WelCom February/March 2025
Monsignor Gerard Burns
The annual Waitangi Day Mass hosted at St Mary of the Angels has been celebrated for about 20 years. On Waitangi Day a good-sized congregation gathered again for this celebration, presided over by Archbishop Paul Martin sm. Archbishop Paul drew from the first reading’s image of the desert to reflect on what life here could and can be like, touching also on the role of the Church in public life.
The Waitangi Day Mass has always had the particular participation of Te Ngākau Tapu parish community based in Porirua and the SMOA choir. There are songs and prayers in te reo, English, Latin and various other languages of the congregation. It is a wonderful chance to think and pray for the land of Aotearoa and the connections and covenants made since 1840 and there was a sense of joy in the celebration and the recognition of all the different contributions to life here.
At a time when there is much discussion about te Tiriti, the Mass reminded us of the spiritual basis of human encounters – the recognition of each one’s dignity, mana and tapu. For that reason te Tiriti is being spoken of more frequently as a sacred covenant, similar to the covenants so central to the Bible and Christian life.
Pā Peter Healy and Pa Phil Cody read the following karakia at Mass at Pukekaraka. This karakia was recited by Ngāmanu of Ngāti Hau and Ngāti Kaharau after he had signed the Treaty in Tamaki, on 9 July 1840. In 1840 more than 500 chiefs signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Haere mai e Te Tiriti o Waitangi
Haere mai ki tēnei ao
Haere mai me ngā hua kei roto i a koe
Tū mai ki tō mātou taha
Noho mai ki tō mātou taha
Takiri a nuku
Takiri a rangi
Te Manawa tī
Te Manawa tā
Tenei re kare kau
Te kare a roto e
Welcome Te Tiriti o Waitangi
Welcome to this world
Welcome with the fruits you have in you
Stand by our side
Sit by our side
Proceed along the land
Proceed along the heavens
‘Tis the enduring breath
The breath of life
Here within are the ripples
The ripples of passion and emotions within