Auckland Diocese Mass count jumps 8 per cent

Writing in the Diocese’s 2025 annual report, general manager James van Schie said “2025 continued to see a pattern of quiet growth across the Diocese, alongside ongoing pressures that require careful stewardship and advocacy”.

Mr van Schie said the 2025 growth in Mass attendance “substantially exceeds Auckland’s population growth of around 1 per cent over the same period”.

“Record numbers of people continue to join the Church, with an additional Rite of Election to accommodate the large number of Catechumens and Candidates in 2026.”

The Diocese’s 2024 annual report stated that the “number of people engaged in worship each week across Sunday Masses rose nearly 10 per cent, returning to pre-COVID levels”.

Mr van Schie also noted that Holy Cross Seminary is now full.

“We will require a new building in 2027 should there be any further applicants accepted this year,” he said.

“Our Tertiary Chaplaincy events are engaging numbers we have not seen in working memory. Baptisms increased by 23 per cent in 2025.

“The very real crisis happening in our world is also underpinned by a crisis in meaning, and many believe that this is leading to a renewed curiosity in Christianity.”

Auckland Bishop Steve Lowe said he hoped that, as people read the report, they “will be heartened by the work of so many in our Diocese as they live out their commitment to the mission of Jesus entrusted to us”.

“The diversity of life and service in the Diocese is an incredible joy to behold,” Bishop Lowe said. “At the same time, you might realise there is so much more we could be doing.”

Bishop Lowe invited people “to be part of that”.

FULL STORY

CDA-2025-Annual-Report.pdf (Catholic Diocese of Auckland)

Catholic-Diocese-Annual-Report-2025-1.pdf (Catholic Diocese of Auckland)