Founded on Rock Putting into practice Catholic teaching on land and the environment

Number twelve in the Caritas Social Justice Series photo: photo: adrian heke

For Social Justice Week 2007

9 to 15 September

CARITAS AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND 2007 Published by Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand PO Box 12-193 Thorndon, Wellington, New Zealand [email protected] www.caritas.org.nz

© CARITAS AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND

Previous titles in the Social Justice Series: 1 A Fresh Start: The Eradication of Poverty 2 Homelessness 3 Employment and Justice 4 Health: A Social Justice Perspective 5 The Digital Divide: Poverty and Wealth in the Information Age 6 Paying the Piper: Ourselves, Our World and Debt 7 Welcoming the Stranger: Refugees and Migrants in the Modern World 8 Born to us: Children in New Zealand 9 Out of the Depths: Mental Health in New Zealand 10 In the presence of all peoples: Celebrating cultural diversity 11 Renew the face of the earth: Environmental justice

Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like the wise person who built a house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock. Matthew 7:24-25

This booklet and other Social Justice Week materials have been printed on paper produced from sustainable sources, after consideration of the options available to us to reduce the impact on the environment.

Caritas would like to thank the people whose pictures and stories appear in this booklet, especially: Sr Makareta Tawaroa, Sr Noelene Landrigan, Sr Colleen Woodcock, Terence and Jill Whelan, Markus Gripp, Rex Begley, Sr Barbara Cowan, Anne Waitai and the Tamareheroto hapu, Doña Clara and CALDH, Cathy Bolinga and Caritas Papua New Guinea, Ioane and Filifili Lemisio, Michael Mrong and Caritas Bangladesh, Benedict Ole Nangore and CORDS, Tobias Bareh, Linda Simmons, Abakada Kayumanggi Community Development Foundation and the people of the East Riverside community of Malabon, Mintu Deshwara, Barbara Rowley and Naenae parish, Cynthia Piper, Sharron Cole and Petone parish.

Research and writing: Martin de Jong and Lisa Beech Additional writing: Te Hokinga Mai (pages 24-25) – Anne Waitai and Sr Barbara Cowan Photography: Adrian Heke Additional photography: Lisa Beech, Martin de Jong, Tara D’Sousa, Mark Coote, Regina Scheyvens, Jonathon Moller, Max Simmons, John Lewin, Mary Betz Cover photography: Adrian Heke Graphic design and print consultancy: Rose Miller Printing: The Print Room

ISBN: 0-908631-38-3 ISSN: 1174-331x Foreword

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and God is continually calling us to conversion. This includes acts on them will be like the wise person who calling us to think and act in ways which take into built a house on rock. Rain came down, floods account the future of our planet and its people. This rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against we call ecological conversion. We must care for the that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on earth – for our environment. In the Bible, the whole rock.” idea of “justice” means right relations with our God, our neighbour and our environment. Right relationships Matthew 7:24-25 with our environment is an integral part of our Christian ethic. It is the poor and vulnerable who suffer the most These words of Jesus give us hope. Even though the from the deterioration of our natural environment. world as we know it seems threatened by human- induced climatic disaster, even though rain may fall, The Old Testament Prophets cried out against the floods rise, and gales blow - if we listen to God’s Word, injustice of those who accumulated large landholdings and to the teaching and guidance of the Church in at the expense of the poor, and the early Christian making that Word applicable and relevant to our lives Fathers reminded us that the world was given for all, today, then we have cause to hope, because our actions and not only for the rich. In many parts of the world, 3 will be “founded on rock”. the separation of people from their traditional lands is a grave injustice.

As Catholics, we are told by Jesus to “build our houses on rock”, to imitate Him in our relationship with all creation, and to be truly stewards of God’s creation. We ask you to join with Caritas in this year’s Social Justice Week, and to consider ways of putting into practice Catholic teaching on land and the environment.

Bishop Robin Leamy

Episcopal Deputy for Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand photo: photo: adrian heke Contents

Foreword ...... 3

Introduction: God works through human history ...... 5

Land: God’s gift ...... 8

God's own: The last settled place on earth ...... 10

Rooted in the soil ...... 12

Land and identity ...... 14

Displacement ...... 16

Landlessness ...... 18

This sacred earth ...... 20

Healing and reconciliation ...... 22

Conclusion: Bearing fruit ...... 26

Appendix: Catholic social teaching ...... 27

Glossary of Te Reo Maori words used in the text ...... 28 God is with us Matthew 1:23

However, the reality is that both Jewish and Christian Introduction: God works traditions are based in actual historical situations – the through human history stories of how God was revealed to particular people, at a particular time and place.

Our Old Testament tradition is based on the “Christ is now in history. Christ is in the womb of extraordinary revelation of a God who intervened in the people. Christ is now bringing about a new human history to rescue the Hebrews from slavery, and heaven and a new earth.” led them to the promised land. The New Testament Archbishop Oscar Romero revelation is of the Incarnation, of God becoming flesh to share a human life with us, in a particular time and place. Christians are sometimes accused of offering “pie in the We know and experience God in the places we are born sky” solutions to pressing world problems. The phrase and live out our lives. itself entered our vocabulary from a song by Joe Hill, Our Biblical tradition is filled with the images of people speaking of preachers who offer “pie in the sky when you who saw God’s hand in all creation. God is our rock, God die” to people asking for help with present-day hunger. is water in a parched land, as immense as the forces of nature, or as approachable as the “still small voice” on the mountainside. The writers of the psalms speak of a God revealed through nature. They show their love and their knowledge of God in particular places: “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land” lament the 5 exiles from Israel who were taken to Babylon as slaves.

However, the Old Testament writers knew a world in which human activity was seen as operating in accordance with natural forces over which they had no control. The writer of Ecclesiastes who said “A generation comes and a generation goes, but the earth remains forever” could not have envisaged the environmental destruction our generation faces, where human activity itself has put at risk the future not only of the people, but of our planet itself.

Our Catholic social teaching tells us of the importance of stewardship – of caring for all the gifts of the earth that God has given us. But there is a greater message too, that it is in this earth that we understand and know God. “It is in this world that Christian hope must shine forth,” said Pope John Paul II. 1

For some modern New Zealanders, whose ancestors – or they themselves – broke traditional connections with places, by choice or necessity, to come here, the attachment of people to particular places may seem strange. However, there are many others – both ancient and recent immigrants – for whom the roots are deeply connected to particular places in Aotearoa New Zealand.

As we consider both historic land issues in New Zealand

photo: photo: adrian heke and present day environmental concerns, it can be

1 Pope John Paul II: Ecclesia in Eucharista, 2004 helpful to understand that throughout the world there environmental disasters, both natural and man made, are many situations of conflict and injustice related to but often resulting from factors over which people’s land. There is also a wealth of Catholic social teaching to actions have some control. draw on in considering the morality of land use. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Some of these relate to people forced from traditional estimates there are now more people displaced by homelands, a process which began with the behaviour environmental factors than by political ones – more than of the first colonists of the “New World” of the Americas, 25 million, compared to 22 million political refugees and drew a response from Catholic theologians of that – with those numbers predicted to increase as climate time which led to an understanding of universal human change affects more island nations and coastal areas. 3 rights.2 For other people alienation from land results from

In the 16th century, soldier turned Dominican priest – One of the programmes trains villagers to become and later Bishop – Bartholomé de las Casas witnessed “barefoot forensic scientists”. They will exhume the violent dispossession of the peaceful people of bodies of victims such that the evidence will be Latin America by the Spanish colonisers. The horror preserved and accepted in the court system. A he saw led him to argue in the courts of Spain for formal death certificate can then be obtained, so that the rights of indigenous people to their land. This the relatives of those killed can reclaim their land, contributed to the development of the understanding become legal citizens in the place they were born, of human rights and dignity, in both Catholic social and begin to rebuild their lives. teaching and broader international humanitarian law and conventions.

In his 1552 book An account of the devastation of the Indies he described the slaughter of the original inhabitants of much of Latin America and the devastation of their environment, for example: “Thirty other islands in the vicinity of San Juan are for 6 the most part and for the same reason depopulated, and the land laid waste.” He said the inhabitants of the Indies had never committed any act against the Spanish Christians who invaded them, until they were first the victims of “countless cruel aggressions”. Such cruelty he said was committed “not for the honour of God” or “to promote the Salvation of their Neighbours” but “in truth, only stimulated and goaded on by insatiable Avarice and Ambition” to acquire the Kingdoms of the West Indians.

