Over the last few years, Catholic schools in the Auckland Diocese along with other schools have been researching their links with mana whenua, local iwi and hapu, and learning about their local history.

While each school has its own history and relationship to local whenua and iwi, and founding order, the Catholic schools of Auckland have a common heritage tracing back to early contact between Māori and Catholic settlers in the North, and Pompallier and the early French missionaries. Rather than each school researching this heritage themselves, they have asked the Vicar for Māori and Catholic Education Services to provide an account of this heritage that all schools can use to tell their story.

The resource aims to identify what Auckland school’s Māori and Catholic heritage should look like, sound like and feel like today in terms of Matauranga, Tikanga and Te Reo. This is Te Kāmaka, the Rock on which our schools can stand and be TŪTURU MĀORI, TŪTURU KATORIKA, Authentically Māori, Authentically Catholic

The resource has been developed and modified after consultation and feedback with Catholic Kahui Ako Principals in Auckland. It was offered and blessed at dawn on the roof of the original Bishop’s house and in the grounds where Pompallier lived, at Matariki, June 2024.

The resources are drawn from a range of sources reflecting historical and current research and both Māori and Catholic knowledge, language and practice. They are for today, and over time further resources will be added as the journey continues. Schools should be able to locate where they are currently, and where they need to go to become more TŪTURU MĀORI, TŪTURU KATORIKA, Authentically Māori, Authentically Catholic.

I commend Te Kāmaka to you, and thank my Vicar for Māori, Manuel Beazley, Philip Mahoney, Christine Smith and Viki Trainor from Catholic Education Services for their work in producing this resource.

Bishop Stephen Lowe