At Waitangi, Bishop Lowe says Treaty points to peace, unity

Speaking at the dawn service at Waitangi on February 6, Bishop Lowe referred to the spiritual importance of the Treaty ground for the nation, as it was there that there was “the moment of encounter, the signing, the hikoi of our journey together as a nation begins”.

“Despite all the contradictions and conflicts that followed, this place witnesses to the hope and possibility of a new dynamic, mutual relationship. So, to return to this whenua asks us to be humble. Here we are called to put aside our agendas and listen again, reawakening the hopes and possibilities, discovering anew who we are – tangata whenua and tangata o te Tiriti, who strive to embrace the wairua of Waitangi today,” Bishop Lowe said.

The bishop noted that on “this day in 1840, my tupuna, [Bishop] Jean-Baptiste Pompallier stood on this whenua.  . . . [H]e asked that religion should not be interfered with, that ‘free toleration’ would be allowed in ‘matters of faith’. He asked that a public guarantee to this effect be given to Māori, to which [Governor] Hobson agreed.”

Bishop Pompallier did not stay for the signing as he had already spoken with the chiefs.

Bishop Lowe noted that, 186 years after these events, “I am humbled to stand here, wearing Pompallier’s cross”.

Just as “we approach the cross with reverence for it is a taonga, a sign of a covenant of love . . . , so too we are invited to approach with reverence the taonga of Te Tiriti, the Treaty, so it may point us forward on the paths of peace and unity”.

Describing the ways in which Te Tiriti was a tupuna or ancestor for different groups present, the bishop told Ministers of the Crown that “you are descendants of a Treaty partner who historically did not honour it, but who also know the complexity and concerns of the issues that are still with us today and must be the subject of korero and hui across our motu, across our land”.

Bishop Lowe said the cross and te wairua o te Tiriti, the spirit of the Treaty, “call us to a justice that is reconciling and restorative, to a right way of thinking and loving, and towards a life-giving way of speaking and acting”.

This begins with humility, he said, inviting people present to take off their shoes.

“. . . From this place of humility may we recommit ourselves to discovering the story of our peoples and our journey as a nation, and as we rediscover the richness of each other, may goodness flourish as we take up anew the hikoi that advances us together of hopes and possibilities so that we become one people, tangata whenua and tangata o te Tiriti together, and gathered in the bonds of love as we meet.”

FULL STORY

Bishop Lowe address at Waitangi (MĀORI+/YouTube)

Text of Bishop Lowe address at Waitangi 2026 (Catholic Diocese of Auckland/Facebook)

After the dawn service at Waitangi 2026 (Bishop Steve Lowe/Facebook)

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