Despite the work of de las Casas and other theologians, and the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, however, 500 years later, the descendants of those who survived photo: photo: jonathon moller the Spanish slaughter continue to face violent dispossession. During an exhumation, Doña Clara holds a portrait of her husband whose remains are being unearthed. Guatemala in the latter decades of the 20th century He was fifty years old when soldiers shot him in suffered huge conflict and human rights abuses. Over 1982. 100,000 people were killed in the highlands, many of them indigenous people deprived of their last remaining lands. Now, Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand is working with Trocaire (Caritas Ireland) and local partner Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH) to take legal cases against those responsible for the atrocities, and help those who fled return to their land.

2 Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace: The Church and Racism, 1988 3 UNHCR: The state of the world’s refugees, 2006 In the midst of this, we remember that the Son of As Pope John Paul II said to the Church in our region in God took flesh and lived with us – in a particular 2001: “All that God did in the midst of his chosen people time and place, with a specific people, in a specific revealed what he intended to do for all humanity, for all culture. The birth narrative of Jesus, which we celebrate peoples and cultures. The Scriptures tell us this story of enthusiastically each Christmas, includes the less starry- God acting among his people. From deep within human eyed experience of his family fleeing persecution by King history, the story of Jesus speaks to the people not only Herod. Early childhood experiences of dislocation and of his time and culture but of every time and culture. He dispossession may have contributed to his message to is for ever the Word made flesh for all the world; he is us today to offer hospitality to newcomers – “I was a the Gospel that was brought to Oceania; and he is the stranger and you welcomed me”. Gospel that now must be proclaimed anew.” 4

Tiakingia te whenua, Tiakingia te tangata Caring for the land, caring for the people

“My earliest memories are of pushing corn into the ground,” says Sr Makareta Tawaroa who has returned to live on her family land at Kaiwhaiki Marae, on the Whanganui River.

The land now occupied with homes was once covered with gardens. “All of this was kai – potato, corn, kumara. There was a time when we all had our gardens. When I was a kid, you didn’t buy fruit, didn’t buy bread and butter, and certainly didn’t buy meat. We used to go for a walk, you would pick 7 a thistle here, some wild briar there. There were blackberries and gooseberries. We didn’t need to take sandwiches. There were the cutty grasses – some are better than others to eat – and the dandelions. That was all kai.”

While caring for children who have made their homes with her, Sr Makareta also wanted to see her family land once again being used to grow fruit and vegetables, to support the people who live on it, but also to help restore the land itself. “Now my biggest role is to learn how to nurture the awa, the soil, and the birds, the animals and, most importantly, the mokopuna. I feel this is my greatest vocation,” she says.

Sisters of St Joseph and friends, Noelene Landrigan and Colleen Woodcock, see their work with Makareta and the whanau as part of their commitment to tangata whenua. “We see working with Makareta as a way in which we can link more closely with the life and aspirations of Whanganui iwi.” photos: photos: adrian heke

4 Pope John Paul II: Ecclesia in Oceania, 2001 The world is given to all, and not only to the rich St Ambrose

This ultimate Lordship of God over the earth is expressed Land: God’s gift in the Hebrew tradition of the Jubilee and sabbatical years. The Jewish tradition is outlined in Leviticus “Land, a common good for all of humanity”. 25:4-5 – “But during the seventh year the land shall have complete rest, a Sabbath for the Lord, when you Cardinal Etchegary may neither sow your field nor prune your vineyards. At Pentecost, we pray: “Lord send out your spirit, and Do not harvest the grain that grows by itself without renew the face of the earth”. Pope Benedict said in being planted, and do not gather the grapes from your 2006 that we need to recognise Pentecost as the feast of unpruned vines; it is a year of complete rest for the land.” creation, made not to exist of itself, but from the creative The Hebrews rested the land every seven years. It is spirit of God. “We cannot use and abuse the world and a practice echoed today by many organic farmers, matter merely as material for our actions and desires: we though more flexibly. Terence Whelan, a farmer in South must consider creation a gift that has not been given to Taranaki, says, “You have to shut your farm up every us to be destroyed, but to become God’s garden, hence, seventh year – or more practically, shut one seventh of a garden for men and women.” 6 your farm up each year.” It gives time for the soil and organisms to renew themselves naturally. Catholic social teaching tells us that when God created man and woman, he gave them “the good things of In addition to resting the land every seventh year, every the earth for their use and benefit”.7 However, because fiftieth year was a Year of Jubilee: “You shall hallow the creation is entrusted to human stewardship, the natural fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout world is not just a resource to be exploited “but also a the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee year for reality to be respected and even reverenced as a gift and you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property 8 trust from God.” 8 and every one of you to your family.” Leviticus 25:10

Before we look at land issues in our world today, we need In the Jubilee ideal, the early Hebrews had the answer to consider the nature of land in God’s eyes, as revealed to continuous land agglomeration by the rich. Whether through Scripture and Church teaching. “Creation … is a land had been given away, sold, or lost through unpaid gift of God, a gift for all, and God wants it to remain so… debts in the 50 years prior to the Jubilee, it would be The earth is God’s and … God has given it as a heritage given back, and the temporary possessors compensated to all the children of Israel.” 9 for any improvements they had made on the land. The Catholic social teaching upholds the right to private Jubilee tradition intended that concentration of land property, but not as an absolute right. It subordinates ownership would be avoided. It would take the profit out private property to the principle of the universal of landholding, leaving no incentive for speculation. destination of goods. It especially criticises large The New Zealand Catholic Bishops have said that the landholdings which are poorly cultivated, or left sabbatical and jubilee traditions point to a future which uncultivated for speculation, when the growing food would be good news for the poor, the broken hearted needs of the majority – with little or no access to land – and all who needed to be set free. “They celebrated these require increased food production. Nobody has the right years by allowing the earth to lie fallow, by setting slaves to deprive a person who has use of land of its possession. free, cancelling debts, and allowing people to return to On the other hand, “any form of absolute and arbitrary their land if they had lost it… Their faith involved the idea possession exclusively for one’s own advantage is of restoring right relationships with one another based on forbidden: we cannot do whatever we want with the acknowledging that the earth ultimately belongs to God 10 goods that God has given to all.” 11 alone, and that God has given it for the benefit of all.”

5 Cardinal Etchegary: Introduction to Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace document: “Towards a better distribution of land”, 1997 6 Pope Benedict XVI: Homily for Pentecost, 2006 7 Pope John Paul II: Address at Alice Springs, 1986 8 Pope John Paul II: Ecclesia in Oceania, 2001 9 Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace: Towards a better distribution of land, 1997 10 Ibid 11 New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference: The Church in Jubilee, 1996 Jubilee was – and is – about restoring good in people’s lives and communities, about re-establishing justice, restoring land, and restoring equality. The poor could reclaim their property, and the rich would have to recognise the rights of the poor – to have what they needed to live a decent life.

“The earth and resources were given for all of us,” says Sr Noelene. “We realise that we have used the abundance of earth in an exploitative and unsustainable manner. We have to recover a mystique of rain, otherwise we will never have clean water.”

“Like five-year-old children, we have to fall in love with the outdoors,” says Sr Colleen. “Little children show such awe and wonder when seeing small creatures – every little insect is greeted with such rapture.” photo: photo: adrian heke

9 up of mud and sand banks, “making it shallower than before and the fish population has decreased.”

