Danny Karatea-Goddard

A Language Exponent, a Storehouse of Genealogy, a Senior Priest

23 March 1938‒1 April 2017

The skies become misty, the northern tides break, a great tree of the Great Forest of Tāne has fallen. A descendent of Te Rarawa, a trout from the Hokianga.

Pā Henare, rest in peace in the Lord.

Pā Henare Tate was the first Māori priest of Hokianga, te kohanga o te Hāhi Katorika. At his ordination, in 1962, more than 2000 people gathered there to celebrate with him.

Henare Arekātera Tate was born in Motutī in 1938 and attended primary school there and then attended Hāto Petera College in Auckland. In 1956 he entered the Holy Name Seminary, Christchurch, and then went onto Mosgiel. In 1962 he was ordained a priest at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Auckland. Pā Henare ministered to the parishes of Balmoral, Te Rapa (Hamilton), Te Ūnga Waka, Gisborne (9 years), Kaikohe, Pangaru (12 years) and Auckland (1990‒2008). He was appointed Episcopal Vicar to Māori for the Diocese of Auckland by Bishop Patrick Dunn.

He produced the famous sacred musical Christ the Māori, taught Māori theology and Spirituality in the Auckland Catholic Institute of Theology and he was the principal constructor, director and presenter of The Dynamics of Whanaungatanga programme.

Pā Henare received his doctorate through his thesis Towards some foundations of Systematic Māori Theology.

Pā chose to dedicate his life to serve his Māori people. His ministry encompassed not only te taha wairua but all aspects of living fully as tangata.

Eternal peace grant to him oh Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him.

He mātanga reo, he Pātaka Whakapapa, he Kaumātua Pirihi

23 Maehe 1938‒1 Aperira 2017

Kohukohu te rangi, ka kohukohu, papaki ngā tai o te Taitokerau, kua hinga te totara nui a te Waonui-a-Tāne. He uri nō Te Rarawa, he kōkopu nō Hokianga. Pā Henare, moe mai ki te Ariki.

Ko Pā Henare te pirihi tuatahi nō o roto o te Hokianga, te kōhanga o te Hāhi Katorika. I te tau o tōna rā whakawahi, 1962, neke atu i te 2000 tāngata i hui atu ki tōna rā haringa.

I whānau mai a Henare Arekātera Tate i te tau 1938 ki Motutī, ā i kuraina ki reira, tērā i uru atu a ia ki te Kura o Hāto Petera, ki Akarana. I tau 1956 i uru atu ia ki te wharekura pirihi o Te Ingoa Tapu, ki Otautahi, nā wai rā i whakawhiti atu ki Mosgiel. I te tau 1962 i whakawahia ia hei pirihi ki te Wharekarakia Matua o Hāto Pateriki, ki Akarana. I toro atu Pā Henare ki ngā kāinga pārihi o Balmoral, o Te Rapa (Kirikiriroa), o Te Ūnga Waka (9 tau), Tūranganui-a-Kiwa, Kaikohe, Pangaru (12 tau), o Akarana hoki (1990-2008). I tohua ia hei Ūpoko mō te Iwi Māori ki Akarana e Pīhopa Pateriki Dunn.

Nāna te whakaari waiata tapu rongonui o ‘Karaiti te Māori’ i whakahaere, na i whakaako ia i te kaupapa whakapono Māori me te Wairuatanga ki te Pūtahi Katorika o Aotearoa, ā ko ia te matua kaitito, kaiwhakahaere, pouako mō te kaupapa Hōtaka mō Ngā Āhuatanga Whakawhanaungatanga. I riro a Pā Henare i tōna tohu tākuta mō tōna mahi rangahau, mō: He Tirohanga Anganui ki ētahi kaupapa hōhonu mō te Whakapono.

I whiriwhiri a Pā ki te manaaki i tōna iwi Māori. Ko tōna mahi whakapono he mea e whakaatu atu nei i te taha wairua, otirā ngā āhuatanga katoa o te mana tangata.

E te Ariki hoatu ki ā ia te okiokinga tonutanga, ā kia whiti ki ā ia te māramatanga mutunga kore.

Published in WelCom May 2017