John Atcherley Dew (born 5 May 1948) is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

bishop. He was the sixth

Archbishop of Wellington The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington (''Archidioecesis Metropolitae Vellingtonensis'') is the Metropolitan diocese, metropolitan archdiocese of New Zealand. Catholics number about 83,214 (2006 census). Parishes number 22 and the archdioc ...

and the Metropolitan of

, serving from 2005 until 2023. He was also created a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

in 2015.

Background

Dew was born in

Waipawa Waipawa is the second-largest town in Central Hawke's Bay (district), Central Hawke's Bay in the east of the North Island of New Zealand. It has a population of The town is located northeast of Waipukurau and southwest of Hastings, New Zeal ...

, the son of George and Joan Dew. He has two sisters. He attended St. Joseph's Primary School in

Waipukurau Waipukurau is the largest town in the Central Hawke's Bay District on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the banks of the Tukituki River, 7 kilometres south of Waipawa and 50 kilometres southwest of Hastings, New ...

(staffed by the Sisters of St Joseph of Nazareth) and St Joseph's College, Masterton (staffed by the

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...

). He then went to the

Juniorate in

Tuakau Tuakau () is a town in the Waikato region at the foot of the Bombay Hills, formerly part of the Franklin District until 2010, when it became part of Waikato District in the North Island of New Zealand. The town serves to support local farming, ...

for a short time.Peter Grace, "Elevation 'fabulous' for Central Hawke's Bay", ''NZ Catholic'', 15 January 2015, p. 3. After about a year working at the

Bank of New Zealand Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) is one of New Zealand's Big Four (banking)#New Zealand, big four banks. It has been operating since October 1861, and since 1992 has been owned by National Australia Bank (NAB), retaining local governance with a New Z ...

in Waipukurau, Anderson's Nurseries in Napier and studying horticulture, he commenced his studies for the priesthood at Holy Name Seminary,

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 ...

, where he studied philosophy under

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

professors for two years and then for five years he studied Theology at Holy Cross Seminary, Mosgiel, under the Vincentians. He played

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

for the Holy Cross Seminary team in the position of

prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

Early ministry

Dew was ordained priest at

by Cardinal Reginald Delargey in May 1976. He was appointed as an assistant priest in St Joseph's Parish,

Upper Hutt Upper Hutt () is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area. History Upper Hutt is in an area originally known as Orongo ...

, 1976–79. He served in the

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

in the Diocese of Rarotonga from 1980 until 1982. He returned to Wellington. From 1983 to 1987 he had responsibility for the Archdiocesan Youth Ministry and the Cook Islands Māori Community.

Seminary director

Dew was on the staff of Holy Cross College, Mosgiel, the New Zealand national

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

, from 1988 to 1991. He was director of a special programme focussing on human development and gave a general introduction to first year students on prayer, scripture and the Church. He also led small groups of students ("moderator groups") who met regularly for prayer and discussion.Norris, Peter Joseph. ''Southernmost Seminary: The story of Holy Cross College, Mosgiel (1900–1997)'', Holy Cross Seminary, Auckland, 1999, pp. 104–11. During his time at the seminary a major concern related to the selection of seminarians. In his 1991 First Year Moderators Report, Dew expressed a real sense of frustration at the unsuitability of many students. He pointed out that "we at the Seminary can work only with those who are sent to us." Many, he suggested, were sent with unresolved issues relating to identity, sexuality and alcohol. Such students placed a heavy burden on staff and had a negative impact upon other students and group dynamics. Dew urged that in the future, diocesan vocations directors pay particular attention to eight issues with evaluating prospective students: basic knowledge of the Catholic faith; familiarity with meditation, prayer and the scriptures; a reasonable comfort with

affectivity Affect, in psychology, is the underlying experience of feeling, emotion, attachment, or mood. It encompasses a wide range of emotional states and can be positive (e.g., happiness, joy, excitement) or negative (e.g., sadness, anger, fear, dis ...

; personal independence; social comfort; intellectual curiosity; generosity; and a genuine desire and free decision to enter the seminary.