Other impacts include destruction of natural habitats, and soil erosion. “Barren areas where trees once thrived have become vulnerable to soil erosion, particularly those on slopes. They wear away into the water systems and eventually into the sea.” Cathy says also the logging companies bring benefits, which local people enjoy. “But there needs to be proper assessment of the benefits before going ahead with logging operations, as the impact on the environment can be unstable in the long run.” Cathy Bolinga of Caritas Papua New Guinea sees the She says the destruction of the environment is the effect of environmental destruction on the lives of destruction of God’s creation. “We human beings her people. “Papua New Guinea has the majority of did not create the environment, but the surrounding its population living in the rural areas, and most of environment is there for us to use and look after their livelihood is dependent on the environment. so others who will come after us will also use and When logging and other resource development takes benefit from this environment. So that makes us place, it affects the livelihood of these people. Their become stewards of the environment which is God’s hunting, gardening, food sources and medicine creation. And in order for us to pass it onto the future sources are destroyed.” generation we need to conserve and sustain the People’s nutrition is poor as food sources are lost environment. So we need to ensure that the activities from the forest, sea and rivers. “The rivers have that are taking place now must consider the future become polluted with machinery, oil and chemicals.” generation. The land and the environment are for all As logs are transported on the rivers, there is a build- generations now and the future to benefit.” Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations? Job 38:4

the first settlers managed “to turn New Zealand’s natural God’s own: The last and environmental conditions to human advantage.” settled place on Earth They learned to conserve supplies. When items became scarce, a rahui or prohibition was put on them, until the resource recovered. They survived, and turned an “Experience shows that disregard for the imported culture into an indigenous one, “connected environment always harms human coexistence, inextricably to the roots and soil of New Zealand”.16 “In and vice versa. It becomes more and more the process of colonising the land and learning about its evident that there is an inseparable link between ecology, the Polynesian island settlers became Maori.” 17 peace with creation and peace among people.” 12 When Europeans arrived in force, the transformation Pope Benedict XVI intensified. What took twenty centuries in Europe, and four centuries in North America, happened in about What of this place – our place – “the last settled place on 18 100 years in New Zealand. The bush was reduced to a Earth”.13 How have we treated God’s own gift to us here? quarter of the total land area – most of it not felled for 19 In geological and human time, New Zealand is young. timber, but burnt to make way for pasture. Grass, largely Isolated from other land masses for 70-80 million years, native tussock, once covered only five percent of the it evolved plant and animal species not seen elsewhere, country. Now over half the country is sown in introduced 20 marked by an absence of ground-based mammals. Birds grasses. Environmental scientists Richard Tong and and bush were prolific. On the edge of the Pacific “rim Geoffrey Cox say native forest and cultivated land now of fire”, its regular earthquakes and volcanic activity coexist as “two totally different and largely incompatible 10 testify that it is a land still very much “in formation”. ecosystems in unnatural and uneasy proximity”, on Both our Pacific and European ancestors here did not “perhaps the most highly modified country on earth”. fully appreciate the nature and extent of the gift – nor The soil which feeds us – and our economy – has been its fragility. Its soils – largely thin, acidic and low in hugely modified, and our “clean and green” farmlands nutrients – were suited primarily for the plants which had are kept producing through imported fertiliser and 21 evolved to live on them.14 Its birds, many of them large introduced nitrogen-fixing plants. or flightless, were vulnerable when mammals arrived, The lowland native forests which bore the brunt of the especially the human variety. attack once covered almost 60 percent of the country, but now exist as scattered remnants. Ecologist Geoff Park says Within 200 years of human settlement, moa and other these forests were once pieces in a jigsaw. When removed, large birds had disappeared, and the rats and dogs the birds no longer had access to rich floodplain forests and new arrivals brought with them were also taking their toll coastal swamps: “the hill and mountain forests went on smaller creatures. Clearances and widespread burnings silent”. In the mid-1980s he began a journey to find out reduced forest cover on the new land from 85 percent to what had happened to the coastal lowlands. His journey about 53 percent by the time Europeans arrived. 15 led him to conclude that New Zealand’s forests were not However, as with their settlement of other islands in “vacant space” before European arrival. “As its soil is more the Pacific, the Polynesians eventually adapted their than an accumulator of fertility for pre-destined farms, its resource use and demand to the ecosystems on which forests have a human past that, as we uncover evidence of they depended. They made some major mistakes but the experiences it extinguished, is becoming part of our “by trial and error”, according to historian Michael King, young society’s dark quarrel with its soul.” 22

12 Pope Benedict XVI: Message for the World Day of Peace, 2007 13 Te Papa: Blood, earth, fire exhibition, 2006 14 Richard Tong and Geoffrey Cox: Clean and Green? The New Zealand Environment, 2000 15 Ibid 16 Michael King: The Penguin History of New Zealand, 2003 17 Geoff Park: “Whenua — The ecology of placental connection” in Theatre Country: Essays on landscape & whenua, 2006 18 Michael King: The Penguin History of New Zealand, 2003 19 Richard Tong and Geoffrey Cox: Clean and Green? The New Zealand Environment, 2000 20 Te Papa: Blood, earth, fire exhibition, 2006 21 Richard Tong and Geoffrey Cox: Clean and Green? The New Zealand Environment, 2000 22 Geoff Park: Nga Uruora (The Groves of Life), 1995 “Many years ago all this used to be bush,” says Sr Makareta. “It was all chopped down for building houses in colonial times, and it has never really recovered.” Now the hills behind her home are covered with gorse – sprayed several times a year. “They should never spray pesticides so close to people’s homes.” photo: photo: adrian heke

In a report released in April 2007, the New Zealand itself faces threats to agriculture and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forestry production, water resources, and coastal 11 said the Australia/New Zealand region has seen a communities. Though there may be some benefits 0.3‑0.7ºC warming since 1950, and a 70mm rise in from global warming in the first half of this century, sea level. “We are already experiencing the impacts of by 2050, agriculture and forestry in the east will be climate change,” said a report summary. 23 reduced due to increased fire and drought. Water security will be a problem, and other parts of the Small islands such as in the South Pacific are among country will see impacts on pastoral farming and four world regions likely to be especially affected by horticulture. 26 climate change. Places like Kiribati are already seeing rows of coconut trees destroyed, black soil rendered New Zealand’s Bishops stress that in trying to infertile, and fewer and smaller fruits harvested. minimise climate change, or adapt to it, “we have Lagoons have become vulnerable to high tide and to work to ensure that the costs of any changes storm surges. 24 to our lifestyles are borne by those who can best afford them”. 27 In a statement on sustainable land New Zealand can expect to see environmental management in the face of climate change, Caritas refugees from such places, and New Zealanders has also called for “equitable outcomes, which ensure should be prepared to welcome them. The Bishops the costs of reducing carbon emissions are shared of New Zealand have recognised that “life on many across our society”. Individuals should not have to Pacific Islands will become untenable. … As in bear alone the cost of structural changes required other parts of the world, those most suffering the for the good of society. If sustainability or climate consequences of climate change are those who have adaptation threatens the livelihood of some farmers, 25 played the least part in contributing to it.” “support should be there to assist them to move into more sustainable forms of farming or land use”. 28

23 NIWA/Royal Society of New Zealand: Climate Change: IPCC Fourth Assessment Report – Impacts: New Zealand & the South Pacific, April 2007 24 Fr Michael McKenzie: Address to Caritas Oceania regional forum, 2006 25 New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference: Environmental Justice statement, 2006 26 NIWA/Royal Society of New Zealand: Climate Change: IPCC Fourth Assessment Report – Impacts: New Zealand & the South Pacific, April 2007 27 New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference: Environmental Justice statement, 2006 28 Caritas, Submission on Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change, 30 March 2007 Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you will return. Ash Wednesday service

Rooted in the soil

God shaped man from the soil of the ground and blew the breath of life into his nostrils, and man became a living being… From the soil, God caused to grow every kind of tree.

Genesis 2:7,9

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, God shaped ha’adam – the first person from ha’adama – the soil. In Maori mythology Tane-Mahuta created the first woman from the red clay of the earth.

Such an identification of people with land and soil can be seen also in the scientific study of “the Iceman” of the Tyrolean Alps in Europe. From a 5200-year-old preserved body, geochemists studying isotopes in the man’s body were able to pinpoint the valley of his birth, because the isotopes were mineralogically identical to the rocks which had formed the soils there – soil which grew food for 29 12 himself and his mother.

Few people today would have such a strong biochemical connection with place, but peoples who have lived long in an area feel a connection with it, through long years of gaining a livelihood from it, burial of ancestors, or burial photo: photo: adrian heke of the placenta that nourished them in the womb. Sr Makareta: “Ko au te whenua, ko te whenua ko The practice of placental connection is widespread in au – I am the land, the land is me. When you’re the Pacific and beyond. Whenua in Maori, the same term home you just naturally see that you’re part of – and a similar connection between placenta and land the land. When I’ve been away from home, I – is expressed as fenua in Tahiti, fonua in Samoa, fanua feel that the call of the land and the river is very in Tonga, and even in Bali: banua. Whenua – as land strong.” and placenta – signifies the belief that human beings were made from the earth, from Papatuanuku, and the placenta and umbilical cord should be returned to the earth. 30

The relationship between human beings and soil is expressed in our religious traditions, including the Creation story and our Ash Wednesday service reminding us that we came from dust and will return to dust. This is understood too in science. New Zealand soil scientist Harry Gibbs taught that our attitude towards soil should be one of respect “particularly if we remember that the mineral elements in our bodies come from soil and return there when we die”. 31

29 Geoff Park: “Whenua – The ecology of placental connection” in Theatre Country: Essays on landscape & whenua, 2006 30 Ibid 31 Harry Gubbs: New Zealand Soils, an introduction, Oxford University Press, 1980 When Ioane and Filifili Lemisio’s second grandchild was born to their eldest daughter at home, there was no question they would retain and bury the afterbirth – whanua or taulaga in Tokelauan. It’s just something their parents and grandparents did – and their ancestors before that. “It is like part of the body,” says Ioane. “If someone dies, you don’t throw away the body.” It is like that with the afterbirth – it is part of the body; it gave life to the child while in the womb.

