CATHOLIC BISHOPS SEE TE TIRITI AS A GOD

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Are New Zealand's Catholics cringing? Probably not - even though Cardinal John Dew and Archbishop Paul Martin are denying the Gospel they were ordained to teach. In jumping on a ricketty bandwagon calling for David Seymour's Treaty Principles Bill to be voted down, they and 400 other so-called Christians have set up Te Tiriti Waitangi as a god. 

The bitter fruits of the Second Vatican Council dangle before the eyes of the world: a generation of prelates and people conditioned by the Novus Ordo Mass are now incapable of discerning good from evil. Traditional Latin Massgoers will be appalled at this socialist, woke, non-Catholic, non-Christian breach of the First Commandment, but Antipope Francis and his heterodox hierarchy have ensured that as a tiny minority the TLM's voice in  Church and civic affairs is stifled and heard by God alone.

This page holds no brief for David Seymour. He believes the latterday massacre of the innocents is just fine and that we all can decide for ourselves who's allowed to live, and how and when we die. But even while professing such anti-Christian sentiments on abortion and euthanasia, on the issue of Te Tiriti Seymour deserves the support of any Christian, let alone a Catholic cardinal and archbishop. 

Seymour faces the music

Thanks be to God, not all the Catholic bishops have signed this woke, weak-kneed document (which strangely omits any pix of Jacinda). In a rare but encouraging split in the hierarchy, Bishops John Adams, Michael Gielen and Richard Laurenson have declined to join the ranks of the tired old social justice warriors. As someone tweeted on X today: "A quick search of Common Grace (the website promoting the letter) will show that the 400 Christian’s (sic) who signed the letter against @dbseymour ’s treaty principles bill are politically motivated leftist climate zealots."

Pretty much what we've been saying about NZ's Catholic Bishops for some time now.

Among their fellow travellers are the following (most no surprise, just sad):

 

1. Archbishop Paul Martin, SM Catholic Archbishop of Wellington
2. Cardinal John Dew, Roman Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Wellington
3. Bishop Stephen Lowe, Catholic Bishop of Auckland
4. Bishop Michael Dooley, Catholic Bishop of Dunedin
5. Bishop Peter Cullinane, Bishop Emeritus, Catholic Diocese of Palmerston North
6. Bishop Owen Dolan, Bishop Emeritus of the Palmerston North Catholic Diocese
7. Professor Jim McAloon, Chairperson of the Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington Commission for Ecology, Justice, and Peace
8. Fr. Kevin Mowbray SM, parish priest, St Mary of the Angels, Wellington, Roman Catholic
9. Fr Uili Uvea, SVD. Assistant Priest at Te Awakairangi Parish, Catholic
10. Mr Joseph Green, Lay Pastoral Leader, Catholic Archdiocese Of Wellington
11. Rev Jim Consedine, Retired parish priest, Catholic
12. Rajaseklhar Reddy Kommareddy, Parish Priest, Te Awakairangi Catholic Church Avalon, Wellington
13. Rev. Dr Kevin Connors, Catholic Church, Wellington 
14. Rev. Michael Bellizzi, Catholic Parish Priest, Kahurangi Pastoral Area, Priest at Our Lady of the Bays Parish, Nelson/Tasman
15. Fr James Lyons, Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington
16. Sister Colleen Woodcock, Catholic Sister in Manawatu-Wanganui
17. Rev. Paul O’Conner, Catholic Church Wellington
18. Fr Jeffrey Drane, Catholic
19. Fr John van der Kaa, Roman Catholic
20. Pā Peter Healy, Māori Pastoral Care, Catholic
21. Rev Dr Michael McCabe, Catholic
22. Deacon Matt White, Catholic
23. Jen Mano-Martinez, Leader of The Logos Project, Catholic
24. Bishop Colin Campbell, Catholic Bishop Emeritus of Dunedin Diocese
25. Kathleen Rita Cahill - Catholic sister of St Joseph, Bay of Plenty.
26. Sister Meg Hills, Catholic sister of St Joseph
27. Brother Phillip Jeffares, Order of Friars Minor Catholic
28. Sister Anne Powell, Catholic
29. Sister Clare O'Connor, Catholic
30. Sister Mary Jackson Kay, Catholic
31. Sister Kathleen Ryan, Catholic
32. Sister Margaret Anne Mills dolc, Sisters of Compassion, Catholic
33. Sister Sue Cosgrove, Catholic
34. Sister Carmel Cole, Catholic
35. Sister Margaret Monaghan, Province Leader Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, Catholic
36. Sister Merle Hiscock, Catholic
37. Sister Elizabeth Snedden, Coordinator Religious of the Sacred Heart in NZ, Catholic,
38. Sister Noreen McGrath, Catholic
39. Sister Colleen Woodcock, Catholic
40. Sister Moya Campbell, Catholic
41. Sister Anne Burk, Catholic
42. Sister Lee Tan, Catholic
43. Sister Tina Capeli, Catholic
44. Sister Marie Skidmore, Catholic
45. Sister Margaret O’Neill, Catholic
46. Sister Makareta Tawaroa, Catholic

 

Here's Peter Williams to explain to these sorry victims of the 'Spirit of Vatican II' just what their Christian faith means in the context of the Treaty: 

To the extent that I’m not Muslim or Hindu or a Buddhist or a Sikh, when I’m asked what my religion is I answer Christian. That doesn’t mean I’m a practicing church-going Christian or a devout one. But I know about being a Christian because I’ve been one all my life.

