianga, Sam Tohu was of this faith, and a kinder gentleman you could not find.

I used to stay a lot with theTohu’sas my best friend was one of the old man’s mokopuna.

Some Sundays a priest would call to the Tohu homestead at Pipiwai. He would call only about once or twice a month and I suspect he travelled from Kawakawa, over dusty roads, to serve rural Catholics, such as Sam and his family, among the different hapu, such as ours. We had to stop playing and go indoors for karakia, or church.

A kaumatua from the old world, he is well remembered for his very kindly nature. He was one of those rare people who never spoke a harsh word, such was his humility.

When I think of Catholicism I can’t help but recall those first impressions, as a seven-year-old around those old people.

The Chairman for the Runanga for Maori Catholics, Dan Whata, says his council recognises the historic significance of the Hokianga connection. He is aware that recognition of such facts is very much the Maori way. Hence he was very happy that prominent kaumatua Mac Taylor, from Panguru in the Hokianga, was included in the party. “Mac’s had his home in Auckland on the market for some time, but a few

days before our departure he rings me with the news it finally sold, just at the right time,” says Dan. A minor miracle or a good omen for their kaupapa, I hear that Maori mind saying.

Chaired by Dan Whata, Te Runanga mo te Hahi ki Aotearoa is the catalyst behind this bold venture. This council counts among its members some of Maoridom’s top people, including Dan himself. They are often involved in other kaupapa concerning things Maori on a national and local scale. Some of these people gained a higher profile at a national hui a couple of years ago, organised by the Maori equivalent of the national council of churches, Te Runanga Whakawhanaunga I Nga Hahi.

This was the national hui on Waitangi, held at Turangawaewae Marae because of its size and central location. Two members of the Catholic Runanga played prominent roles in the organising committee for this and other similar hui of a national flavour. They were Manuka Henare and Rob Cooper. The importance of the hui on Waitangi was that a forum was created where radicals and elders could meet to discuss the Waitangui issue and try to reach a consensus.

However, equally important to my mind was that the hui was run and organised by the Maori churches all working together under the umbrella Runanga Whakawhanaunga I Nga Hahi.

They did this for two reasons, I can think of: Sir James Henare had challenged the churches at a hui at Waitangi on December 1983 to organise such a forum.

“If there is one thing that divides Maori people, it is their different religions,” he told them.

The second factor was an awareness among churchmen of the role played by their early predecessors, the missionaries, in the events leading up to, during and after the signing of the Treaty between its two signatories, and

the aftermath that is our inheritance. It seems to me that these churches see that Heaven may be created here now on Earth, rather than the old view that encouraged the believer to “suffer his lot in this life but that in the hereafter one receives one’s reward. . .” Mention of this co-operation among hahi was very relevant to the pilgrimage to the Vatican. Dan Whata, the leader of the party going, stressed the ecumenical nature of the trip. He translates ecumenical to mean “not exclusive to Catholics, but for all”. The Pope’s visit to New Zealand and the official Maori welcome was seen along the same lines - that it was for all Maori people, not just Catholics alone.