By Angelus Press

Aotearoa, or the “land of the long white cloud” as the Maori natives call the New Zealand archipelago, has been home to priests of the Society of Saint Pius X since 1986. Presently, it has one priory, a primary and secondary school, three weekly Mass centers, and four other chapels served less frequently by three SSPX priests, with the help of two SSPX brothers. The Dominican Sisters of Whanganui assist the Society with the girls’ education. Recently, The Angelus had the opportunity to interview one of the American priests stationed at St. Anthony’s Priory in Whanganui, New Zealand, Fr. Ian Andrew Palko.

Father, could you introduce yourself to our readers?

Tena koutou, katoa (Greetings to all of you). It would be my pleasure. In priestly years, I am still one of the young priests. I was ordained in 2017 by Msgr. Fellay at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Virginia. Nine in total, we were the first priests ordained there. I reported to my first assignment at St. Anthony’s Priory in Whanganui, New Zealand on August 22, 2017, so it is nearing four years here, long enough to need to apply for residence in order to stay.

What about your background?

I was born in Annapolis, Maryland, the eldest of two children. My father is Catholic. My mother is not. Our religious practice was sporadic growing up, but my parents did teach us real natural virtue. Growing up in the modern Church, fairly lukewarm, it was at Georgetown University that I encountered the Traditional Mass. With friends I attended my first Latin Mass, a Solemn Mass on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. I was hooked. It was not long before I thought of a vocation, but it would be a while before I actually headed to the seminary.

So you were a later vocation?

It is hard to accept that moniker, given that a confrere in Whanganui, Fr. Michael Johnson, was ordained at age 60. I will take “later than it needed to be” for myself. I entered the seminary at age 29. Before going to the seminary after years contemplating and then neglecting God’s call, I finished a Chemical Engineering degree at the University of Kansas in 2004. St. Mary’s or St. Vincent’s in Kansas City were where I went for Sunday Masses. After three years as an engineer at a brewery, three teaching at St. Vincent’s Academy, and one year doing both, I entered the seminary in Winona in 2010. Seven years later, I coordinated the packing and moving of all of our books and belongings from Winona to Dillwyn, and then the superiors wanted me to do more packing and moving, this time half way around the world. They must have seen my talents for packing boxes!

How did you find out about your assignment to New Zealand?

Our first year in Dillwyn, seminarians were doing a lot of odd jobs. I was often in the kitchen. Making bread for a meal, the Rector, Fr. Yves le Roux—a spiritual father I wish many other priests will learn from—approached me. “You will need to send an e-mail to Fr. Fullerton,” he said. Knowing Fr. Fullerton was the superior of Australia at the time, I knew that I would be assigned to the District of Australia. I thought it might be a school, given my teaching background. I did not even know that New Zealand was part of the district, but a week before ordination I found out it would be Whanganui, New Zealand. I began the visa application just before the ordinations retreat.

St. Anthony’s Church and School, with St. Augustine’s Boys’ College at the bottom, and St. Dominic’s Convent and Girls’ School at the far back left.

What were your impressions of Whanganui, New Zealand, and the apostolate there on arriving?

After an overnight in Auckland, I flew on a small 30-seat plane to Whanganui. Already, it felt quite small compared with the U.S. The Whanganui airport terminal was not much larger than a small school gym, but exiting the plane I was greeted by two priests, some brothers and nuns and by a fairly sizable contingent of parents and students (who were on a short holiday from school). They sang and I think most of the people in the airport were not really sure what was happening. I was badly jetlagged so I was almost not sure either. It was a very warm welcome—very common in New Zealand, and memorable. I settled in quickly with the help of Fr. Robert MacPherson, whom I was to replace. He left for Holy Cross Seminary in Australia a bit more than a month later.

It was a running start, however. Fr. Johnson was back in the U.S. on holiday, so I would need to cover his classes for a month beginning the next week. That first weekend, I was to cover his circuit in Wellington. Fr. MacPherson gave me his car (a stick shift) and directions. One small problem: we drive on the left here, steering wheel on the right, and I was to drive myself. Let us just say that regarding the pious belief that a priest gets a second guardian angel at ordination, I am a believer. The drive was stunningly beautiful, but incredibly terrifying.

What does your apostolate consist of at present?

I am the pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Auckland, the country’s largest city. Each weekend I either fly the one hour, or drive the winding roads north six hours. They have Mass on Friday evening through Monday morning, then I return to Whanganui to teach. From Auckland, I also visit two smaller chapels on Sundays. One is two hours north in Whangarei. The other is 90 minutes south in Hamilton. In these three chapels are about 200 souls.

