Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington
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Archdiocese of Wellington Archidioecesis Vellingtonensis Poneke |
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Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington circa 1910
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| Location | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Territory | Southern North Island and Northern South Island |
| Metropolitan | Wellington |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 13,831 sq mi (35,820 km2) |
| Population - Total - Catholics |
(as of 2010) 550,000 83,214 (15.1%) |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | May 10, 1887 |
| Cathedral | Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of Saint Mary His Mother |
| Patron saint | Sacred Heart and Our Lady |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Francis |
| Metropolitan Archbishop |
John Atcherley Dew Archbishop of Wellington |
| Emeritus Bishops | Cardinal Thomas Stafford Williams |
| Website | |
| Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington | |
The Latin Rite Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington is the Metropolitan Archdiocese of New Zealand. Catholics number about 83,214 (2006 census). Parishes number 47 and the archdiocese extends over central New Zealand between Levin and Masterton in the north to Kaikoura to Westport in the south.
The Catholic faith of the new immigrants to Wellington was initially sustained through the efforts of Dr John Fitzgerald who arrived on 31 January 1840. He led the Sunday prayers and organised Christian Doctrine classes. The first resident priest was the Capuchin Father Jeremiah O’Riley who arrived as chaplain to Hon Henry William Petre, a director of the New Zealand Company and one of the founders of Wellington. O’Riley arrived in January 1843 and within a year the first, small Catholic church was built and dedicated to the Nativity. Meanwhile, the Auckland-based French Marists ministered extensively throughout the country and Fr J.B. Compte SM established a permanent mission at Otaki in 1844.
In June 1848, Pope Pius IX divided New Zealand into two dioceses, Auckland and Wellington, consisting of the lower half of the North Island and the whole of the South Island. Bishop Philippe Viard, who arrived in Wellington on the barque “Clara” on 1 May 1850, was the first Bishop. With him were five Marist priests, ten lay brothers, two lay male teachers, three Māori and four young women, the “Sisters of Mary” who commenced teaching at what became St Mary’s College and Sacred Heart Cathedral School.
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Wikipedia