Edward Michael Joyce (26 June 1904 – 28 January 1964) was the fourth Roman Catholic bishop of

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, New Zealand. He was appointed by

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

on 18 April 1950 and died in office on 28 January 1964. He was the first priest of the Christchurch diocese to be made a bishop."Death of Bishop Joyce", ''The Press'', 29 January 1964, p. 14

Early life

Joyce was born in Lyttelton, New Zealand in 1904 and spent part of his childhood in

Loburn Loburn is a rural community in North Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury, New Zealand. It is located ten kilometres northwest of Rangiora and nearly 50 kilometres north of Christchurch. Loburn is a small community, with no shops. Local indust ...

, where he attended

Rangiora High School Rangiora High School (nicknamed Goon High School) is a state co-educational secondary school located in Rangiora, New Zealand. Established in 1881 by an act of parliament and opened in 1884, the school has a roll of students from years 9 to 13 ...

. He trained for the priesthood at Holy Cross College, Mosgiel.

Priesthood

Joyce was ordained priest on 31 October 1930 in the

Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, sometimes referred to as the Christchurch Basilica or the Catholic Cathedral, was a Catholic cathedral on Barbadoes Street in central Christchurch, New Zealand. It was the mother church of the Roman Cath ...

by his uncle James Byrne, the 1st Catholic Bishop of

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

."Sudden Death of Bishop Joyce", ''Zealandia'', 30 January 1964, p. 1. He then spent three years in Auckland. He was the

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

at Sacred Heart College, then located in Ponsonby. Joyce returned to Christchurch in 1934 to be an assistant priest at Addington and then at

Riccarton Riccarton may refer to: New Zealand * Riccarton, New Zealand, a suburb of Christchurch ** Riccarton (New Zealand electorate), the electorate named after it ** The location of Riccarton Race Course * a locality on the Taieri Plains in Otago Scot ...

. In 1937 he was loaned to the Diocese of Toowoomba, where he assisted his uncle James Byrne until he died on 11 February 1938. In 1941 Joyce was appointed chaplain to the

New Zealand Military Forces The New Zealand Army (, ) is the principal Army, land warfare force of New Zealand, a component of the New Zealand Defence Force alongside the Royal New Zealand Navy and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Formed in 1845, as the New Zealand Mil ...

and served with New Zealand troops in

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

and

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. In Fiji he was attached to the headquarters of the Fiji Infantry Brigade Group and was associated with many activities to promote the welfare of the troops in his area. After his

demobilisation Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and milita ...

in 1945, Joyce was posted to the reserve of officers with the rank of

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

He was stationed at the Cathedral in Christchurch and engaged in rehabilitation work for returned soldiers. He represented Bishop Lyons for three years on the Labour Department immigration committee. At the same time he was involved with general Catholic activities being spiritual adviser to the

Catholic Women's League The Catholic Women's League (CWL) is a Catholic lay organisation founded in 1906 by Margaret Fletcher. Originally intended to bring together Catholic women in England, the organization has grown, and may be found in numerous Commonwealth count ...

and the Catholic Men's Luncheon Club. Joyce was very involved during the Ballantyne's fire tragedy of 1947 and represented Bishop Lyons at the mass funeral for the victims. Joyce became parish priest at

Sockburn Sockburn is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Neasham, in the Darlington district, in the ceremonial county of Durham, England. It is situated at the apex of a meander of the River Tees, to the south of Darlington, known l ...

in 1947.

Episcopacy

Joyce was appointed Bishop of Christchurch on 18 April 1950 and was consecrated in the

Cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

on 16 July 1950 by Archbishop McKeefry and Bishops Liston and Kavanagh. Joyce's appointment was unusual among New Zealand bishops at that time in that he had no training in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

or elsewhere overseas.E.R. Simmons, ''A Brief History of the Catholic Church in New Zealand'', Catholic Publications Centre, Auckland, 1978, pp. 108, 109 During the 14 years of Joyce's episcopate the Christchurch diocese experienced considerable growth. The Catholic population increased from 31,769 to 48,500, the number of parishes increased from 32 to 47, the number of

secular priests In Christianity, the term secular clergy refers to deacons and priests who are not monastics or otherwise members of religious life. Secular priests (sometimes known as diocesan priests) are priests who commit themselves to a certain geograph ...

rose from 47 to 80, primary schools went from 35 to 53 and the number of pupils attending Catholic schools rose from 6524 to 11,038. Bishop Joyce opened two new secondary schools, Cottesmore College (staffed by the

Religious of the Sacred Heart The Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (; ), abbreviated RSCJ, is a Catholic centralized religious institute of consecrated life of pontifical right for women established in France by Madeleine Sophie Barat in 1800. History Madeleine Sophi ...

) and St Thomas of Canterbury College (staffed by the Christian Brothers). Among the other religious orders introduced by Joyce were the Brothers of St John of God and the

Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state, condition or quality of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show re ...

. Joyce founded the Mary Potter Hospice for the Dying (operated by the

Sisters of the Little Company of Mary The Little Company of Mary, also known as the Blue Sisters, is a Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of women dedicated to caring for the suffering, the sick, and the dying. The order was founded in 1877 in Nottingham, England by Mary Pot ...

), Rochester Hall (a hostel for Catholic university students) and he encouraged the setting up of an outpatients psychiatric clinic at Calvary Hospital. He attended the first two sessions of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

Death

Joyce's final years were blighted by illness. which greatly reduced his effectiveness. He died on 28 January 1964, aged 59. His

requiem Mass A Requiem (Latin: ''rest'') or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead () or Mass of the dead (), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is u ...

was celebrated before a congregation of more than a thousand by Archbishop McKeefry who also preached the panagyric. Bishops

Thomas William Muldoon Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

, (Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney), Kavanagh of Dunedin,

Reginald Delargey Reginald John Delargey (10 December 1914 – 29 January 1979) was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, and later Cardinal, Archbishop of Wellington and Metropolitan of New Zealand. His title was Cardinal-Priest of '' Immacolata al Tiburtino ...

(Auxiliary Bishop of Auckland), and Owen Snedden (Auxiliary Bishop of Wellington) were also present. He was interred in the

at the foot of the altar of

Saint Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...

."Many Church Dignitaries At Bishop Joyce's Funeral", ''The Press'', 1 February 1964, p. 16

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joyce, Edward Michael Holy Cross College, New Zealand alumni 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in New Zealand Participants in the Second Vatican Council Roman Catholic bishops of Christchurch 1904 births 1964 deaths New Zealand military chaplains World War II chaplains People from Lyttelton, New Zealand People educated at Rangiora High School