John Mackey (11 January 1918 – 20 January 2014''NZ Herald'', 21 January 2014, pg. A26.) was the ninth Bishop of Auckland,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

(1974–1983). Born in Bray, County Wicklow in Ireland, he came at the age of six to New Zealand with his widowed mother to live with Father John O'Byrne, who was his mother's brother and parish priest of

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

. He received his secondary education at

Sacred Heart College, Auckland , motto_translation = Take Courage And Act Manfully , type = State-integrated Day & boarding Secondary school , religion = Roman Catholic Marist , gender = Boys-only , patr ...

and studied for the priesthood at New Zealand’s National Seminary, Holy Cross College, Mosgiel. He was ordained a priest on 23 November 1941 in Auckland, and received episcopal consecration in

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from

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on 30 June 1974. Mackey was Bishop of Auckland from 1974 until his retirement due to a recurring health problem in 1983.Morgan Tait, "Bishop who led school integration dies at 96"
''NZ Herald'', 21 January 2014; retrieved 22 January 2014. Previously he had been professor of church history at Holy Cross College and lecturer in church history at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate ...

. He gained a doctorate in education and a master's degree in history and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and a graduate scholarship to the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

(

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), studying there for two years before returning to take up the appointment of director of education for the Auckland diocese. With the passage of the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975, while he was Bishop of Auckland, Mackey played a key role in the integration of Catholic schools into the state system, developing a close working relationship with the Minister of Education,

Merv Wellington Mervyn Langlois Wellington (6 October 1940 – 7 September 2003) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. Early life and family Wellington was born in Inglewood in 1940, and received his education at New Plymouth Boys' High School a ...

. Another event of his episcopate was the creation of the Diocese of Hamilton out of the area of the Auckland diocese located south of Auckland city. In the

1983 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1983 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

, Mackey was appointed a

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, for services to education. In the earlier years of his retirement, Mackey was a guest lecturer in New Zealand and abroad and conducted occasional courses in Church History at Holy Cross College. He supervised the preparation of the new faith education programmes for Catholic secondary schools on behalf of the New Zealand bishops. He was the author of three books. Until shortly before his death, Mackey continued to write on a variety of subjects, including reviews and reflections for Catholic publications. His obsequies occurred on 27 January 2014 at

St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland The Cathedral of St Patrick and St Joseph (usually known as St Patrick's Cathedral) is a Catholic church in Auckland CBD, situated on the corner of Federal Street and Wyndham St. It is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Auckland ...

in which his remains were interred near those of one of his predecessors, George Lenihan OSB (1858–1910), fifth Catholic Bishop of Auckland (1896–1910), the only other bishop buried in the cathedral

Bibliography

* ''The making of a state education system: the passing of the New Zealand Education Act 1877'', Geoffrey Chapman, London, 1967. * ''Reflections on Church History'', New Zealand Tablet Company, Dunedin, 1975. * ''Looking at ourselves: the church moving towards the third millennium'', Freedman Paul, Auckland, 1994.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackey, John 1918 births 2014 deaths People educated at Sacred Heart College, Auckland Irish emigrants to New Zealand 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in New Zealand People from Bray, County Wicklow Roman Catholic bishops of Auckland New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire