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The Catholic Church in New Zealand is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, which, inspired by the life, death and teachings of Jesus Christ, and under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and Roman curia in Vatican City (within Rome) is the largest Christian church in the world. Catholic settlers first arrived in the 1820s, with British settlement of New Zealand. Catholicism is the largest New Zealand Christian denomination having, according to the 2013 census, 492,384 members or around 11.07 percent of the total population.〔(2013 Census totals by topic, Statistics New Zealand:: Tatauranga Aotearoa ) (24 March 2014)〕 In New Zealand there is one Archdiocese (Wellington) and five suffragan dioceses (Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton and Palmerston North). There are 530 priests and 1200 men and women religious. ==Characteristics== In the 2013 Census, 47.9 percent of the population identified themselves as Christians, while another 38.55 percent indicated that they had no religion and around 7 percent affiliated with other religions.〔(Table 28, 2013 Census Data – QuickStats About Culture and Identity – Tables ).〕 The main Christian denominations are: Roman Catholics (11.07 percent); Anglicans (10.33 percent), Presbyterians (7.44 percent) and "other Christians" (14.63 percent).〔 The 2013 census has shown an actual decline in Catholic adherents with a fall of some 16,000 members. However, the 2013 census also showed that the decline in the membership of the mainline non-Catholic denominations was greater and that the Roman Catholic Church had become the largest New Zealand Christian denomination, passing the Anglican Church for first time in history.〔 The percentage of Catholics in the 1901 Census was 14 percent, though at that time the church was only the third largest denomination. Approximately 25% of New Zealand Catholics regularly attend Sunday Mass compared to 60% in the late 1960s.〔Karl Du Fresne, "Holy Smoke" ''New Zealand Listener'', 6 April 2013 p. 18.〕 In recent times numbers of priests, nuns and brothers have declined, and the involvement of laypeople has increased. Catholic organisations in New Zealand remain heavily involved in community activities including education; health services; chaplaincy to prisons, rest homes, and hospitals; social justice and human rights advocacy. Catholic charities active in New Zealand include the St Vincent de Paul Society, and Caritas Internationalis. Recent political engagement by New Zealand Bishops have included statements issued in relation to: indigenous rights and Treaty of Waitangi issues; the rights of refugees and migrants; and promoting ''restorative Justice'' over ''retributive justice'' in New Zealand.〔 As in a number of other countries, the Catholic Church in New Zealand had priests imprisoned for child sexual abuse. There were "at least three priests" convicted and several were criticised for allowing abuse to continue. The abuse was on a much lower scale than in Australia and other countries because the Catholic church had "a less prominent role in education and social welfare". In 2000 the church acknowledged and apologised for the abuse of children by clergy, putting in place protocols and setting up a national office to handle abuse complaints.〔Ben Heather, "Reports draw more church abuse complaints", ''The Dominion Post'', 29 June 2013, p. A10.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Roman Catholicism in New Zealand」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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