 

What I do know is that in the Christian church there is only one sacred text. It’s called the Bible.

 

That’s why it’s somewhat staggering to find out that in 2024 many Christians view the Treaty of Waitangi as a sacred document. Actually that’s wrong. According to these more than 400 church leaders, presumably all of them Christian although this isn’t stated in reports, it’s Te Tiriti which is sacred and covenantal.

 

As we know by now, the difference between the Treaty and Te Tiriti is more than subtle.

 

The 400 church leaders have waded into a political discussion and want to stop the Act Party’s Treaty of Waitangi Treaty Principles Bill from even going before the Parliament.

It’s not the first time the Christian church has waded into the political realm, and it’s not without rationale to do so.

Christianity is based on love for all of God’s children, a love that is shared equally. So the church’s involvement in the apartheid and associated rugby tour issues of 45 years ago was completely understandable.

What staggers me with this initiative is that these church leaders now appear to believe that all of God’s children are not created equal and that some deserve more love than others. That’s not Christian, is it?

 

Although the Treaty Principles Bill is not yet completed and not publicly available in its full draft form, we know the basics of what Act will propose:

(1) The Government of New Zealand has the right to govern all New Zealanders.

(2) Everybody in this country has chieftainship over their land and property.

(3) Everybody in New Zealand is equal before the law.

If we understand the basic tenet of Christianity, that is love for all of God’s children, what’s not to like about any of those principles? 

The most extraordinary aspect of this Open Letter to all MPs is this: “we affirm that Te Tiriti o Waitangi protects the Tino Rangatiratanga of hapu and iwi. That rangatiratanga over land and taonga is to be upheld.” 

The second of the principles that Act are proposing does just that. Sure, in deference to the most widely spoken language in this nation, the second principle mentions the chieftainship of all New Zealanders over their land and property.

Call me stupid, but as a non-scholar of te reo, isn’t Tino Rangatiratanga best translated as chieftainship? Essentially the proposed bill is saying if you own property, whether it be land or any other asset, you have the right to use, alter, invest in or divest that property or asset as you see fit, within the confines of the law – including for now the restrictions of the Resource Management Act.

The Open Letter then dives deep into generalisations. For example “The Treaty Principles Bill may destabilise and harm Aotearoa New Zealand. We believe the Bill will lead to division between the peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, cause the spread of disinformation and hinder efforts at healing and reconciliation.”

It is supposition at best. They can believe what they want, but how can a bill which stresses equality before the law for all lead to division between the peoples?

The letter does acknowledge the work of early missionaries in the signing of the Treaty in 1840. The Williams father and son, Henry and Edward, translated the words of Busby and Hobson then presented and explained them to the chiefs in a form that the prospective signatories could understand.

So the New Zealand Christian church of 1840, through the Church Missionary Society, was a key driver of the Treaty. Henry Williams and most missionaries actively supported British annexation believing, according to official New Zealand government history, that it was necessary to protect Maori from lawless Europeans.

 

Williams and his son were given one night to translate the English text into what was then a very immature and restricted written Maori language. The translation, and the arguments about what means what, have been the source of endless discussion, argument and legal battles ever since, especially since the passing of the Treaty of Waitangi Act in 1975 and its infamous phrase “the Principles of the Treaty.”

What David Seymour and Act are trying to do is to bring some legislative direction to the ever moving and ever evolving principles as decreed by a variety of judges, academics, activists and the Waitangi Tribunal. Surely that is no bad thing?

After all, the very first principle of the Bill lays out in plain English – the government of New Zealand is sovereign and has the right to govern the country. We don’t want anyone else doing that do we?

But therein lies the problem. Too many people DO want some body other than the government running the show, our at least sharing in the process. And have those proposing this ever thought it through? Ever thought of the potential chaos that could eventuate?

How can Christian church leaders, the ones who preach God’s love to all his children, suggest that some are more equal than others?

Seymour’s bill is brave, probably destined to failure, but it is creating a public discussion through the democratic process of the Parliamentary Select Committee – which will be chaired by a young Maori in Rangitata MP James Meagher.

Yet the penultimate paragraph of this Open Letter from the 400 Church leaders calls on all members of Parliament to “do everything in their power to not take this Bill to Select Committee to work towards the ongoing restoration of the Tiriti relationship.”

Brainless. 

Apart from that sentence being oxymoronic in the extreme, the Church leaders appear to have relinquished their belief in democracy and free speech.

 

That is not Christian in the slightest. Maybe they should all take a deep breath and remember the vows they took.

And remember that there is just the one sacred Christian text.https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2024/09/peter-williams-how-christian-are-400.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawFLdONleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHTw-dvmbenAFJDNst4CiMv9rhH96Mu7W_kAiUSK4b7qLx2J9VjEeSDiC4Q_aem_adU8mIZnVXTAuGgKIod6Lg

 

But evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse: erring, and driving into error. But continue thou in those things which thou hast learned, and which have been committed to thee: knowing of whom thou hast learned them;  And because from thy infancy thou hast known the holy scriptures, which can instruct thee to salvation, by the faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim 3:13-15).