Back home in Tokelau, they would have planted coconut, breadfruit, or banana over the placenta – a fruit-producing tree, symbolising the giving of life. Here in New Zealand, he chose a dark, glossy-green taupata – self-sown from a neighbour’s property. Fast-growing and hardy, its red berries will feed the birds.

The Lemisios rent their Lower Hutt home from Housing New Zealand. Having planted the tree, Ioane feels a greater stake in the land. “It is hard to move away from here. If I moved away from here, I would need to take the tree with me.”

E te Atua, Manaakitia tenei taewa maori, building up stocks of seed potatoes for commercial Manaakitia tenei whenua, Manaakitia tenei quantities. A wholesaler came on board early in the whanau, Me o Matou Mahi, Mo tenei ra, I runga I piece, and has helped market their product. Under to ingoa tapu, Amene O God, bless this Maori potato, the brand Organik Fresh, they are now the largest bless this land, bless this family and the work we do this supplier of Maori potatoes – seven varieties – in the day, we say in your name, Amen country. They’re more disease-resistant and have a longer harvesting time than conventional potatoes, Terence and Jill Whelan have been farming organically which are usually bred for a fast growing season. since 1986 on land in South Taranaki bought by Terence’s grandparents in 1963. They grow feed for Markus says it’s an excellent partnership: Terence conventional and organic dairy farms: silage in spring, owns the land, he owns the seed, and they employ hay in late summer and autumn, and winter grazing casual labour in the harvesting season. “We want 13 for up to 600 cows. to do the best for the potato,” says Markus, “and “The belief in creation by God is at the centre of we want to do the best for ourselves. I need him. our living and therefore the way we view the land He needs me. There are doors we both need to go under our care,” say Terence and Jill. Their view that through. There’s doors I let him [Terence] go through, “creation is ongoing” is supported by discoveries and there’s doors he let’s me go through.” around the world, but also their own observation and While Maori acknowledge some varieties arrived evolution of practices on the farm. with early explorers, sealers and whalers in the “For example our choice of genetics for animal 1700s, they also have traditions that speak of taewa breeding and seed for pasture renewal is based on well before this period. Whatever their origin, they what the immediate environment – nature – has became a staple food for Maori, who grew them taught us. We believe we express ourselves as up and commercialised them, selling them to early Christians in the way we live, including the manner in European settlers. This lasted until the 1850s, when which we farm.” colonisation removed much Maori-owned farmland and the selective breeding of potato varieties began. In addition to stock feed on their property near Patea, “It’s a taonga to us Maori, and I treat it as such,” says Terence and Jill Whelan have also grown potatoes. Markus. “We can hold and manage it ourselves, on a Then in 2001, they were approached by Markus Gripp commercial basis.” who’d been growing taewa – Maori potatoes – 10 minutes down the road for his local marae, Waioturi. E te Atua, Manaakitia Matou, No te mea kua mutu o matou mahi, Mo tenei ra, I runga I ingoa tapu, Markus had started growing taewa in 1998 after being given them by a friend. Initially, it was to Amene O God, bless provide a traditional – and much valued food – for those that are here, marae in the area. But he soon saw the commercial therefore our work is potential, so that’s why he contacted Terence, finished this day, we say who had more extensive growing knowledge and this in your name, Amen expertise – and also better soil. They went into partnership, and for the first two years, focused on They shall dwell in the land and own it Psalm 69:36

However, the history of the Churches has not always Land and identity included the active defence of indigenous rights. Suzanne Aubert protested against ministers of religion who “while directing their eyes to heaven, stole the ground from “Certain peoples, especially those identified as 35 under the Maori’s feet”. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has native or indigenous, have always maintained a a similar complaint from the perspective of Africa: “When special relationship to their land, a relationship the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and connected with the group’s very identity as a we had the land. They said ‘Let us pray’. We closed our people having their own tribal, cultural and eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible and they religious traditions. When such indigenous had the land.” peoples are deprived of their land, they lose a vital element of their way of life and actually run Pope John Paul II apologised in 2001 on behalf of the the risk of disappearing as a people.” 32 Catholic Church for any part played in such injustices: “Aware of the shameful injustices done to indigenous Pope John Paul II peoples in Oceania, the Synod Fathers [Bishops of the When Pope John Paul II visited New Zealand and Australia region] apologised unreservedly for the part played in over 20 years ago, he recognised the indigenous cultures these by members of the Church” and promised support of our part of the world, and the close and sustainable for resolution of past injustices: “The Church will support relationship that they traditionally had with the land. the cause of all indigenous peoples who seek a just and equitable recognition of their identity and their rights”. 36 “You lived your life in spiritual closeness to the land, with its animals, birds, fishes, waterholes, rivers, hills 14 and mountains. Through your closeness to the land you touched the sacredness of man’s relationship with God, for the land was the proof of a power in life greater than yourselves. You did not spoil the land, use it up, exhaust it, and then walk away from it. You realised that your land was related to the source of life,” Pope John Paul II told Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. 33

Catholic social teaching recognises the intrinsic connections between the injustices involved in loss of land ownership throughout the world, and the environmental destruction that often accompanies this. The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace has said that photo: adrian heke exploitation of mineral and forest resources is frequently Sr Makareta: “To link with the land we’ve got to be accompanied by oppressive working conditions and home. We need to have more people living at home. violence against small farmers and indigenous peoples. There are many marae that have no one there. They “In these conflicts, intimidation and illegal arrests are just have a chimney, urupa, a couple of fruit trees. used, and, in extreme cases, armed groups are hired to There are 60 thousand of the tangata whenua living destroy possessions and harvests, deprive community in Sydney, and 30 thousand in Queensland. There are leaders of power, and eliminate people, including those more away than those who are at home. When you who take up the defence of the weak, among whom move away from home, you no longer connect to the many Church leaders.” 34 land, to your people, and to your ancestors and your past. We have to live at home. It’s important that our moko know where they come from.”

32 Pope John Paul II: Message for the world day of peace,1989 33 Pope John Paul II: Address at Alice Springs, 1986 34 Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace: Towards a better distribution of land, 1997 35 Home of Compassion: Audacity of faith, 1992 36 Pope John Paul II: Ecclesia in Oceania, 2001 The connection between environmental destruction and alienation of indigenous people from traditional homelands is evident in Caritas’s international programmes work.

Michael Mrong of Caritas Bangladesh tells of the destruction of the Adivasi village of Amoir (pictured), where the households of 29 families were burned to the ground on 10 February 2007.

Michael, who is himself Adivasi, the indigenous people of Bangladesh, says eviction of indigenous peoples is always a precursor to environmental destruction of the forests. His people say that when trees fall, the other trees of the forest cry. “When Adivasi are evicted, they hear the cry of the land, the cry of nature, and they also cry.”

to support their economy. However, the betel leaf is a vine which grows in the forest on existing trees. Deforestation is intruding into their area, and each tree cut down represents lost potential income from betel leaf production.