Parish priest

Dew studied spirituality at the Institute of St Anselm,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, from 1991 to 1992. Upon his return to New Zealand he was appointed the parish priest at St Anne's Parish, Newtown, a post he held from 1993 to 1995.

Episcopal ministry

He was appointed as

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

for the Wellington archdiocese on 31 May 1995 at the age of 47. The news of his appointment had been announced to a large congregation at the

Chrism Mass The Chrism Mass is a religious service held in certain Christian denominations, such as Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Anglicanism. It is usually celebrated each year on Maundy Thursday or on another day of Holy Week. During the ceremony, th ...

on 12 April. "The news was greeted with prolonged and enthusiastic applause." Because Sacred Heart Cathedral would not have held the expected congregation, he was consecrated bishop in the Wellington Town Hall which was filled to capacity. He took as his motto "Peace through Integrity". He became the Secretary of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference and acted as New Zealand Bishops' Conference representative on the National Council for Young Catholics.

Archbishop of Wellington

Dew was appointed

Coadjutor Archbishop The term "coadjutor" (literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadjutor bishop ...

of Wellington on 24 May 2004 by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

. He succeeded Thomas Stafford Williams as Archbishop of Wellington on 21 March 2005. Dew attended the Synod of Bishops on "The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church" in October 2005 (see below)."Archbishop pleads for marginalised Catholics"
, Wel-Com.org.nz; retrieved 6 January 2015. In 2012 he was appointed by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

to serve as a Synod father for the October 2012 Synod of Bishops on "The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith"."NZ bishops welcome news of John Dew's appointment"
, NZ Catholic.org.nz, 15 January 2015; retrieved 27 January 2015. He was the "relator" for one of the large English-speaking groups in the 2014 Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization, and he said he got to know Pope Francis "a little better" during that 2014 synod. Dew is President of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference, Bishop of the Military Ordinariate of New Zealand, Bishops' conference Deputy for the National Committee for Professional Standards and for Finance, and Moderator of the

Tribunal A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a singl ...

. In 2015 he completed a term as President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO) which comprises all the bishops of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, the Solomons and the CEPAC bishops of the Pacific Islands.

accepted Dew's resignation on his 75th birthday, 5 May 2023 on which date he was succeeded by

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and retired politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. Th ...

, his coadjutor archbishop. His resignation as head of the Military Ordinate of New Zealand was accepted on 27 May.

Cardinal

On 14 February 2015, Pope Francis made Dew a member of the

College of Cardinals The College of Cardinals (), also called the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. there are cardinals, of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Appointed by the pope, ...

with the title of

Cardinal-Priest A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. ...

of Sant'Ippolito. John L. Allen Jr., in commenting on the appointment, described Dew as a "high profile moderate" in the Catholic Church. He became the fourth New Zealand cardinal, joining Thomas Williams, who was no longer eligible to participate in a papal conclave. Their predecessors as cardinals from New Zealand were Reginald Delargey and Peter McKeefry. Recalling a few weeks later how he received the news he was being made a cardinal, he said: "Since then I have received nothing but love and support, messages of congratulation. By 7am, in my first radio interview for the day, I happened to say 'I am an ordinary Kiwi bloke.' Since then the words have been repeated back to me often, but I

till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

believe this to be true." On 13 April 2015, Dew was appointed a member of the

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation (Roman Curia), congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for Catholic missions, missionary work and related activities. It is also kn ...

and of the

Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity The Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, previously named the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), is a dicastery within the Holy See whose origins are associated with the Second Vatican Council which met intermittently fr ...

. He participated in the

Fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops The Fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, popularly referred to as the Synod on the Family, took place from 4 to 25 October 2015 with the theme of "the vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the contemp ...

(4–25 October 2015) on "The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world". On 28 October 2016, was appointed a member of the

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments () is the dicastery (from , from δικαστής, 'judge, juror') of the Roman Curia that handles most affairs relating to liturgical practices of the Latin Church as distin ...

