Dame Sister Pauline Frances Engel (10 September 1930 – 15 November 2017) was a New Zealand educator and Roman Catholic

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated ''Sr.'' or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to pr ...

. A member of the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

, she served as the third principal of Carmel College. Prior to running Carmel College, she taught English, religious studies, history, and geography. She actively opposed

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

and

assisted suicide Assisted suicide is suicide undertaken with the aid of another person. The term usually refers to physician-assisted suicide (PAS), which is suicide that is assisted by a physician or other healthcare provider. Once it is determined that the p ...

in New Zealand, and was a critic of

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

in South Africa. After retiring, Engel was appointed as the Vicar for Education in the Diocese of Auckland. She was made a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the 1986 Queen's Birthday Honours and a

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours for her services to education in New Zealand.

Biography

Born in 1930 in

Waimea West The Waimea Plains is a small but fertile area of low-lying land southwest of the port city of Nelson, situated on Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere in the South Island of New Zealand. It is irrigated by the Waimea River from the Waimea Inlet in the n ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

parents, John and Eileen Engel, she was one of five siblings. A

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

in the Sisters of Mercy, Nga Whaea Atawhai o Aotearoa, she became an educator. In 1983, the third principal of Carmel College. She was the first principal to be appointed by Carmel College's Board of Governors. Engel taught history, English, geography, and religious studies at Carmel College from 1965 to 1983. After retiring, she was appointed as the Vicar for Education for the Diocese of Auckland. In the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours, Engel was appointed a

, for services to education, having been made a

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

of the same order in the 1986 Queen's Birthday Honours. Engel worked with the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

and wrote a history on the abolition of

in New Zealand, prior to entering religious life. At the age of 85, Engel submitted an opposition to the introduction of

to the Parliamentary Health Committee. A critic of

in South Africa, she opposed the

Springbok Tour The 1981 South African rugby tour (known in New Zealand as the Springbok Tour, and in South Africa as the Rebel Tour) polarised opinions and inspired widespread protests across New Zealand. The controversy also extended to the United States, wh ...

in 1981 and was among the religious who actively opposed rugby matches in Auckland. Engel died at North Shore Hospital,

Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is situated at the beginning of a south-east-facing peninsula forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. While very small in terms of population, it ...

on 15 November 2017, aged 87. At the time of her death, she was one of the last two nuns to live at the convent at Carmel College. A

requiem mass A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

for Engel was held at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Takapuna on 20 November 2017. She was buried at Waikaraka Cemetery.

References

External links

NRAM website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Engel, Pauline Frances 1930 births 2017 deaths 20th-century New Zealand Roman Catholic nuns 21st-century New Zealand Roman Catholic nuns Anti–death penalty activists Burials at Waikaraka Cemetery Heads of schools in New Zealand People from Brightwater New Zealand Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Roman Catholic anti-apartheid activists Sisters of Mercy Women school principals and headteachers New Zealand women educators New Zealand women activists