List of New Zealand Catholics

This is a list of notable New Zealand Catholics. All additions should be sourced and ideally their faith or Catholic identity should be significant to their notability.

Activists

• Marilyn Pryor,^[1][2] served on the Executive Council of what is now called Voice for Life

Artists and architects

• Francis Petre, architect of cathedrals^[3][4]

Businesspeople

• Charles Todd^[5] motor-industry pioneer and temperance activist; many in the Todd family were or are Catholics

Politicians

• Peter Dignan,^[6][7] fifteenth Mayor of Auckland City
• Bill English,^[8][9] seventeenth and current Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand
• Heremia Te Wake,^[10] tribal leader and catechist
• Joseph Ward,^[11][12] seventeenth Prime Minister of New Zealand

Religious

Clergy

• Fr. Mark Beban,^[13] also a cricketer.
• Fr. Felix Donnelly,^[14][15] social activist, writer, academic and radio talkback host
• Rev. Fr. George Duggan,^[16][17] philosopher and centenarian
• Fr. David Kennedy,^[18] astronomer and educator
• Antony Sumich, F.S.S.P.,^[19][20][21] New Zealander who was a former international Rugby Union and Cricket player for Croatia.
• Fr. Wiremu Te Awhitu,^[22] first Māori to be ordained

Religious sisters and nuns

• Mary St Domitille Hickey,^[23] historian, school principal, and reportedly the first New Zealand woman to be awarded a doctorate in literature
• Mary Gonzaga Leahy,^[24] nun and hospital matron
• Sister Mary Leo,^[25] music educator, Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• Marie Elizabeth Roche,^[26] honored for her work in a prison

Writers and journalists

• K. O. Arvidson,^[27][28] poet and academic
• James K. Baxter,^[29] poet and convert who was offered a job composing catechetical material for the Catholic Education Board
• Patrick Anthony Lawlor,^[30] writer known for the autobiographical work Old Wellington days, also worked for the Catholic Writers’ Movement of New Zealand

References