In Whanganui, I serve as Dean of St. Augustine’s Boys’ College. This is the boys’ academy of St. Dominic’s College. Here and in Australia “college” means “high school.” Schools after high school are “university.” As Dean I am responsible for the formation of the boys, both naturally and supernaturally—a sometimes benevolent disciplinarian and chaplain. In my years here, I have taught, at various times, the Religion classes for grades 7-12, Philosophy, Mathematics, Chemistry, Apologetics, and Church History. The prior, Fr. François Laisney, has also put me in charge of the St. Stephen’s Guild, the Bosco Cadets (our boys’ scouting program), and the Children of Mary. It is a very full schedule.

The apostolate also comes with demands that I never thought would be needed. For instance, New Zealand requires even private school teachers to be registered. That requires a degree in education. So, in 2019 I went back to full-time university for a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education. That was on top of a full load of teaching, and the priestly apostolate.

What is New Zealand Catholicism like and the religious environment there?

New Zealand is a very young country; younger than the United States. This is why a building that is 100 years old here is considered “historic” and protected. We ran into this problem building the chapel in Auckland. Around 1900 someone lived on the property, and so we had to hire an archaeologist to sift through the dirt we moved to find what amounted to actual rubbish.

The first Catholic missionaries, under Msgr. Pompallier, did not arrive until the late 1830s. While many of the native Maori did take to Catholicism, there was also the Protestant Church Missionary Society, which won some converts. Certain places were very Catholic, like Auckland, Wellington, Taranaki and the South Island’s West Coast, but the Faith never really took any massive hold outside of those areas. It disintegrated quickly during the mid-20th century even before the Council and was never a major force in the country. The Catholic Church never had much political clout after Msgr. Pompallier. He managed to get the Maori to insist on protection for the Christian religion by the government in the Treaty of Waitangi at the very last minute.

The lack of Catholic development, though, is evidenced by our churches. Few of our churches would fit more than 200 people. Most are built of wood. Small wooden chapels are quaint, but suggest a Catholic environment not very well-developed. There are some gems, especially in the South Island, but even our cathedrals look like small U.S. parish churches. We are still a mission here, and the churches announce this. Truly grand churches can be counted on one hand, many are in disrepair, or destroyed by earthquakes and never rebuilt.

The country is naturally very beautiful and so speaks of God through this beauty. We can see two volcanos from Whanganui on a clear day, but it is very hard to show young men a grand cathedral that speaks of God, as we could in the U.S. or Europe: to show them what the Faith has built. Their experience of Catholicism is very “parochial.” If our churches seem like afterthoughts, dwarfed by worldly structures, it is easy to think of the Faith as an afterthought. I have always hoped for a regular school trip every few years to Rome or something similar as a remedy to this.

New Zealand does not seem like “missionary territory.” What do you mean a “mission,” then?

Canonically we are in missionary territory, as was much of the U.S. West a hundred years ago. The bishops here report, not to the Congregation for Bishops, but to what the Church used to call “the Propaganda,” the Roman Congregation that dealt with missionaries.

That said, we are a “mission” here, perhaps not in the same sense that most Americans think of when they hear “the missions.” I always had the impression that “the missions” were poor places where life was quite rough. Indeed, there are such places, some of our priests here visit such places like Vanuatu. New Zealand, though, is not one of these. Visitors from the U.S. would find the country very similar to home as regards the standard of living.

In Whanganui the school and priory is much like a parish. Most families live within a mile or two of the church and school. Students walk to school. We have around 500-600 faithful in a small city of 40,000. Leave these confines and it becomes much more a “mission” in the conditions for teaching the Faith, rather than the natural living conditions.

And what are those conditions?

There is an incredible apathy towards religion in New Zealand. Over half of Kiwis profess no religion at all, not even paganism. Consider, too, that many lax or non-practicing “Christians” or “Catholics” will tick the box, because grandma was Catholic. To claim “no religion” is bold. The real number who disregard religion is much more than 50%. We priests are working in a very naturalistic environment, and this has a huge impact on our work and faithful.

There is not a militant atheism here, as you might find in Russia or the former Soviet Bloc, but a “militant” apathy. Your average Kiwi will smile at the priest, may praise our social work, but have zero interest in religion or anything spiritual. He does not hate religion. He simply does not care. Speaking to those outside of our small circles, it really feels like a post-Christian realm.

