The Roman Catholic Mission Sui Iuris of Tokelau (Latin: Missio Sui Iuris Tokelaunum) in Tokelau is a suffragan mission of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia. It was formed in 1992 when the Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia and Tokelau was split into the Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia and the Mission Sui Iuris of Tokelau. The position of Ecclesiastical Superior is currently vacant following the death of Archbishop Alapati Lui Mata’eliga on 25 April 2023.
From the discovery of the island by Europeans in 1841, several attempts were made by Catholic missionaries to reach Tokelau from Wallis Island between 1845 and 1863. [1] The first Catholic baptism was performed in 1863 on one adult and three children, and several other occurred soon after. [2] Father Didier lived in the country from 1883 to 1890, the year he died at sea. [2] Two elders who were educated in Samoa acted as catechists starting in 1904, and others continued their role over time. [2] The Catholic Church allowed traditional music and dance to be incorporated into Catholic religious ritual, contributing to their efforts at converting the populace. [1]
In 1945 Father Jepson came to Tokelau and proposed having a priest permanently stationed there, a church be constructed, and the Order of Mary provide sisters to the island. [2] Father Patrick O'Connor was the only foreigner residing in the country as of 2011. [3] He was assigned to the island country by the Archbishop of Samoa in 1977 to take care of the Catholic parish on the atoll of Nukunonu and has resided there since then. [3] The church services are conducted in Tokelau. [3] The atoll of Nukunonu is mostly Catholic, while Fakaofo and Atafu atolls have both Congregational and Catholic churches. [1] [3] Many religious rules are followed such as families gathering at 6pm for prayers, a midnight curfew, and a ban on swimming on Sundays. [3]
Tokelau is a dependent territory of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean. It consists of three tropical coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunonu, and Fakaofo. They have a combined land area of 10 km2 (4 sq mi). The capital rotates yearly among the three atolls. In addition to these three, Swains Island, which forms part of the same archipelago, is the subject of an ongoing territorial dispute; it is currently administered by the United States as part of American Samoa. Tokelau lies north of the Samoan Islands, east of Tuvalu, south of the Phoenix Islands, southwest of the more distant Line Islands, and northwest of the Cook Islands.
The Roman Catholic Apostolic Prefecture of the Marshall Islands is a Latin rite apostolic prefecture, in the South Sea Republic of the Marshall Islands.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Samoa–Apia consists of the Independent State of Samoa.
Alapati Lui Mataeliga was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Samoa-Apia and Ecclesiastical Superior of the Mission sui iuris of Tokelau. He was born in Sataua on the island of Savai'i. He was ordained for the presbyterate of the Diocese of Samoa and Tokelau on 5 July 1977. Upon the retirement of Cardinal Pio Taofinu'u, Father Mataeliga was appointed by the Holy See as the second Archbishop of Samoa-Apia on 16 November 2002. He was consecrated to the episcopate and installed as ordinary by Archbishop Patrick Coveney, Apostolic Nuncio to Samoa, on 3 January 2003.
A mission sui iuris, or in Latin missio sui iuris ; also spelled mission(s) sui juris), also known as an independent mission, can be defined as: "an ecclesial structure erected from a previous territory, with explicit boundaries, under the care of a religious community or other diocese, responding to a missionary exigency and headed by a superior nominated by the Holy See, under the aegis of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples."
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nassau is an archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in the Caribbean. The archdiocese encompasses the islands of the former British dependency of the Bahamas. The archbishop is the metropolitan responsible for the suffragan diocese of Diocese of Hamilton in Bermuda and the Mission sui iuris of Turks and Caicos, and is a member of the Antilles Episcopal Conference.
The Mission Sui Iuris of Funafuti is a Catholic Latin mission sui juris in Tuvalu, Polynesia.
The Catholic Church in Samoa is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, which, initiated by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and Roman curia in the Vatican City is the largest Christian church in the world. Catholic missionaries arrived in Samoa in 1845 and today Catholics account for around 20% of the overall population. Archbishop Alapati Lui Mataeliga was ordained as head of the Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia in 2003.
Chanel College, Masterton is a Catholic secondary school situated in Masterton, New Zealand. The school is named after St Peter Chanel, who was a French Marist priest killed on the Pacific island of Futuna in 1841. The school was established in 1978. It resulted from the amalgamation of two schools, St Joseph's College for Boys operated by the Marist Brothers and St Bride's College for Girls which had been established in 1898 by the Brigidine Sisters. The College, which is located on the old St Joseph's College site, became an Integrated School in November 1981. It is owned by the Wellington Archdiocese with the Archbishop of Wellington being named as its proprietor in the college's integration agreement with the New Zealand Government.
The Catholic Church in the Bahamas is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Columbus landed on one of the islands of the Bahamas in 1492 which he named San Salvador.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to Tokelau.
The Episcopal Conference of the Pacific (CEPAC) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church that includes the bishops of several islands in Oceania. The CEPAC is a member of the Federation of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of Oceania, FCBCO.
The vast majority of people in Tokelau are Christians and Christianity plays a significant role in the Tokelauan way of life.
Monsignor Patrick Edward O'Connor was a Roman Catholic priest who served as the Ecclesiastical Superior of the Roman Catholic Mission Sui Iuris of Tokelau from 1992 to 2011.
Father Camille DesRosiers, S.M. was a Canadian-born Roman Catholic priest who served as the Ecclesiastical Superior of the Mission Sui Iuris of Funafuti from 1986 to 2010.
The Nukunonu Church is a religious building affiliated with the Catholic Church that is in the atoll of Nukunonu in Tokelau, a dependent territory of New Zealand in the Pacific Ocean. It is the main Catholic church in Tokelau, the other being in Fakaofo atoll.
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