The Khasi gained international attention in 2002-2004 for their protests against government plans to turn 15 part of their lands into an “eco-park” and indigenous people into tourist attractions. A Khasi headman explained indigenous opposition to the eco-park in 2001 to former Caritas worker Sanjeeb Drong:

“We are the children of the forest. We were born Tobias Bareh, pictured with his co-worker Sylvia in here and grew up here. We have been living here for the Adivasi Integrated Community Development hundreds of years. We will not leave this forest. We Programme of Caritas Bangladesh, is a Catholic can not survive if we are evicted from the forest in the catechist and community leader. “I want my people name of this eco-park. The graves of our ancestors lie to know about their traditions, their roots, their land,” in this forestland. We can not leave them. If we lose he says. this forest, we will lose our life and our ancestors. Taking away our land is plucking out our life because Tobias and Sylvia are of the indigenous Khasi people, we draw our life from this forest. We were born in who depend on betel leaf as an important cash crop this forest and we want to die here.” 37

37 Sanjeeb Drong: Why Eco-Park on Khasi and Garo Ancestral Land? Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum, 2001 http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/eco17.htm 16 June 2007 Your land before your eyes strangers devour Isaiah 1:7

A major contributor is what is now called “development- Displacement induced displacement” – the forced movement of people to make way for large infrastructure projects. This is estimated now to number 10 million people each year. “What injustices and conflicts will be provoked by Unlike political refugees, those displaced by development the race for energy sources? And what will be the do not have a protection regime. Many face permanent reaction of those who are excluded from this race? poverty, living in urban slums or they “become part These are questions that show how respect for nature of floating populations which may spill over into is closely linked to the need to establish, between international migration”. 40 individuals and between nations, relationships that 38 The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace described this are attentive to the dignity of the person.” situation in 1997, saying that economic activity based on Pope Benedict XVI the use of natural resources was steadily expanding into land traditionally occupied by indigenous populations. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, They said that in most cases the rights of indigenous charged particularly with the protection of people fleeing inhabitants have been ignored when major projects political persecution, reports that in the past decade such as large scale agricultural concerns, the building of approximately five times as many people have been hydroelectric plants, and the expansion of mining and displaced by environmental disasters, as by conflict. 39 forestry activities have been planned and implemented. 41

16 People were losing land to different users,” land use,” says Benedict. This leads to conflict over says Benedict Ole Nangore, coordinator of the land – sometimes between villages and developers, Community-Owned Rural Development (CORDS) and at other times between villages forced into programme in Tanzania. “Because of that threat a unnatural competition for resources. number of pastoralist communities felt that they were losing a very important part of their livelihoods.” CORDS responds by assisting villages to obtain collective title to their lands and natural resources, CORDS, a Caritas partner agency, works with Masaai giving them more control over decisions made in pastoralists, who have traditionally depended on a their traditional areas. Village elder Ruben Loosinawai wide grazing area for their herds and crops. Their says that obtaining land certificates reduces arguing sustainable use of the environment depends on an between villages. “It empowers the village to exercise extensive, rather than an intensive, use of natural the right for use of village land.” resources. Investors have increasingly acquired use of Masaai land for mining, hunting blocks, large scale farming, wildlife parks, and hotel and tourism development. As the land available for the pastoralists shrinks, there is a greater intensification of use of the land that remains.

Some of the consequences of this are that land is overgrazed and regrowth is sometimes unpalatable. At other times overgrazing leaves the land vulnerable to erosion and degradation. “There are intruders who infringe on the set systems of

38 Pope Benedict XVI: Message for the world day of peace, 2007 39 UNHCR: The state of the world’s refugees, 2006 40 UNHCR: The state of the world’s refugees, 2006 41 Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace: Towards a better distribution of land, 1997 In many cases, indigenous people do not have formal of today. As the world searches for ways to replace legal ownership of traditional lands they have occupied our dependence on burning fossil fuels with more for generations. In these situations, some developers sustainable options, there has been a rush into have been able to claim the backing of the law, “bio‑fuels” development. The United Nations warned particularly when others have obtained legal title to the in April 2007 that unless this is managed, it could result land on which indigenous people live. However, the in widespread food shortages and displacement of 42 Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace says the property indigenous people and small farmers. rights upheld by the law in these situations are often “in “The benefits to farmers are not assured, and may conflict with the right of use of the soil deriving from come with increased costs. [Growing biofuel crops] an occupation and ownership of the land, the origins of can be especially harmful to farmers who do not own which are lost in memory”. their own land… At their worst, biofuel programs can Land occupations, road blockades and similar forms also result in a concentration of ownership that could of resistance are sometimes the only options open to drive the world’s poorest farmers off their land and indigenous people to mark their claim to their land. In into deeper poverty.” The world has an urgent need to these situations, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace find new forms of renewable energy. But just as huge says “indigenous populations can run the absurd but very hydroelectric schemes have caused massive displacement real risk of being seen as ‘invaders’ of their own land”. of peoples, so the impact of any new energy producing or conservation schemes need to be considered in terms Development-induced displacement is also resulting of their impact on the people immediately affected by from our response to the environmental challenges them.

Sr Noelene: “We need to listen to and heed earth, as well as listening to the words of Jesus. Human affairs are rooted in the geological and biological systems of the planet. Humanity is part 17 of creation and we evolved through the processes of the earth. Does our starting point have to be Catholic teaching on land and the environment? Why not humanity’s primary relationship with Earth?” photo: photo: adrian heke

In 1991, Linda achieved a gear and to a washing machine stuck in the spin childhood dream to live cycle.” Although Linda’s home was one of eight in a rural home, when properties acknowledged as being “significantly she bought a property in disadvantaged”, and research has found that Makara, near Wellington. property values are likely to fall by a third, no Years of backbreaking compensation will be paid. effort turned a steep hilly section into a garden now Linda says the community has a sense of visited by horticultural disenfranchisement. “All the way through we were groups from around the Wellington region. “It was completely dispensable, our chosen environment and immeasurable in terms of time and money.” way of life was completely irrelevant.” Linda supports renewable energy, but asks why rural people have to Her dream has been shattered by plans to build pay the price to enable city dwellers to maintain their a windfarm opposite her home. The impact of lifestyle without change. “They will cover the country noise is expected to be significant. “It has been with turbines, just so people can keep on buying likened to a truck continually going up hill in low their appliances.”

42 United Nations: Sustainable Energy: A framework for decision makers, April 2007 Blessed are the humble; they shall possess the land Matthew 5:5

Landlessness Tagalog became the national language “To call for the acknowledgment of the land of the Philippines, rights of people who have never surrendered out of 87 different those rights is not discrimination. Certainly, language groupings, what has been done cannot be undone. But in part because it what can now be done to remedy the deeds of was the language yesterday must not be put off till tomorrow”. 43 of trade of the inhabitants of the Pope John Paul II fertile Luzon plains. These people transported their wares for sale by river. The word itself means Western society has many people who are far enough “river people” from its roots “taga” meaning removed from subsisting on the land to not feel as if they people and “ilog” meaning river. are landless, even if they don’t have a piece of earth they feel they belong to. For some, the forces that removed But for many modern Tagalog people, the term people from land have become lost in the history of “river people” now has a different meaning. migration. Those living in the East Riverside community of Malabon, Manila literally have no other place to Others have clear family memories of dispossession. For live than to build their homes over the river. some of British descent, it could be the Clearances of Scottish history in which the homes of the clans were This community of over 3000 people lost their 18 burned to force them from the land for the development land in the 1950s. Local officials had established of large scale sheep and cattle farming. Measures like land title under the homes and farms they this forced people to the cities, and provided a workforce and their ancestors had occupied from time dependent on wages for the industrial revolution of the immemorial. The land was sold for factories and 19th century. residential development, and a wall built leaving only a narrow strip of land, about the width of The forces that alienate many people in the world today the average New Zealand road, alongside the from their traditional homes are not different to those river. There was nowhere for the people to live that may be part of the family trees of New Zealanders except by building their homes on stilts over the of British origin. However, unlike 19th century Britain, river. The increasingly polluted river floods their migration is not usually a solution for most landless homes several times a year, leaving a permanent people today. Desperate poverty on the margins is the legacy of poor health and skin disease. more likely outcome.

