Henare Arekatera Tate

Henare Arekatera Tate was born in Motuti, Hokianga, and was born in Motuti, Hokianga, and was educated at Motuti Primary School and Hato Petera College in Northcote. From 1956-57, he completed papers in Māori Studies at Auckland University and then began training for the Catholic priesthood at the Holy Name Seminary in Christchurch, where he studied philosophy for three years. The next four of his seven years in training were spent at Holy Cross College, Mosgiel, where he studied Theology and Scripture. Tate was ordained as a Catholic Priest in 1962 and since that time has worked in a city parish, has spent nine years at Te Unga Waka Māori Mission, and has worked in Gisborne and Kaikohe. In 1978 he went to Panguru where he continued parish work. In 1990 he was transferred back to Te Unga Waka and Tamaki Māori Mission. He was the Vicar for Māori Catholics of the Auckland Diocese until 2007.

In 1992 Tate began teaching papers entitled “A Māori Theology Perspective I & II” at Auckland University School of Theology. From 1995, he co-presented Māori spirituality/theology programmes at the Auckland Catholic Institute of Theology. From 1996-97, he was a co-ordinator of the Māori Theology Development Committee. He gained a doctorate from the Melbourne College of Divinity in 2010.

Tate was principal presenter of Te Rarawa iwi “Dynamics of Whanaungatanga” programmes from 1990. He chaired Te Iku o te Ika Social Services and the Auckland Diocesan Bi-cultural Committee. He was resident chaplain at Hato Petera College, Auckland, and was Catholic Chaplain for the Māori Battalion tour of Mediterranean.

Tate wrote non-fiction work and focused on historical material from Hokianga. He drew upon handwritten manuscripts from the1850s for use on marae for carvings, drama, haka, poi, waiata and whaikōrero. His book He Puna Iti i te Ao Mārama: A Little Spring in the World of Light, which won the fifth annual Māori Book Awards non-fiction award in 2013, has been described as a 'far-reaching work [which] attempts to develop of the foundations of an indigenous Māori theology. In Pā Tate's opinion, the traditional Christian message has fallen short of speaking intimately and powerfully to Māori experience in New Zealand. Māori are crying out for a form of Christianity that is 'theirs'. This book offers one response and contribution to this call by attempting to develop a theology that Māori can call 'ours'.' He continued to work as an historian and whakapapa consultant for Te Rarawa Iwi, and lived in retirement in Motuti, in northern Hokianga, until his death on April 1, 2017.

Biographical sources

• Correspondence from Pa Henare Tate: 15 Jan 1993, 18 Feb. 1998 and 22 July 2004.
• Email correspondence from Sr Magdalen Sheahan (DOLC) 7, 11, 19 May 2019.