Characteristics
In 2006, around 55% of New Zealanders identified as being Christian, with first Anglicanism then Catholicism and Presbyterianism being the largest denominations. The Census recorded 508,437 New Zealand Catholics, a 4.7% increase on the 2001 census. This represented about 12.3% of the overall population of New Zealand, which was measured at 4,143,279 people on census night. The number of Catholics increased by 12,900 between 1996 and 2001 and by 22,800 between 2001 and 2006 and the Catholic Church was the largest denomination in the Auckland region (where 31% of the total New Zealand population resides and where most immigrants settle). The percentage of Catholics in the 1901 Census was 14 percent, though at that time the church was only the third largest denomination.
Approximately 20% of New Zealand Catholics attend Mass at least once a week. Though numerically speaking, the church continues to grow, in recent times numbers of priests, nuns and brothers have declined, and the involvement of laypeople has increased. Catholic organisations in New Zealand remain heavily involved in community activities including education; health services; chaplaincy to prisons, rest homes, and hospitals; social justice and human rights advocacy. Catholic charities active in New Zealand include the St Vincent de Paul Society, and Caritas Internationalis. Recent political engagement by New Zealand Bishops have included statements issued in relation to: indigenous rights and Treaty of Waitangi issues; the rights of refugees and migrants; and promoting restorative Justice over retributive justice in New Zealand.
As with a number of other countries, the Catholic Church in New Zealand has had priests convicted of child sexual abuse.
Read more about this topic: Roman Catholicism In New Zealand