The Deshwari people go, bag and baggage.” The permanent tea garden were promised workers earn around NZ50¢ per day. Their only prosperity when they access to land and accommodation is based on their were brought from employment. India to Bangladesh as bonded labourers Mintu’s father says of their situation: “It is tradition, to work in the what to do?” But Mintu puts his hopes in education tea gardens of Sylhet. Instead they were shown a to enable him to be taken seriously as an advocate for bamboo grove and told to build their own houses. his people. “I study, I protest. When you read more and more you challenge the Manager. The Manager “I am interested to tell you about land,” says Mintu gets his shoes put on by labour.” Deshwara, “but what can I say? If the job goes, we

43 Pope John Paul II: Message at Alice Springs, 1986 Sr Makareta once met landless people in South India who were forced to dig up a child they had buried. “They didn’t even have land to bury their dead. They had buried the child without permission. The landowner told them to dig it up. That was poverty I had no concept of. At least we have land to bury our dead.” photo: photo: adrian heke

In some places, the accumulation of large landholdings establishment of a home for Jewish people after World by wealthy people contributes to landlessness. Such a War II meant homelessness for many Palestinians. In system is opposed by the Catholic Church. Scripture tells the midst of competing claims either by one side that of the prophets raging against the accumulation of large the state of Israel has no right to exist, or on the other landholdings: “Woe to those who add house to house, and side that Israel has a Biblical right to all land between 19 join field to field until there is nowhere left and they are the the sea and the River Jordan, there is need for both a sole inhabitants of the country.” Isaiah 5:8-10 humanitarian response to the suffering of those made homeless, and for a just and peaceful reconciliation In other parts of the world, displacement of indigenous between the peoples of the land. people often follows mass migration. The forces that alienated Maori from their land in New Zealand – Fr Gerard Burns was a guest of Caritas Jerusalem in confiscations, large purchases of land by government or 2002. “In the midst of all the politics, are the ordinary agents, forced acquisition for public works or institutions, Palestinian people, cooped up in the Gaza Strip, under and individual titling of communally owned land to curfew in Ramallah, in a refugee camp in Jenin or exiled enable sales – are familiar also today in places such as in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan,” he wrote. “They are Timor Leste and West Papua. trapped, humiliated, and hunted. They remember what Maori relate to the land as kin. Sister of Mercy Tui Cadogan was promised to them by the UN in 1948, and what they explains: “Maori identify themselves as tangata whenua. In ended up with. They know where their villages, olive 45 the Maori mind, this denotes belonging to whenua rather groves, and orange plantations once stood.” than whenua belonging to Maori. The relationship with The Catholic Bishops of North Africa and the Arab whenua might best be described through an explanation Regions have called on all Christians to recognise their of whanaungatanga.” This is about kinship, about right concern and duty towards the Holy Land, where our relationship to te Atua (God), nga tangata (people), and spiritual roots lie. “If all the Churches of the world te whenua (the land). “A landless Maori is literally a non- recognise their duty towards the Holy Land, and if person; there is no ‘place’ they belong,” says Tui Cadogan. they all join together in common and concerted action “The links between whenua and identity is crucial to to sensitize their governments, their people and the understanding the Maori perspective”. 44 international community, their intervention will become For Christians, one of the most significant land conflict a decisive factor in the attainment of peace, justice and issues is that taking place in the Holy Land. The reconciliation in the Holy Land.” 46

44 Tui Cadogan: “A Three-Way relationship: God, Land, People, A Maori woman reflects” in Land and Place, He Whenua, He Wahi Helen Bergin and Susan Smith (eds), Accent Publications, 2004 45 Fr Gerard Burns: Unpublished report to Caritas, 2002 46 Regional Episcopal Conference of North Africa and Conference of the Latin Bishops of the Arab Regions: Message, 2004 Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. Exodus 3:5

Some places have special meaning or significance in This sacred earth different ways for different groups of people. For Maori Catholic tradition has long venerated sacred places. Our who identify themselves by physical landscape features, reverence for the places of the Holy Land where Jesus such as mountains and rivers, the sense of relationship to lived and walked is not just about reliving the past. It those places is great. Other New Zealanders have often is also about understanding his words better through come to share an understanding of these relationships, or knowing more about what he meant when he said them. identify themselves closely to land where their forebears For example, Christ’s images of God as living water worked. For others, instead of specific attachments and spring even more vividly to life when understood in the relationships, there is a sense of awe and wonder at context of a hot, dry land. God’s creation, and a general awareness of the integral goodness and sacredness of earth and land. However, our understanding of sacred places does not end with the New Testament story, as if all truth is forever found only in Christ’s physical footsteps. Most Catholics are familiar with pilgrimage destinations like Lourdes in France, Medjugorje in the former Yugoslavia, and of course St Peter’s Square in Rome.

More of us are also coming to recognise important national historical sites associated with the unfolding story of the Church in Aotearoa New Zealand: sacred 20 places such as Motuti, where Bishop Pompallier is now interred; and Jerusalem on the Whanganui River, inseparable from the memory of Sisters of Compassion founder Suzanne Aubert.

In addition there are many other places where people often have “a sense of the sacred” – the Catholic respect for cemeteries is closely matched by the sense of tapu

Maori have for urupa. While an overemphasis on church photo: adrian heke as building, rather than community, perhaps dominated Sr Noelene: “I know I have a connection with thinking in the past, there is a growing realisation that land I grew up on in Eltham. As a child I felt part our churches may in fact encompass people, of the earth in my body and my body remembers buildings and the surrounding environment. those experiences.”

For Social Justice week in 2006, St Bernadette’s parish, Naenae, Lower Hutt, organised a working bee to tidy up the parish grounds and plant new flowers and shrubs – to make the place more attractive, and for use inside the church.

They had a special Mass, where celebrant Fr Pat Greally spoke on the need to recognise God in creation. When it came to blessing the parish grounds, parish leader Barbara Rowley says, “we came to a realisation that they were already blessed; it was already holy ground … so it was more of a thanksgiving.” The prayers became an acknowledgement of God’s gift.

And the grounds have been well-looked after since. One parishioner, Michael O’Sullivan, has taken particular responsibility for the front garden. Says Barbara Rowley, “There’s an appreciation of the grounds, there’s more respect for them.” at Ss Peter and Paul church next to the marae.

To acknowledge that, he invited the Kauwhatu people to lead a dawn ceremony to “light new fires” for his new place. They had karanga, karakia, and his parish priest, Fr Craig Butler, blessed the four corners of the property. Rex said it was an “acknowledgement that this place has a long history, largely unknown to me”.

There is also something special in the Maori concept of the feet – waewae. In regard to his “new land”, he wondered, “What feet have been here before mine? … there’s a sacredness about it.” Casual travellers on State Highway 3 between Rex himself is of Ngati Kahungungu and Ngati Palmerston North and Sanson will pass a large, Rongomaiwahine descent. He knew it wasn’t “his” concrete structure at the top of a broad, high hill land – he wanted to acknowledge those who had and may think it is just another war memorial. In mana whenua over the area. As someone had said to fact, the 1940 monument at the top of Mt Stewart him, “the land responds to the tangata whenua”. commemorates the area’s early European settlers. But the hill – Whakaari – is also significant to local Maori. When they came out to work on the land while the house was being built, he and his son would always This was something recognised by Palmerston North say karakia beforehand. After they moved in, he Diocese spirituality and social justice advisor Rex would begin the day with morning prayer outside. Begley and his family when they bought three acres On a clear day, you could see to Taranaki and Te Wai just behind the memorial, 500 metres off the main Pounamu (South Island). road, intending to build a house on the property. He bought it for the view, wanting to put a house on it, For him, the specialness of such a place is “both/and”. 21 and move out of Palmerston North where his family Both Maori and Pakeha have an interest. He’s met had been living the previous 16 years. descendants of the European settlers, people who have strong ties to the area around Mt Stewart through their He knew the hill was a maunga tapu – sacred hill pioneer forebears, or their own farming memories. But – for the there also needs to be an acknowledgement of the people of specialness of the place to Maori. Kauwhatu marae, After two years on the property, he realised the work people he involved was too much for him. His family moved back shared the into town – into the same house they’d left a couple of bread with at years before. Fortuitously, it had come on the market the monthly again. Does he think he was on Whakaari for a reason? Maori Mass “I think I was there to pray over the land.”

To travel to a sacred place is to undertake a pilgrimage, face to a sustainable future in Aotearoa New Zealand – to recognising that the journey there and back is often one find or see our place anew, and make it the place that of discovery and learning, of oneself, of God, and of God intends for us. others. It is a strong Catholic tradition, and expresses the continuing power of the earth and its stored history to make a mark on our personal story today.

