In Reply to: I have not yet posted by Colleen on Sunday, 9. December 2007 at 01:28 Bali Time:
of your Irish ancester doesn't seem to ring true.
Certainly the origonal Eoropean settlers in NZ in the mid 1800's were white anglo saxon protestants but there was a sizable Irish catholic presence too.
On the European side of my family my great grandfather who was born in NZ to Protestant Scottish parents married an Irish Catholic immigrant from County Gallway in the local Church of Scotland. This would be in 1880 or so and they farmed in a small South Island community that had churches, of Rome, England, Scotland plus Methodist and a couple more.
Their decision was not to go to church at all but to donate to all the local churches.
There was no discrimination to Annie nee Murphy my great grandmother.
In those tmes Catholics generally didn't like protestants and vise versa and frankly the catholics were the last to see the light.
Even in the 1970's in NZ an RC could not marry a protestant in an RC church unless the prodestant changed - they were married outside the main body of the church. This discrimination had never been practised in reverse.
Suffice to say that these stupid distinctions have now gone and race and religion mean less in NZ than most countries.
I was speaking to the C of E Bishop of Christchurch over a few wines a year or two back and he was enthusing that the previous Easter all the Christain sects had been represented at the Cathredral plus the Hindus and Muslims.
I'm not a religious person at all but heartly agree that's the way it should be.