Newspaper Article 1955 – Seventy-five Years Old

Seventy-five Years Old

ON October 30 at Paki Paki [Pakipaki], headquarters of the Hawke’s Bay Maori Mission, will be celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Paki Paki church. It was built in 1880 by Father Soulas, S.M., and opened by Father Yardin, S.M., who, in the absence of Archbishop Redwood, was administrator for the diocese.

As the church is named after the Mystery of the Immaculate Conception, it was thought that the building of a grotto to Our Lady would be a fitting way to signalise the occasion. At 2 p.m. on October 30, the grotto will be dedicated, and at the same time a plaque in the base unveiled, on which are the names of the pioneers of the Hawke’s Bay Mission.

These include: Fathers Baty, Regnier [Reignier], Lampila, Seon, Lepretre, Delach, Soulas, all of the Society of Mary; Brothers Basil and Florentin, Marist Brothers, who worked the Mission farm; Mother Aubert, who did valuable work for the Mission in this area, and Puhara, a Maori chief, who protected the infant Mission and gave it land on which to establish itself.

They are towering figures, these pioneers, and the jubilee seems a fitting occasion to make an enduring monument for them.