New Zealanders mourn death of first Maori bishop

Published: 2005-12-13

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (CNS) -- New Zealanders are mourning the sudden death of Hamilton Auxiliary Bishop Max Takuira Mariu, the country's first Maori bishop. Bishop Mariu died Dec. 12 at the age of 53. Since the 1970s he had suffered heart problems caused by a bout of rheumatic fever in childhood, and he died as the result of a viral heart infection after a weeklong hospital stay. Bishop Mariu's funeral Mass was scheduled for Dec. 15 at Hamilton's Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Bishop Mariu was ordained a priest in 1977 and became New Zealand's first Maori bishop in 1988. The Maori are the country's indigenous people. He said in a 1990 interview that his top priority was to "help my people come to understand and appreciate their culture and their church, so that they can express themselves as Maori and as Catholic without any conflict between the two."

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