Do such conditions make for many converts?

We do have converts. Most, however, do not come from Protestantism, but rather from no religious practice. This past Christmas, I had the privilege of baptizing a 27-year old man, but he came from a purely non-religious background. These converts are easier to catechize, since they do not start with heretical ideas, and often are zealous once they see the Truth. The hurdle is getting the areligious person to think about the possibility of things supernatural. In Whanganui we have had a few converts. The situation was the same: no previous religion in most cases.

Since you teach at a boys’ school, do you see that attitude affecting the youth?

Absolutely. Despite our effort to protect ourselves from the atheistic, nihilistic, pagan, hedonistic, individualistic influences the world shoves at us, we do live in the world. If one is around a campfire, he will absorb the smell of smoke. So do we all absorb the worldly influence, even when making an effort to avoid it. We all become desensitized to these evils, or tolerate them to a degree, if not actually accept them. That is especially true of the more-impressionable youth. Particularly among young men, even our good boys, their mind does not easily turn to higher things, or the abstract, but the base material things in front of them.

Our best boys are devout young men, generous, virtuous, but ask a question about God, and often the answer comes back too focused on the human or the natural, rather than the supernatural.

That is a general problem with the youth in the West, raised in a very materialistic and naturalistic society, but even more so where the environment is one of apathy to religion and the supernatural. A lackadaisical approach to the Faith, especially among the men, results. Add to this the influence of modern media, computers, video games, streaming services, and all of the mess that comes with that—it is a huge battle to produce generous souls. We are making inroads, but very slowly, and the “No worries” or “She’ll be right” mentality common here makes for very pleasant people, but very phlegmatic reactions to our efforts.

That does not mean that there are not some impressive and virtuous young men in our schools and good families. Some young men and families truly impress me. I am very hopeful that we will have some vocations coming out of our school soon, but we also have some very sad cases. Forming Catholic youth in this environment is a gargantuan task.

On vocations, do you have many vocations from the school?

We have yet to have a vocation from the boys’ school, though I think that will change in the next few years. The priests before me planted some good seeds. A poor substitute for St. Paul, I do get to try to water what these Apollos have planted, which is a great grace, and terrifying. I can count at least six young men in our school who have at least mentioned thoughts of a vocation, and at least three at times speaking quite seriously about it. It really touches a priestly heart to see these seeds germinate. Let us hope God gives the increase and these young men do not make God wait. The next 2-5 years will, I think, be very fruitful.

New Zealand can claim five priests as members of the SSPX. Our chapel in Auckland would have a deacon at Holy Cross now but for the pandemic and no access for the bishops. We have had a few from our mission chapels go to the seminary, but not many from Whanganui.

Our young men have two SSPX brothers to give an example of religious life, but I have always thought the Kiwi temperament would be naturally drawn to a Benedictine lifestyle of work and prayer. Drive outside of the towns and the towering hills full of sheep and cattle cry out for a monastery. I long for the chance for our boys to see how a monastery works one day, because I think this would attract many young men who do not see themselves as priests.

Our girls’ school has produced several religious vocations, and I know of a few young ladies considering joining a religious congregation as well. We have SSPX Sisters, Dominicans, and even one young lady who joined the Little Sisters of St. John the Baptist in Lourdes.

What will the New Zealand apostolate look like in the next few years?

Right now, with the three SSPX priests, and Fr. Albert Kallio, O.P. as the temporary chaplain for the Dominicans we are stretched thin. Three Masses for each of us is normal most Sundays and Holy Days. Occasionally, we must binate on First Fridays so the missions have Mass. Until we have extra hands the apostolate cannot expand much. As in many places, COVID has increased our numbers. Whanganui was 450 on Sundays last year. We often are over 500 this year. When restricted to 100 people per Mass, we had to have six Masses in Whanganui.

Perhaps once the situation calms a bit and travel to New Zealand opens, we will be able to get an extra priest. Then we could look at expanding the apostolate a bit, but more importantly, there is need to further develop our present apostolates and deepen the work. I am working on a young adult group like in St. Marys, more spiritual than social (though still social). With Fr. Laisney’s permission, I plan to work on a similar men’s group to help these fathers find truly Christian friends. We may firstly start by social gatherings with the priests to attract good men, but then slowly shift towards a more spiritually-minded group. Both for the men and youth, work in vein of Canon Timon-David’s work in France will pay dividends, and many souls for many years to come will be sanctified.