We journey out and back again, returning as a different person with fresh eyes, perhaps to see “our place” as if for the first time. Anglican Bishop Whakahuihui Vercoe said in regard to the 1998 Hikoi of Hope: “A hikoi is a journey of expectation, setting out to find a new place that God intends for you.” Perhaps that is the journey we photo: photo: mark coote I will replant them firmly in this land Jeremiah 32:41

for the purpose for which it was given, then it should be Healing and reconciliation returned. In other places there are no issues with how Church land was acquired, but there may be sites of special importance to Maori, such as urupa or pa sites, “Renewal and reconciliation concern not only which need acknowledgement. the interior life of each individual, but the whole 47 Church, and also the whole of human society.” Former Caritas Director Manuka Henare recommends New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference that all appropriate Church bodies investigate, in cooperation with local Maori, how land originally Over the past 170 years, through land purchases and became alienated from Maori ownership, on a similar gifts, parts of the New Zealand Catholic Church – understanding to the expectations the Church might through parishes, schools and religious communities have about not purchasing stolen cars for its car fleet. – have collectively gained significant land holdings. In some places, the land was gifted to the Church by Here are three stories of how Catholic communities have Maori, who understand that if it is no longer required sought reconciliation and found fulfilling partnership.

the understanding that it was to be used for Church- related purposes, for example a church building or parish school. When the Church no longer needed it for such purposes, the land should be returned. 22 One place where this has been understood and put into practice is in Hamilton Diocese, where land was given for a Catholic church at Raukokore, on the East Coast, by Wi Pahuru Heremia of Maruhaeremuri in 1930. The church was built through voluntary labour overseen by Hoane Pirini (Te Whanau a Apanui), a katekita from Te Kaha.

photo: photo: hamilton catholic diocese By 2002, the Raukokore church and another at Omaio Gifting back the church and land at Omaio in 2002 were no longer in use, and they were returned to the descendants of the original donors in ceremonies at Otuwhare (Omaio) and Wairuru (Raukokore) A gift has different meaning in different cultures. marae. At Omaio, Bishop Takuira Mariu spoke of For some cultures, the moment of giving is the key the generosity of those who gifted land for both moment, with the recipient left to make what they 48 churches. wish of the gift. In others, the moment of giving is less important than the use the recipient makes of the “What we are doing today is important from the gift. For example, in Philippine culture, a giver does Church’s point of view and from your point of view as not expect to see a recipient open their present, but well,” said Bishop Mariu. “In many ways it is historic will look to see that the recipient makes use of it at a because it is not often that we actually give property later date (for example, by wearing gifted clothes). back, and some will say, well, maybe it should have happened a few years ago. But today is the day it Gifted land has a particular meaning and is happening and it’s done now. With the formal understanding for Maori, different from that for handing over of the documents, we now rest this Pakeha. Sometimes land was given to the Church on property back with the family.” 49

47 New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference: A commemoration year for Aotearoa New Zealand, 1990 48 Cynthia Piper: “Parish life – a photographic essay” in D. O’Sulivan and C. Piper: Turanga Ngatahi: standing together, The Catholic Diocese of Hamilton 1840-2005, 2006 49 Ibid In 2001, Sacred But Sharron Cole’s research, and discussions with Heart parish local Maori led to Sacred Heart parish and the Petone Petone, Lower hapu of Te Atiawa deciding on joint guardianship or Hutt, asked kaitiakitanga of the cemetery. A service of healing, parishioner and reconciliation and commitment at the cemetery in local historian 2004 marked the beginning of this new relationship. Sharron Cole to research In welcoming the initiative, then Archbishop of matters relating Wellington Cardinal Thomas Williams said, “May it to parish land. restore the bonds of friendship initiated a full century Focus fell on a and a half ago.” Now, nothing happens in regard to cemetery gifted the cemetery without the parish and hapu talking to the Church and deciding together. in 1852 by the The integrity of the cemetery has been again local iwi, Te threatened as work begins on a new highway Atiawa. In 1956, interchange. The parish and Te Atiawa worked the cemetery had been closed by the local council, together to agree on a protocol with the roading headstones removed and the remains of 44 graves authorities on how the work will proceed, including dug up and reinterred elsewhere on the site to make the building of a fence around the site before way for drainage. A special Mass was celebrated, and construction starts. a common memorial erected with the names of those known to be buried there. In 2007, Wi Tako’s memorial will be cleaned and Two headstones remain in the lower cemetery, that of relettered (his name is only barely readable), and a Te Atiawa paramount chief Wiremu Tako Ngatata (Wi combined service of rededication take place on 18 Tako), whose uncle had gifted the land; and the other November, the anniversary of his death in 1887. Wi of Rev Dean John Lane, Lower Hutt parish priest from Tako was a convert to Catholicism. Archbishop Francis 1886-1924. Redwood conducted his funeral, which drew 4000- 23 5000 people, including 50 members of Parliament. With the headstones and the memorial set back against Morrie Te Whiti Love has described Wi Tako as “a a bush-clad hill, few people recognised this small patch diplomat of sorts between Maori and the Europeans”. of green beside State Highway 2 as anything special. One hundred and twenty years on from his death, he No signs or fences marked it as a cemetery. will still be bringing the two groups together. photo: photo: adrian heke Te Hokinga Mai: The return of Mowhanau beach house property to Tamareheroto Anne Waitai, Kaitiaki o Tamareheroto Sr Barbara Cowan, Sisters of St Joseph, Whanganui

The 7th of October 2006 was an historic day for the acknowledge te Tiriti o Waitangi as the basis upon which Sisters of St Joseph and for the people of Tamareheroto relationships between Maori and the Congregation must – and a new experience for the Congregation of Sisters. rest. This commitment underpinned our efforts to finding It was the day on which the title of their property at ways of addressing situations where there had been an Mowhanau Beach, north of Whanganui, was returned to unjust acquisition of land. Like most hapu, Tamareheroto the rightful kaitiaki, the hapu of Tamareheroto. It was an had suffered from the hand of colonial law with its cruel experience that has led to a new kind of relationship with and ongoing consequences and had made them an the tangata whenua, the people of Tamareheroto. This invisible people. Ultimately the hapu was offered the first journey of many hui, of disappointment, uncertainty and right of refusal on the land. of transformation begins some years earlier. Anne: We saw the sale of the Sacred Heart College Barbara: In 2002, we, the Sisters of St Joseph property as a continuation of our mamae, as we of Whanganui, began to research who were the original Tamareheroto were in no financial position to consider iwi or hapu who held mana whenua over the land on any opportunity to purchase the property that we held which our Sacred Heart College Whanganui stood. This as significant to the history of the hapu. After the final research was triggered by the closure of the college and closure and sale of the property we acknowledged a the pending sale of the land. Our research led us to an financial offer from the Sisters, but sadly declined this ongoing dialogue with the people of Tamareheroto, one wonderful gesture. The primary reason for this was, that of the hapu of the Nga Rauru iwi. from our perspective the whenua has no monetary value 24 but is however rich in history. Our whakaaro is that our People of the hapu shared with the Sisters the story, the tupuna will forever weep if the land is lost and gone purakau, the significance to them of the whenua, the forever and that their mokopuna will have no soil on land, and what the loss of that land had meant for them. which to stand as mana whenua. This land had been alienated from the iwi and hapu in 1841 by the New Zealand Land Company. It was clear My daughter Raukura asked if at any time the Sisters felt that the pain and distress the loss of land had caused that they had land in our rohe they did not want, we the Maori people was relived in the retelling. In coming would like them to remember us and maybe through to a decision about the disposal of the college land we, the kindness of their Congregation they might return the Sisters, struggled with our diversity of thought and that land of which we were kaitiaki. The prayers and feeling as to how we might restore the title of the land compassion from our dearly beloved Sisters of St Joseph to the tangata whenua and at the same time honour have slowly helped heal our mamae which is slowly other financial commitments and the ongoing needs of helping the pain to subside. the Sisters. We continually kept before us a commitment that lies at the heart of our vision and mission, that we Barbara: For many years the Sisters had owned a house at Mowhanau Beach. After talking with the Tamareheroto people we learnt that land belonging to the hapu in the Mowhanau Beach rohe had been sold by the then Trustees, the Chiefs of Putiki, another Whanganui iwi. The progressive sale of their whenua in this area, completed in the 1940s, was against the will of the Tamareheroto people. We were also told that the present playground area at Mowhanau had been designated native reserve and had been the fishing grounds of the hapu. Raukura told us of the devastation she felt when the people had to stop drying their fish through the force of a Whanganui District Council bylaw. The practice of drying fish was considered unhygienic and aesthetically displeasing by the settler neighbourhood. The Sisters agreed an offer Signing the Mowhanau deed transfer: Sr Marie Roche, Sr Marie Skidmore, representatives of the Sisters of St Joseph, Raukura Waitai, Richard Moore, the Congregational lawyer, and Anne Waitai. Raukura and Anne are Tamareheroto Trustees.

