The Catholic Diocese of Auckland has received a significant and generous bequest to assist its missionary work.  This extraordinary gift of $118m has come from the estate of the late Mr Harold Plumley who, during his lifetime, supported a number of Catholic causes.

The Catholic Church was established in Auckland in the 1830s and has been involved in a wide range of educational and charitable activities. The Diocese stretches from the Far North to the Firth of Thames, Coromandel, and is comprised of close to 200,000 Catholics, 100 churches, more than 50 schools and many other charitable and community services including emergency and social housing, community and family services, early learning, adult education, disability support, relief of poverty funding, justice and peace advocacy, deaf ministries, and chaplaincies for ethnic communities, prisons, hospitals, and tertiary students.

Mr Plumley requested that his bequest should be used to include the care of needy families, to further Catholic education, to support priests and ministries and to maintain and conserve our historic buildings. The bequest is shown as income in our 2019 audited financial statements which are reported and published on the Charities Services website.

The Diocese has established a Harold Plumley Endowment Fund to benefit both present and future generations.  Key projects committed to so far, include an emergency housing project for the homeless, building a new parish and community facility in Flat Bush and the establishment of a new secondary school in South Auckland.

A visionary gift of this nature is a once in a lifetime event, and the Diocese is committed to honouring Mr Plumley’s intention in its application of this bequest.

Enquiries to diocesan media spokesperson Lyndsay Freer, ph. 021 272 4895.