GRANNY HERALD PUTS ITS INKY FINGER ON MATARIKI

 

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The NZ Herald inadvertently puts its inky, stinky, globalist editorial finger right on the Matariki button. New Zealand didn't ask for Matariki Weekend: it was imposed as a fait accompli, unsolicited, on a nation which needed another holiday like it needed a hole in the head by a Prime Minister we needed like we needed a hole in the head.

PM Jacinda Ardern held this country in thrall and she knew that her fan club of 'She'll Be Right' Kiwis would be thrilled to bits by her 'gift' of another day off work. And Granny Herald's idea of a fun alternative to clocking in (booze and transgender sex) illustrates the state of the nation which settles for much less of what it once had: morality, mutual respect and common decency.


Five years ago, who'd heard of Matariki? A tiny minority of Maori and a clique of leftist academics who'd written pompous papers on it, who'd noticed the communist, globalist trend to indigeneity and the rise of iwi grifters, and hitched their careers to the ideology of Maorification.

We shouldn't be surprised at the success of this manoeuvre. Not when the Catholic Church (or rather, its Ape, led by 'Pope Francis'), noticing the drop in planned giving,  and emptying pews, seized its heretical, modernist opportunity and jumped on the Maori bandwagon. 

“It is an error," said a real Pope (Pius IX, in 1864) "to believe that man is free to embrace and profess any religion he shall choose, guided by his reason alone.” But when the post-Vatican II popes embraced ecumenism, indifferentism and syncretism (the heresies of blending religions) the NZ Catholic Bishops enthusiastically followed suit and developed their own variant, by adopting Matariki and the pagan pantheon of Te Atua.

God is God is God. The word does not equate with 'atua' which means, according to Te Aka Māori Dictionary, "god (lower case 'g'), demon, supernatural being, deity, ghost, object of superstitious regard."

 A bunch of stars is not 'the eyes of God', as claimed in a Matariki liturgy devised for Catholic children in supposedly Catholic schools in 2026 - a ritual which prays only for 'our common home' and saving the planet rather than saving souls, which is the Suprema Lex of the Catholic religion.

Something called Tō Tātou Whakapono Our Faith, approved by the NZ Bishops, "is actively founded on the principles of honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This is an active expression of our Catholic Special Character. New Zealand Catholic Bishops commit to the principles of Protection Partnership and Participation." Seems very much as if NZ Catholic Bishops commit to the principles of socialism, an ideology which was and is strictly forbidden to Catholics by several successive popes. If NZ's Catholic Bishops are as socialist as they sound, they're not Catholics any more than the communist globalists in the Vatican are Catholic.

"Māori tikanga and Catholic practice are the collective set of values and principles, which inform, guide and direct the way people relate to Atua/God." There it is. For NZ's Catholic Bishops, customary practices for behaviour in Māori culture (not in European or Asian culture, note) equates with the practice of the Catholic religion, "outside of which there is no salvation". 

What's more, " Māori Before English: Religious Education in Aotearoa NZ" https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/8/947  tells us that "the new religious education curriculum for Catholic schools in Aotearoa New Zealand demonstrates an extraordinary commitment to the inclusion of Māori culture and language" and posits the theory that there exists a "call that Māori need to be allowed to develop a theology from within their own culture and language." 

The Catholic Church in New Zealand used to be the Church of Nice. Now it's the church of Apostasy, abandoning the Catholic religion and throwing the faithful  - especially the children in its schools - under the buses to socialism and paganism. 

Read Judy Gill who knows her stuff on this, from bitter experience:  https://goodoil.news/the-catholic-church-and-matariki/#google_vignette

NZ Herald knows its (shrinking) readership. It knows what turns its readers on and it fills the awful vacuum created by loss of faith in God with what appeals to the worst in human nature - to the inclination to sin, the mention of which to NZ's Catholic Bishops seems anathema.  

Look. It's great that Maori enjoy whanau and celebrate the Maori New Year but what does it mean in practical terms, beyond planting things and eating and drinking things? In the Christian New Year it means making good resolutions. 

In the Catholic New Year, January 1 celebrates the Octave of the Birth of Jesus Christ, through Whom all things were made - including the stars Pleiades/Matariki - and to Whom all power is given on earth and in heaven. It's He Whom we must celebrate.

 Cringe: Dawn Matariki Karakia at the Pompallier Catholic Diocesan Centre yesterday

From Rodney Hide with his head screwed on - as always 

 

Sitting through karakia I am invariably reminded of the book of Daniel in which faithful Israelites found themselves serving in the courts of pagan Babylon. They showed respect to the authorities, excelled in their duties, and contributed to the empire’s good order.

 

Yet when the king’s table demanded compromise with idolatry or when the law forbade prayer to the true God, Daniel and his companions drew a firm line. They would not bow. 

