Our Story
A person’s whakapapa describes their identity by recognising the genealogy of their father and mother. It is important to know where you come from in order to know who you are! In a similar way, we at the Catholic Diocese of Hamilton can show a connection from Bishop Steve to Jesus Christ, who is the Alpha and Omega [Rev 1:8].
Jesus Christ
Jesus means in Hebrew: "God saves." At the annunciation, the angel Gabriel gave him the name Jesus as his proper name, which expresses both his identity and his mission. Since God alone can forgive sins, it is God who, in Jesus his eternal Son made man, "will save his people from their sins". In Jesus, God recapitulates all of his history of salvation on behalf of men.
CCC 430
The Word became flesh so that thus we might know God's love: "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him." "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me." "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." On the mountain of the Transfiguration, the Father commands: "Listen to him!" Jesus is the model for the Beatitudes and the norm of the new law: "Love one another as I have loved you." This love implies an effective offering of oneself, after his example.
CCC 458-459
St John, the Evangelist
Feast Day December 27
St John the Evangelist, also known as John the Apostle, or the Beloved disciple, was one of the twelve disciples of Christ. John, who remained close to Jesus throughout his public ministry, witnessed Jesus’ saving death at The Place of the Skull, Golgotha [Jn 19:17].
St Polycarp
Feast Day February 23
St Polycarp was taught by John the Evangelist. Polycarp, a second generation Christian, became Bishop of Smyrna. Polycarp argued against a dualistic heresy being promoted at the time by the Marcionites. Polycarp faced persecution like Christ did and was eventually martyred at the age of 86 in 155 AD.
St Irenaeus
Feast Day June 28
Bishop of Lyon, France
As a child Irenaeus heard and saw St Polycarp. St Irenaeus is famous for his work Adversus Haereses (Against Heresies), written in about 180 AD, which argued against the dominant heresy of the time, Gnosticism. He also advanced the development of the canon of Scriptures, the creed, and the authority of the episcopal (bishops) office.
Irenaeus succeeded the martyred Pothinus as Bishop of Lugdunum (Lyon). In 202 AD Irenaeus was martyred in Lyon with many others in a time of fresh persecution against Christians.
Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier
First Bishop of Auckland Diocese, NZ
1600 years after St Irenaeus was martyred, Jean Baptiste François Pompallier, was born in Lyon, France, on 11 December 1802. Pompallier travelled to and was appointed Vicar Apostolic of New Zealand in 1842. In 1848 the country of New Zealand was divided into two dioceses - Auckland and Wellington. On July 3, 1848 Pompallier became the first Bishop of Auckland.
Bishop Edward Gaines
First Bishop of Hamilton Dicoese, NZ
Born in Whanganui in 1926 and ordained a Catholic priest on the 13 July 1950 by Archbishop James Liston at St Patrick's Cathedral in Auckland. On 8 December 1976 he was ordained a Bishop by Bishop John Mackey and served as Auxiliary Bishop of the Auckland Diocese. In 1980 the Hamilton Diocese was erected and on June 19 Gaines was installed as first Bishop of the Hamilton Diocese. Bishop Gaines died on 6 September 1994, aged 67.
Pihopa Max Takuira Māriu
Auxiliary Bishop, Hamilton Diocese, NZ
In 1988, Pā Max Takuira Māriu SM DD CNZM was ordained auxiliary bishop to the Hamilton Diocese by Bishop Edward Gaines. This realised a long held desire of Māori and the Catholic people for a Māori bishop.
When Bishop Māriu died in 2005 at the age of 53 his loss was felt deeply by Māori, the wider Church in Aotearoa New Zealand, iwi, hapu, whānau and by the other bishops.
Emeritus Bishop Denis Browne
Second Bishop Hamilton Diocese, NZ
Denis Browne was born in Auckland on 21 September 1937 and ordained a Catholic priest on 30 June 1962 by James Liston, Archbishop of the Auckland Diocese. Browne was ordained Bishop of Rarotonga (1977-1983) and later installed as the Bishop of the Diocese of Auckland (1983-1994). After Bishop Gaines died in September 1994, Bishop Denis Browne, then Bishop of Auckland, was happy to accept the new appointment to the Hamilton Diocese (1995 - 2014).
Emeritus Bishop Denis Browne is retired and currently resides in Auckland.
Bishop Stephen Lowe
Third Bishop of Hamilton Diocese, NZ
On the 13 February 2015, Stephen Lowe was ordained Bishop of Hamilton, NZ by Emeritus Bishop Denis Browne.
Stephen Marmion Lowe was born in Hokitika. He was educated at Hokitika Primary School, then St Mary’s Primary School and because there was no Catholic College in Hokitika, he completed his secondary schooling at Westland High School. Following school he worked for the NZ Forest Service in Hokitika and Christchurch and the NZ Timberlands in Timaru. During this time, he became involved in his local parish in Timaru and in 1989, discerned the call to priesthood and entered Holy Cross College seminary in Mosgiel in 1990. He completed his final year of seminary study at St Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia during 1994-1995. Bishop Stephen Lowe was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Christchurch in his home town at Hokitika in 1996.
He served as the assistant priest in Mairehau, Ashburton and Greymouth parishes before being appointed parish priest of Timaru North. From 2005-2007 he completed a Licence in Spiritual Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was appointed to Holy Cross Seminary in 2008 where he served as Formation Director until end of 2014. While based at the Seminary in Auckland, he served, for a time, as Parish Priest of Ponsonby.
On December 18 2021, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Steve Lowe as Bishop of Auckland.
Bishop Richard Laurenson
Fourth Bishop of Hamilton Diocese, NZ
Richard Laurenson was ordained and installed as the Bishop of Hamilton, NZ on December 8th, 2023, by Bishop Stephen Lowe.
Previously the parish priest at All Saints by the Sea, Papamoa Coast, Bishop Richard Philip James Laurenson was born in Hamilton in 1968. He was ordained as a Hamilton diocesan priest by Bishop Denis Browne in 1995 and has since served as parish priest in many parts of the diocese.
Bishop Laurenson attended Holy Cross Seminary in Mosgiel. He has a Baccalaureate in Theology from Otago University (1992) and studied for and obtained a Licentiate in Canon Law from Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome from 2007 to 2010.
He has also been our diocesan Chancellor, Vicar for Marriage, a member of the College of Consultors and, since 2019, Defender of the Bond at the Tribunal of the Catholic Church in New Zealand. He was a judge and associate judicial vicar from 2016 to 2019. As a military chaplain for a decade, he served for a time with peacekeeping forces in Bougainville and Timor Leste.
Bishop Richard is the first Bishop of the Diocese who was born and grew up in the Diocese [Bishop Max Takuira Mariu, also a son of the Diocese, was Auxiliary Bishop of Hamilton 1988-2005].