[5] In New Zealand there is one archdiocese (Wellington) and five suffragan dioceses (Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton and Palmerston North).

[6] The first Christian service conducted in New Zealand waters may have occurred if Father Paul-Antoine Léonard de Villefeix, the Dominican chaplain of the French navigator, Jean-François de Surville, celebrated Mass in Doubtless Bay, near Whatuwhiwhi, on Christmas Day, 1769.

[7][8] Nearly 70 years later, in January 1838, another Frenchman, Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier (1807–1871) arrived in New Zealand as the Vicar Apostolic of Western Oceania.

He celebrated his first Mass in New Zealand at Totara Point, Hokianga, at the home of an Irish family, Thomas and Mary Poynton and their children, on 13 January 1838.

As well as stationing missionaries in the north, Pompallier began work in the Bay of Plenty, in the Waikato amongst Māori, and in Auckland and Wellington areas amongst European settlers.

[10] As a result of disagreement between Pompallier and Jean-Claude Colin, Superior of the Marists in France, Rome agreed to divide New Zealand into two ecclesiastical administrations from 1850.

However, Pompallier, who was in Europe in 1850, returned to New Zealand with more priests, the first Sisters of Mercy and ten seminarians, whose training was quickly completed.

[10] After 1850, the Māori mission continued in the Auckland diocese in an attenuated form and could not be revived until after the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s.

In the Wellington diocese the Marists continued their work, to a limited extent, amongst Māori, notably at Ōtaki.

When Patrick Moran arrived as the first Catholic Bishop of Dunedin in February 1871, he was accompanied by ten Dominican nuns from the Sion Hill Convent, Dublin, and they proceeded to establish their schools within days of unpacking.

[20] The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart arrived in New Zealand in 1883 and established their first community at Temuka, South Canterbury.

[23] In 1997 the New Zealand Bishops' Conference agreed to support the "Introduction of the Cause of Suzanne Aubert", to begin the process of consideration for her canonisation as a saint by the Church.

[24] In the 20th century many other orders became established in New Zealand, including the Carmelite nuns in Christchurch and Auckland and the Cistercians in Hawke's Bay.

[36] In 2001, the Pope transmitted an apology for injustices done to the indigenous peoples of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, and asked for forgiveness where members of the church had been or still were party to such wrongs.

[39] From the 1990s, cases of abuse within the Catholic Church and other child care institutions began to be exposed in New Zealand.

The abuse was on a much lower scale than in Australia and many other countries because the Catholic Church had "a less prominent role in education and social welfare".

[45] In recent times numbers of priests, nuns and brothers have declined, and the involvement of laypeople has increased.

[46] Catholic organisations in New Zealand are involved in community activities including education; health and care services; chaplaincy to prisons, rest homes, and hospitals; social justice and human rights advocacy.

[52][53][54] In 1877, the new central government passed a secular Education Act and the Catholic Church decided to establish its own network of schools.

However, by the early 1970s, the Catholic system was on the brink of financial collapse trying to keep up with the post-WWII baby boom, suburban expansion, extension of compulsory education from six to nine years, and smaller class sizes.

The land and buildings continue to be owned by the local bishop or a religious order and are not government-funded; instead parents pay "attendance dues" for their upkeep.

Weld was a government minister from 1860, premier from 1864, and was later appointed governor of several British colonies (Western Australia, Tasmania, and the Straits Settlements).

"[61] In 1935, New Zealanders elected a Labour government led by another Catholic prime minister, Michael Joseph Savage.

[31] Later prime ministers Jim Bolger and Bill English were practising Catholics while serving in office.

Recent political engagement by New Zealand bishops have included statements issued in relation to: the anti-nuclear movement;[63] Māori rights and Treaty of Waitangi settlements; the rights of refugees and migrants; and promoting restorative justice over retributive justice in New Zealand.

The letter expressed concern that "state pressure will eventually be brought to bear against people’s freedom of conscience and speech.