. Dew participated as a cardinal elector in the

2025 papal conclave A conclave was held on 7 and 8 May 2025 to elect a new pope to succeed Pope Francis, Francis, who had died on 21 April 2025. Of the 135 eligible Cardinal electors in the 2025 papal conclave, cardinal electors, all but two attended. Cardinal Piet ...

that elected

Pope Leo XIV Pope Leo XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost, September 14, 1955) has been head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State since May 2025. He is the first pope to have been born in the United States and North America, the fir ...

Approach

Eucharist

Dew achieved some prominence at the Synod of Bishops on "The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church" at the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

in October 2005 when he proposed that divorced and remarried Catholics should be able to receive the Eucharist. He said that bishops have "a pastoral duty and an obligation before God to discuss and debate the question." He urged the assembly to reconsider the Church ban, referring to it as a "source of scandal", adding "Our Church would be enriched if we were able to invite dedicated Catholics, currently excluded from the Eucharist, to return to the Lord's Table." After this 2005 speech, Dew discussed the issue with Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the future

Welcoming and accepting

Dew has also said, "what's the point in judging people and condemning them, but to make it clear what the church says but in such a way that you are welcoming and accepting." "When church teaching is explained in such a way that it says to people they're intrinsically disordered or they're living an evil life, people feel they can't meet the mark rather than it being something helping, supportive and encouraging."

Curia

In relation to

Curia Curia (: curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally probably had wider powers, they came to meet ...

reform, Dew has said that he "would like to see ... local communities and diocesan bishops being able to dialogue with curial bishops in a way that truly reflects collegiality" and that the "Curia is to be at the service of the church and her people."

Climate and trafficking

In February 2015, Dew said he and Soane Patita Paini Mafi of Tonga, who was soon to become a cardinal alongside him, wanted to highlight two issues: the effect of

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

and the resulting

sea level rise The sea level has been rising from the end of the last ice age, which was around 20,000 years ago. Between 1901 and 2018, the average sea level rose by , with an increase of per year since the 1970s. This was faster than the sea level had e ...

on the countries of the South Pacific and the problem of

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

in that part of the world.

LGBT community

Cardinal Dew responded in 2018 to the Faith and Belief in New Zealand survey, which found only a third of the country identifies as Christian, down from 43 percent in 2013 and 49 percent in 2006. The main reason given for a failure to engage with Christianity was Church teachings on homosexuality – mentioned by 47 percent of the respondents – with the doctrine of Hell closely following, at 45 percent. Dew said Church leaders have fallen short, "especially with regards to particular groups in society, such as the LGBT community, who have felt a very real sense of rejection through the Church, or perhaps in falling short in fully meeting the needs of our recent migrant communities."

Abuse in Care

On 26 March 2021, Cardinal John Dew, the Archbishop of Wellington and president of New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, apologized to abuse victims in the Royal Commission of Inquiry and stated that its systems and culture must change. As part of a "ten point statement," the Catholic leadership also reiterated their support for an independent entity to investigate reports of abuse and redress as part of the Church's response to the ongoing Royal Commission of Inquiry on Abuse in Care. In response to the Catholic Church's "ten-point statement," Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests Aotearoa leader Dr Chris Longhurst accused the Church of failing to meet with survivors and of conducting a "cover-up."

Child Sexual Abuse Allegations

In March 2024 a story about historical child sex offences from 1977 involving Cardinal Dew was broadcast on Newshub. When Newshub originally attempted to air the story, Dew sought an injunction against Newshub's parent organization Warner Bros Discovery NZ to prevent Newshub's story going to air. Dew first sought the injunction in the High Court but failed. He then appealed to the Court of Appeal, again failing. He then took his case to the Supreme Court which dismissed his appeal. Both the Vatican and NZ police closed its investigation into Dew without charges being laid.

References

External links

*
"Archbishop of Wellington: Most Reverend John Atcherley Dew DD", ''Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington''
(Retrieved 5 January 2015)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dew, John 1948 births Living people People from the Wellington Region People from Waipawa People from Waipukurau Holy Name Seminary alumni Holy Cross College, New Zealand alumni New Zealand cardinals Roman Catholic archbishops of Wellington Cardinals created by Pope Francis Members of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples Members of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity Members of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in New Zealand 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in New Zealand People educated at Chanel College, Masterton New Zealand Roman Catholic archbishops