Patrick James Dunn (born 5 February 1950) is a Catholic prelate. He was the 11th Bishop of

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

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 ...

from 1994 to 2021.

Early life

Dunn was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and is the eldest son of the late H. P. ("Pat") Dunn, a prominent Auckland obstetrician. Dunn was considerably influenced by his father and his mother, June Dunn, a former school teacher, in later deciding to become a priest and being appointed a bishop. He was educated at St Michael's School,

Remuera Remuera is an affluent suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located four kilometres southeast of the city centre. Remuera is characterised by many large houses, often Edwardian era, Edwardian or mid 20th century. A prime example of a "leafy ...

Sacred Heart College, Auckland Sacred Heart College is a state-integrated secondary school in Auckland, New Zealand. It is a Catholic, Marist College set on of land in Glen Innes. History The college was opened on 21 June 1903, in Ponsonby, by the Marist Brothers. It ...

, from 1961 to 1967, and the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

in 1968. He studied for the Catholic priesthood under the

Jesuits 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 ...

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 ...

from 1969 to 1970, and under the

Vincentians Vincentian can refer to: People *A citizen of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines *A person from Saint Vincent (island), the largest island in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines *A member of one of the orders or societies in the Vincentian Family, both ...

at Holy Cross College, Mosgiel from 1971 to 1976. Beginning in 1988 he studied for a master's degree in theology from the Melbourne College of Divinity, which resulted in the publication of his study: ''Priesthood: a re-examination of the Roman Catholic theology of the presbyterate''.

Priest

Dunn was ordained a priest at St Michael's Church in Remuera on 24 April 1976. He then carried out pastoral work with Māori in

Māngere East Māngere East or Mangere East is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, under the governance of Auckland Council. It is located to the south of Favona, north of Papatoetoe, west of Middlemore, east of Māngere and Māngere Bridge, and southwest ...

and lived at the Auckland Catholic

marae A ' (in Māori language, New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian language, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan language, Tongan), ' (in Marquesan language, Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan language, Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves reli ...

Te Unga Waka Marae in

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

. Later, he served in the Auckland suburbs of

Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore, New Zealand, North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is an isthmus between Shoal Bay, New Zealand, Shoal Bay, arm of the Waitematā Harbour, and the Hauraki Gulf. Lake Pupuke, a volca ...

Pakuranga Pakuranga is an eastern suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. Pakuranga covers a series of low ridges and previously swampy flats, now drained, that lie between the Pakuranga Creek and Tamaki River, two estuary, estuarial arms of the ...

and Northcote.Donna Chisholm, "A bishop with a cause", ''Sunday Star Times'', 16 April 2000, Section C, p. 2 In 1986 and 1987 he was Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Auckland. In 1992 he was appointed pastoral assistant to the Bishop of Auckland Denis Browne.

Bishop

On 24 July 1994, Dunn was ordained to the

episcopate A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

as an auxiliary bishop of Auckland. On 24 December 1994 he was appointed Bishop of Auckland to succeed Browne who had been named Bishop of

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

. Dunn was installed as Bishop of Auckland in

St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland The Cathedral of Saint Patrick and Saint Joseph (usually known as St Patrick's Cathedral) is a heritage-listed Catholic cathedral church in Auckland CBD, situated on the corner of Federal Street and Wyndham St. It is the mother church of the R ...

, on 29 March 1995. In 2015, Dunn expressed dissatisfaction with the English version of the Mass in use since November 2011. Dunn had served as New Zealand's representative on the

International Commission on English in the Liturgy The International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) is a commission set up by a number of episcopal conferences of English-speaking countries for the purpose of providing English translations of the liturgical books of the Roman Rite, ...

(ICEL), which had produced a translation of the ''

Roman Missal The Roman Missal () is the book which contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of the Roman Rite, the most common liturgy and Mass of the Catholic Church. There have been several editions. History Before the Council of Trent (1570) ...

'' in 1998 after 17 years of effort. The

Congregation for Divine Worship 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 ...

had rejected that translation, formed its own committee, and produced the translation now in use. Dunn wrote that it was "too often unclear and sometimes verging on the unintelligible", "an accurate English translation of the Latin, but not a clear and beautiful vernacular text". He proposed a new translation be undertaken and has suggested that all the English-speaking bishops' conferences agree to pursue this in concert. New Zealand's bishops first endorsed instead efforts to establish different guidelines for translation rather than a new translation, and in 2017 welcomed Pope Francis' establishment of a commission to review the standards followed in rejecting the 1998 translation. Dunn said the idea was to avoid rules that "impose Latin syntax on contemporary English". In September 2017, Dunn authored an essay in ''NZ Catholic'' on the relationship of the Church to LGBT Catholics. He said that communication comes before judgment and instruction: "For Jesus it was most often friendship first, and conversion second. We all listen most intently to those we love and those whose company we enjoy." He recommended the work of Jesuit James Martin as a guide, advocating its inclusive language and sensitivity. He wrote that an attitude of respect requires the Church to call people by the terms they prefer rather than ''homosexual'' and called the Vatican's use of the phrase ''objectively disordered'' "needlessly cruel". In 2018, Dunn was the secretary of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference and the episcopal deputy for Holy Cross Seminary and

Good Shepherd College In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil. The specific meaning and etymology of the term and its ...

Resignation

Dunn's resignation as Bishop of Auckland was announced on 17 December 2021 as was the appointment of Stephen Lowe (hitherto Bishop of Hamilton) as his successor.Bishop Lowe is the new bishop of Auckland, ''NZ Catholic'', 18 December 2021
(Retrieved 18 December 2021)

Notes

External links

Catholic Church in New Zealand

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Patrick 1950 births Living people 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in New Zealand 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in New Zealand New Zealand people of Irish descent University of Auckland alumni People from the Auckland Region People educated at Sacred Heart College, Auckland Holy Name Seminary alumni Holy Cross College, New Zealand alumni Roman Catholic bishops of Auckland