Catholic Religious Identity and Social Integration in Interwar New Zealand

CATHOLIC RELIGIOUS IDENTITY AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION IN INTERWAR NEW ZEALAND Christopher van der Krogt* Comparing the history of the Catholic Church in Australia and the United States, John Tracy Ellis noted, "In both communities an environment unfriendly to their religious faith nurtured a separatist spirit which varied according to time and place but which in general bred a so-called ghetto mentality."1 The Catholic "ghetto" was sustained to a considerable extent by the establishment of denominationally-based organizations and institutions which reinforced the Catholic worldview and reduced the need for Catholics to associate with non-Catholics in their daily Uves. Moreover, as Martin Marty has pointed out, it was not only Catholics who developed intellectual ghettos and denominational institutions which distinguished them from the dominant culture of the United States.2 Similar patterns developed in central and north-western Europe, finding their most extreme expression in the "pillarization" (verzuiling) of Belgium and the Netherlands. From the later nineteenth century until the 1960's, Catholics, Protestants, and Socialists developed more or less self-sufficient parallel societies or"pillars." Each pillar maintained its own cultural associations, sports clubs, educational institutions, social security organizations, trade unions, political parties, newspapers, and broadcasting networks. Collectively, the pillars were thought of as supporting the nation, and governments encouraged their development (for example, by subsidizing denominational schools) because it was assumed that minimizing the contact between antagonistic communities like Catholics and Calvinists was necessary to avoid social conflict.3 *Dr. van der Krogt has lectured in history at Massey University, Palmerston North, and in religious studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. This article summarizes a section of his Ph.D. thesis, "More a Part than Apart: The Catholic Community in New Zealand Society, 1918-1940" (Massey University, 1994). 'John Tracy Ellis, "Australian Catholicism: An American Perspective,"Journal ofReligious History, 10 (June, 1979), 314. 2Martin E. Marty, "The Catholic Ghetto and All the Other Ghettos," Catholic Historical Review, LXVIII (April, 1982), 185-205. 'Hugh McLeod, "Building the Catholic Ghetto': Catholic Organisations 1870-1914," in 47 48 CATHOLIC REUGIOUS IDENTITY AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION IN INTERWAR NEW ZEALAND New Zealand Catholics, as a minority group, needed to maintain their religious integrity without unduly antagonizing the Protestant majority. At 164,133 in 1921 and 195,261 in 1936, Catholics made up just over thirteen percent of the non-Maori population of interwar New Zealand. In 1921 seventy-six per cent of the population were either Anglicans, Presbyterians, or Methodists.4 Catholics' religious beliefs and practices, based on the evolving patterns of contemporary European (and North American) Catholic spirituality, marked them out as quite different from Protestants, including Anglicans whose church was overwhelmingly evangelical in tone. Moreover, the Catholic population as a whole was neither wealthy nor well-educated although some Catholics achieved prominence in business or politics, including Sir Joseph Ward (Prime Minister, 1906-1912, 1928-1930) and Michael Joseph Savage (Prime Minister, 1935-1940), who died in office, having recently returned to the faith of his childhood. As in other countries, the maintenance of Catholic identity by means of numerous lay organizations and religious institutions, especially during the interwar years, constitutes a prima-facie case for supposing that there was at least a Catholic ghetto in New Zealand. Catholics in Timara, for example, had a particularly well-organized parish of 2,350 souls in 1926.5 Lay organizations listed in 1928 included the Children of Mary, the Sacred Heart Sodality (for women), St. Anne's Guild (a women's charitable society), an Altar Society, the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society, a Girls' Club for former pupils of the school, a choir, and the Catholic Club. Affiliated to the latter were St. John's Tennis Club, the Celtic Cricket and Football Club, St. Patrick's Rifle Club, the Catholic Choral Society, the Literary and Debating Club, the Dramatic Club, and the Swimming Club.6 W.J. Sheils and Diana Wood (eds.), Voluntary Religion ("Studies in Church History" Volume 23 [Oxford, 1986]), pp. 411-412; Ernst H. Kossmann, The Low Countries, 1 780-1940 (Oxford, 1978), pp. 304, 568-569;John A. Coleman, The Evolution ofDutch Catholicism, 1958-1974 (Berkeley, 1978), pp. 58-68; Karel Dobbelaere, "Secularization, Pillarization, Religious...