Roman Catholic Diocese of Auckland

Diocese of Auckland

*Dioecesis Aucopolitana*
Diocese of Auckland; Dioecesis Aucopolitana
Location
Country	New Zealand
Territory	New Zealand
Ecclesiastical province	Wellington
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	13 May 1836
Cathedral	St Patrick's
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Stephen Marmion Lowe, Bishop of Auckland
Auxiliary Bishops	Michael Andrew Gielen
Bishops emeritus	Patrick James Dunn

The Diocese of Auckland is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in New Zealand. It was one of two dioceses in the country that were established on 20 June 1848. Auckland became a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Wellington in 1887.^[1] A large area of the diocese south of Auckland was split from the diocese on 6 March 1980 to form the Diocese of Hamilton. As of 2021^[update], almost 40 per cent of New Zealand’s 471,000 Catholics lived within the diocese of Auckland.^[2]

Ordinaries of Auckland

Tenure	Incumbent	Life
1836–1842	Jean-Baptiste-François Pompallier (Vicar Apostolic of Western Oceania); see below	1802–1871
1842–1848	Jean-Baptiste-François Pompallier (Vicar Apostolic of New Zealand); see above & below
1848–1869	Jean-Baptiste-François Pompallier (1st Bishop of Auckland); see above
1870–1874	Thomas Croke	1824–1902
1879–1881	Walter Steins SJ, Archbishop (personal title)	1800–1881
1882–1896	John Luck OSB	1840–1896
1896–1910	George Lenihan OSB	1858–1910
1910–1929	Henry Cleary	1859–1929
1929–1970	James Liston, Archbishop (personal title) in 1953	1881–1976
1970–1974	Reginald John Delargey (future Cardinal)	1914–1979
1974–1983	John Mackey	1918–2014
1983–1994	Denis Browne	Born 1937
1994–2021	Patrick Dunn	Born 1950
2021–present	Stephen Lowe	Born 1962

Delargey was appointed Archbishop of Wellington in 1974 (Cardinal in 1976).
Browne was appointed Bishop of Hamilton in New Zealand in 1994.

Other bishops

Auxiliary bishops

Reginald John Delargey (1914–1979) (Priest: 19 Mar 1938; Auxiliary Bishop: 25 Nov 1957; Bishop: 1 Sep 1970 to 25 Apr 1974); later Cardinal.
Edward Gaines (Auxiliary Bishop: 28 Oct 1976 to 6 Mar 1980), appointed Bishop of Hamilton.
John Hubert Macey Rodgers SM (1915–1997) Vicar Apostolic of Tonga (1953–1957), Vicar Apostolic of Tonga and Niue (1957–1966) Bishop of Tonga (1966–1973), Bishop of Rarotonga (1973–1977), Auxiliary Bishop of Auckland (1977–1985), Superior of the Mission, Funafuti, Tuvalu (1986).
Patrick Dunn (Priest: 24 Apr 1976; Auxiliary Bishop: 10 Jun 1994; Bishop: 19 Dec 1994 to 17 Dec 2021).
Michael Gielen (born 2 June 1971), Auxiliary Bishop of Auckland (2020–2022); Bishop of Christchurch (2022-present)

Coadjutor bishop

James Michael Liston (1920–1929).

Bishop assistant

Robin Walsh Leamy SM (1934 – 2022), Bishop Emeritus of Rarotonga, Cook Islands, (Bishop Assistant in Auckland: 1996–2009)^[3])

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

Matthew Joseph Brodie, appointed Bishop of Christchurch in 1915
Peter Thomas McKeefry, appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Wellington in 1947; Cardinal from 1969
Owen Noel Snedden, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Wellington in 1962