On Sunday 14 August at 2pm at St Mary of the Angels church in Boulcott Street Wellington, the bishops celebrated Mass to dedicate St Mary of the Angels as the National Shrine of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Dioceses have places that are special or sacred to them for particular reasons, but we do not have many shrines which we all share. Totara Point where Bishop Pompallier celebrated the first Mass in Aotearoa New Zealand in 1838, and St Mary’s church Motuti where his remains are interred, are sacred places for the whole country, and now St Mary of the Angels will become the National Shrine of Aotearoa New Zealand. It will be the home of the artwork Ko Hāta Maria, te Matua Wahine o te Atua (Holy Mary, Mother of God) which was commissioned for the re-dedication of the country to Mary Assumed into Heaven which took place on 15 August 2021.