 

 

Dog in the mangerism

That ancient precedent speaks directly to Christians in today’s New Zealand, where state institutions are steadily importing elements of pre-colonial Māori cosmology into schools, official ceremonies, and the public square.

 

It is a peculiar development because the Maori and English who founded New Zealand were Christian.  By 1845 half of all Maori were attending Christian services with claims that 90% of Māori had converted by 1852. 

 

The Treaty era and subsequent missions reflected a meeting of peoples who, despite deep cultural differences, largely accepted the Christian worldview. That shared foundation helped shape a nation of ordered liberty. 

 

The god of Matariki AND the god of food 

 

Today, secularism has hollowed out explicit Christianity, creating a spiritual vacuum that Māori spiritual concepts are filling under the banner of biculturalism. We need a ritual and so we pop in Maori prayer and protocol. 

 

It fills the gap and appears inclusive.  But this is no neutral enrichment. It presents a direct challenge to the First and Second Commandments: “You shall have no other gods before me” and “You shall not make for yourself an idol.”

Mana, Modern Chiefs, and Unaccountable Power

The resulting friction is increasingly apparent.  Central to this friction is “mana” -- inherited and achieved spiritual prestige that traditionally placed tribal leaders beyond casual challenge. Protecting mana drove behaviour and demanded reciprocity.

 

In contemporary politics and business, we see echoes of this: figures shielded by cultural deference who operate with an aura of chiefly authority that resists scrutiny. Questioning them risks being framed as cultural disrespect rather than legitimate democratic accountability. 

We see this tension evident in the iwi corporates and the multitude of Maori trusts enriched with taxpayer cash and legal advantage.  They are unaccountable and to question them is to cross the cultural line.

This sits uneasily with Christian teaching on authority. Scripture demands that all power be exercised with humility and held accountable to transcendent law.

 

New Zealand’s parliamentary tradition, itself influenced by biblical limits on kingship, assumes open debate and the right to criticise without fear of spiritual taboo. When mana-based status effectively elevates some voices above challenge, it imports a tribal hierarchy into institutions meant to serve all citizens equally.

 

We had a recent demonstration with Hon Shane Jones lashing journalists questioning his travel expenses.  To him they were trying to “malign the Matua's name” .

 

Utu Versus Grace

Pre-colonial ethics revolved around “utu” -- restoring balance through equivalent return, whether gift or grievance. Forgiveness was secondary to equilibrium and the preservation of mana.

 

Christianity subverts this with radical grace: the Cross settles the ultimate debt, freeing individuals to forgive as they have been forgiven. Repentance and personal transformation replace ritual balance.

Public policy and education increasingly take us back to pagan times.

 

Treaty settlements go on forever and there is no forgiveness for the white children who in school must take on the supposed sins of their forefathers.  There is no trial, no defence, and no forgiveness.  And the unchallenged sins of the forefathers travel down through the generations without end.

 

 

The god of Matariki meets the god of money

Karakia, Atua, and the Commandments in Schools

The tension is sharpest in education. “Karakia” opening school days or events are downplayed as “cultural mindfulness.” But whenever I check I find they invoke specific “atua” -- immanent spiritual powers tied to the “whakapapa” lineage descending from Ranginui and Papatūānuku.

 

For a Christian child, this is not neutral poetry. It directly engages the First Commandment’s prohibition against other gods and the Second’s warning against idols.

Daniel’s friends refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s image even under threat of death. Modern Christian parents face a softer but real pressure: participate or be marked as divisive.

 

The state has no business compelling children into spiritual practices that violate their family’s faith. Respect for Māori culture—its art, history, and “manaakitanga” -- does not require participation in its cosmology.

A Call for Principled Pluralism

 

New Zealand’s institutions should not replace one spiritual monopoly with another. Secularism’s neutrality was always a fiction; the vacuum is now being filled. Christians, like Daniel in Babylon, can serve faithfully, show courtesy, and contribute to the common good while refusing to compromise core allegiance.

 

Families must teach children to stand respectfully yet pray silently to the God of Scripture. Pastors and leaders should articulate these distinctions clearly rather than acquiesce for the sake of social harmony.

The nation was not built on animism and tribal reciprocity. Its strengths -- rule of law, individual rights, and capacity for forgiveness -- drew deeply from Christian soil.

 

Importing a rival metaphysical system wholesale into public life, while marginalising the historic faith, serves neither Māori nor non-Maori well. It breeds quiet resentment and weakens the shared public square.

Our schools should pursue cultural appreciation without spiritual compulsion. Christians must respond with clarity, courage, and the same steadfastness Daniel showed in Babylon. The Commandments have not changed. Neither has the God who gave them.

Rodney Hide is a former Minister and ACT Party leader

https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/rodney-hide-daniel-in-the-public-square-m%C4%81ori-spiritualism-an

 

 

 

Martyrs of Damascus, hacked to death by Druz Muslims for refusing to convert to Islam

 Martyrs of  Damascus, please pray for New Zealand