It is sad to acknowledge that I grew up knowing more about Captain James Cook and the First Fleet settlement in Australia than I did about the Treaty of Waitangi in my birthplace of Aotearoa. That I would spend my childhood and formative years in a country where their indigenous people were virtually whitewashed from history. Where I would learn more about the Mabo land title decision from a fictional movie (The Castle) than I would from any textbook in a classroom in the early 90’s or that I would later belong to a small movement within the Catholic Church who would campaign year after year to incorporate and recognise indigenous rights within the Church’s living tradition. Back in the days before ‘Sorry’ was an official national apology or equally expressed in the words of one of our past Australian Catholic Bishops who metaphorically considered a locked gateway to a cathedral that barred our entrance to a justice and peace meeting as “typical, the bloody Church has locked us out again!” I carelessly considered my childhood to be ‘young, and fair, and free’ in Australia, but living in Aotearoa now, is that still me?
I hold no shame in admitting I am more an Aussie than I am a kiwi, but I hold no pride in that admission either.
This Waitangi Day I am confronted with the complexity of my own identity – who am I and what does the Treaty of Waitangi – Te Tiriti o Waitangi mean to me in 2025?
Certainly, at this stage in my life I suffer from more than a touch of imposter syndrome. Five years in Aotearoa does not a kiwi make. I was also skeptical of ‘blood-ties’ and a pull to the whenua. Not until I began learning He Papa Reo with my peers here at CDA, and felt that strong and deep spiritual connection during ‘Hikoi mo te Tiriti’ through Tāmaki Makaurau late last year, and once more, at the 187th Anniversary Mass at Totara Point, Hokianga a few weeks ago.
I had to ask myself honestly – who do I think I am now?
Can I describe the feeling of finding the mark of my tipuna as a chieftain signatory of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840?
Can I give meaning and depth to the notion of being a fourth generation, missionary converted Hāhi Katorika?
Can I reconcile my Pakeha and Māori whakapapa?
Not yet, but I am learning that true reconciliation begins at the deepest level of self-awareness. When “sorry” moves beyond an adjective emotion to become a verb, a state of being.
When freedom is no-longer an apparition of “fourth article” fancy, but a tangible moment in time:
A fourth article was added to the Māori text of the Treaty signed at Waitangi, at the request of Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier. In Māori the fourth article said: “E mea ana te Kawana ko nga whakapono katoa o Ingarani, o nga Weteriana, o Roma, me te ritenga Maori hoki e tiakina ngatahitia e ia”, which means “The Governor says that the several faiths (beliefs) of England, of the Wesleyans, of Rome and also of Māori custom shall alike be protected by him”. This article guaranteed religious freedom for all in the new nation, including Māori.[1]
When whānau is faith, and water and wine become blood:
Our bicultural commitment requires that all Church agencies engage in partnership with Māori and fully support them in their right to cultural identity in the Church. Pope Saint John Paul II emphasised this place of the Māori in the Church during his visit to Aotearoa in 1986: “It is as Māori that the Lord calls you, it is as Māori that you belong to the Church, the one Body of Christ”. Each diocese determines the myriad of ways in which it meets and expresses its bicultural commitment. At all levels in the life of the Church, not just those that have “official” sanction, the Church encourages New Zealand Catholics to make their response to its bicultural commitment.[2]
There is no ‘i’ in Treaty… but I find myself in Te Tiriti.
May we all find our connection to Te Tiriti o Waitangi this Waitangi Day and be the living embodiment and inheritance of that founding document and sacred covenant, taonga and commitment to faith, freedom, truth and justice made 185 years ago by our ancestors.
Perhaps, you too will find yourself in Te Tiriti.
In the closing words of another:
I remember with gratitude the Sisters who taught me as a child to see my life in the light of eternity. They enabled me to view my journey as a continuum in relationship to my ancestors. The philosophy I absorbed has profoundly influenced me to make constructive choices in a world where hunger, war, racism, poverty, despair and hopelessness exist. Yet for me, the paradox of hope remains. I have always managed to maintain faith in my own humanity and a belief in the divine spark in every human being. This hope is constantly nurtured in relationship with family, community and a network of people throughout New Zealand and other parts of the world. Maintaining faith when you don’t know the reality of suffering can be relatively straightforward. Maintaining faith when you do is the challenge.[3]
- Kathleen
[1]NZCBC. https://www.catholic.org.nz/assets/Uploads/Te-Tiriti-O-Waitangi-The-Treaty-of-Waitangi.pdf
[2] Ibid. (Pa Henare Tate)
[3] Robert Consedine & Joanna Consedine. (2012). Healing Our History: The Challenge of the Treaty of Waitangi. pg, 258.
CDA Staff Prayers for Waitangi Day 2025
We pray for the people of Aotearoa New Zealand – that the rich diversity of our land, life and cultures will be deeply valued and become a source of peace among people and hope for the future.
Ka whakahoki e Hehu, ka mea ki nga akonga: Ki te aroha tetahi ki a au, e puritia e ia taku kupu, a, ka arohaina ia e toku Matua, ka haere atu maua ki a ia, ka pumau to maua noho ki a ia. (Ko te Rongopai na Hato Hoani 14:23-27).
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If anyone loves me they will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we shall come to them and make our home with them.’ (John 14:23-27)
Te Kara o Te Whakaminenga o Nga Hapu o Nu Tireni – The Flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand raised above Pompallier Diocesan Centre, Auckland for Waitangi Day 2025
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