Catholicism arrived in Aotearoa in the form of well-respected French bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier, who celebrated NZ’s first Mass at Totara Point shortly after landing in the Hokianga in 1838. His remains were interred beneath the altar of this sweet little church in 2002, after an emotional 14-week pilgrimage full of Māori ceremony brought them back from France. You'll find it in the rural hamlet of Motuti, 22km west of Kohukohu.
St Mary’s Catholic Church
Bay of Islands & Northland
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