would be made to return the beach house property, of warm and deep respect for each other, of open which is close to the playground, to Tamareheroto. communication, one that is constantly taking new and surprising directions that impact on the life and On the 7th of October 2006, Sisters and members of mission of the Sisters of St Joseph. We have been greatly Tamareheroto gathered at Mowhanau to officially sign impressed that throughout the journey the hapu has a deed of transfer that restored the title of the land to been intent on including the children, nga tamariki, as the hapu. All those present, including the children, were much as possible in various hui. The people want their invited to add their signatures to the deed alongside children and their children’s children to hear, to know those of the official representatives of both groups. There and pass on the korero, the story that has been lost to so was an agreement that we, the Sisters, would lease the many of the hapu. property from the hapu for up to 25 years. The possibility of returning the land to the hapu seemed to be a way Anne: Throughout the whole of Aotearoa there are of keeping faith with te Tiriti o Waitangi – the Treaty of many similar Tamareheroto situations, and it is because 25 Waitangi – and responding in particular to the hapu. of gestures such as this by the Sisters of St Joseph that tangata whenua could be given the opportunities to Anne: As the Sisters are aware we are not in any way reinstate the mana and the rangatiratanga and all those financial. Even though the Congregation has leased the things we hold dear to our very existence. Our unique property for their lifetime, the Uri of Tamareheroto would relationship we hope will provoke such relationships to like to reiterate that the principles in the agreement that come to fruition. The 7th October 2006 we hope will be we utilise the property at no cost to us is an act of good a day for all to remember long into the future. will and a gesture that cements our unique relationship. Our use of the property is of course dependent on when it is not being used by others who have made a prior booking.

The process of the transfer of the land and house at Mowhanau has taken some time to complete. However, the final outcome has been an overwhelming success for all. What saddened us as Tamareheroto is that we have had to relive our history repetitively and so it has in a way impeded a way into the future. Again we hoped that it would be perhaps easier as time progressed, but it seems this has been a summit for some to climb.

Barbara: Over the years a close relationship between the Sisters and the hapu has formed. We, the Sisters, could never have dreamed, prior to the restoring of the title of the Mowhanau land, of the ways in which the relationship with the Tamareheroto people is growing. There are people we have come to know since 2002 and others we are meeting as time passes. It is a partnership The one who received the seed in rich soil, this is the person who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit. Matthew 13:23

. Find out about the land history in your area. Where Bearing fruit were the areas of Maori occupation before European arrival? When and how was it acquired from the tangata whenua? Are there past injustice or hurts that “Every person and every family can and must do may need acknowledgement, understanding and something to alleviate hunger in the world by reconciliation by present members in the community? adopting a lifestyle and consumption compatible with the safeguarding of creation and with In the third film of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Return criteria of justice for those who cultivate the land of the King, a signal for aid is sent from Gondor to Rohan in every country.” 50 by a network of bonfires, each lit progressively from mountain top to mountain top, as a sign to the next. The Pope Benedict XVI images were computer enhanced for a fictional world. Despite the urgency of the current world environmental But the real land on which that world was based was situation, to care for the earth from a Christian our land – Aotearoa New Zealand. Can we, in this still- perspective requires first of all, appreciation of God’s gift fledgling, still “learning how to live wisely” land, be a for all humanity to share – the earth and its fruits. And beacon of hope for the world? Can we recover enough listening; in response to the world situation, to “hear of our wildness, our naturalness, to show the world there then what Yahweh asks of you – to live justly, to love is hope? Can we be a land of new zeal for caring for the tenderly and to walk humbly with your God.” 51 earth and all who dwell upon her?

Pope John Paul II told agricultural workers in 2000: “You 26 know the language of the soil and the seeds, of the grass and the trees, of the fruit and the flowers. In the most varied landscapes, from the harshness of the mountains to the irrigated plains under the most varied skies, this language has its own fascination which you know so well. In this language, you see God’s fidelity to what he said on the third day of creation: ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit (Genesis 1: 11)’.” 52

Jesus too knew “the language of the soil”. He used it and other aspects of nature in his parables. How do we, who have put some distance between us and the soil, reconnect with the land of our birth or new homeland? Some suggestions follow: . Take a walk – a long walk . Grow some of your own vegetables – start with simple ones such as cabbage, silver beet, rhubarb . Plant a fruit tree . Find out what trees or shrubs are native to your

region and plant some of those. It may only require photo: adrian heke transplanting self-sown plants already on your Sr Makareta: “There are many little ways in which property to a more suitable place. we can all play a part. There’s room for everyone, from growing things in their own back yard, from growing things in pots, to a big project like our work here. We need to listen more sensitively to our whenua. It is always speaking to us.” 50 Pope Benedict XVI: Angelus, 12 November 2006 51 Song based on Micah 6:8 52 Pope John Paul II: Homily for the Jubilee of the Agricultural World, 2000 Appendix

Catholic social teaching The Principle of Participation People have a right and a duty to participate in society, Catholic social teaching is a body of thought on social seeking together the well being of all, especially the poor issues that has been developed by the Church over the and vulnerable. Everyone has the right not to be shut past hundred years. It reflects Gospel values of love, out from participating in those institutions necessary for peace, justice, compassion, reconciliation, service and human fulfilment, such as work, education and political community in the context of modern social problems. participation. Catholic social teaching is continually developed through observation, analysis, and action, and is there to guide us The Principle of the Common Good in the responses we make to the social problems of our Individual rights are always experienced within the ever-changing world. context of promotion of the common good. The We can trace the beginnings of Catholic social teaching common good is about respecting the rights and back to 1891 when Pope Leo XIII wrote the encyclical responsibilities of all people. The individual does not Rerum Novarum. In this document, Pope Leo set out have unfettered rights at the expense of others, but nor some basic guiding principles and Christian values that are individual rights to be subordinated to the needs of should influence the way societies and countries operate. the group. It talked about the right, for example, to work, to own The Principle of Solidarity private property, to receive a just wage, and to organise into workers’ associations. We are one human family. Our responsibilities to each other transcend national, racial, economic, and Principles of Catholic Social ideological differences. We are called to work globally for justice. The principle of solidarity requires of us that Teaching we not concern ourselves solely with our own individual Human Dignity lives. We need to be aware of what is going on in the world around us. Every single person is created in the image of God. 27 Therefore they are invaluable and worthy of respect as a Preferential Protection for the Poor and member of the human family. The dignity of the person Vulnerable grants them inalienable rights – political, legal, social, Our Catholic tradition instructs us to put the needs of and economic rights. This is the most important principle the poor and vulnerable first. The good of society as a because it is from our dignity as human persons that all whole requires it. It is especially important that we look other rights and responsibilities flow. at public policy decisions in terms of how they affect the Human Equality poor. Equality of all people comes from their inherent human The Principle of Stewardship dignity. Differences in talents are part of God’s plan, but We have a responsibility to care for the gifts God has social, cultural, and economic discrimination is not. given us. This includes the environment, our personal Respect for Human Life talents, and other resources. All people, through every stage of life, have inherent The Universal Destination of Goods dignity and a right to life that is consistent with that The earth and all it produces is intended for every dignity. Human life at every stage is precious and person. Private ownership is acceptable, but there is therefore worthy of protection and respect. also a responsibility to ensure all have enough to live in The Principle of Association dignity. If we have more than we need, there is a social obligation to ensure others do not go without. The human person is not only sacred but also social. The way we organise society directly affects human dignity The Principle of Subsidiarity and the capacity of individuals to develop. People achieve No higher level of organisation (such as government) fulfilment by association with others – in families and should perform any function that can best be handled at other social institutions. As the centrepiece of society, a lower level (such as families and local communities) by the family must be protected, and its stability never those who are closer to the issues or problems. undermined. glossary of te reo maori words used in the text

awa river

hapu sub-tribal group

hui meeting

iwi tribe

kai food

kaitiaki guardian

kaitiakitanga guardianship

katekita catechist

karakia prayer

karanga call

korero speech/speaking

mamae pain

mana prestige, authority

marae the open area in front of the wharenui/meeting house

maunga mountain

moko/mokopuna grandchildren 28 purakau story

rangatiratanga sovereignty

rohe traditional area

taewa Maori potato

tamariki children

tangata people

taonga treasure

tapu sacred

Tiriti o Waitangi Treaty of Waitangi

tupuna ancestor

turangawaewae Literally “a place for one’s feet to stand”

uri descendants

urupa cemetery

waewae feet

whakaaro understanding

whanau family

whenua land