Catholic Spirituality and Religious Identity in Interwar New Zealand

Abstract

Four broad but overlapping areas of spirituality can be identified in Catholic life in New Zealand in the period between the two world wars: affective devotion to Christ and the saints; active social engagement, whether in the form of charity or the promotion of Christian values; Eucharistic piety, including the extra-liturgical cult of the Eucharist alongside increased reception of the Blessed Sacrament and greater participation in the liturgy; and the intensification of lay spirituality by imitating the religious life through third orders and retreats. Catholic spirituality was dominated by the clergy and based on international models, thereby promoting a distinct religious identity. Protestant antagonism towards Catholic spirituality was limited, however, and the Church's leaders sought to avoid religious conflict, seeing secular indifference, rather than aggressive Protestantism, as the real threat to Catholic religious commitment and as the primary justification for introducing new forms of spirituality.