Dame Sister Pauline Frances Engel (10 September 1930 – 15 November 2017) was a New Zealand educator and Roman Catholic

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated: Sr.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to prayer and ...

. A member of the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a number ...

, she served as the third principal of Carmel College. Prior to running Carmel College, she taught English, religious studies, history, and geography. She actively opposed

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

and

assisted suicide Assisted suicide, sometimes restricted to the context of physician-assisted suicide (PAS), is the process by which a person, with the help of others, takes actions to end their life. Once it is determined that the person's situation qualifie ...

in New Zealand, and was a critic of

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

in South Africa. After retiring, Engel was appointed as the Vicar for Education in the Diocese of Auckland. She was made a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the 1986 Queen's Birthday Honours and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours for her services to education in New Zealand.

Biography

Born in 1930 in Waimea West to

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parents, John and Eileen Engel, she was one of five siblings. A

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

in the Sisters of Mercy, Nga Whaea Atawhai o Aotearoa, she became an educator. In 1983, the third principal of Carmel College. She was the first principal to be appointed by Carmel College's Board of Governors. Engel taught history, English, geography, and religious studies at Carmel College from 1965 to 1983. After retiring, she was appointed as the Vicar for Education for the Diocese of Auckland. In the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours, Engel was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to education, having been made a

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

of the same order in the 1986 Queen's Birthday Honours. Engel worked with the Ministry of Justice and wrote a history on the abolition of

in New Zealand, prior to entering religious life. At the age of 85, Engel submitted an opposition to the introduction of

to the Parliamentary Health Committee. A critic of

in South Africa, she opposed the 1981 Springbok Tour and was among the religious who actively opposed rugby matches in Auckland. Engel died at North Shore Hospital, Takapuna on 15 November 2017, aged 87. At the time of her death, she was one of the last two nuns to live at the convent at Carmel College. A requiem mass for Engel was held at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Takapuna on 20 November 2017. She was buried at Waikaraka Cemetery.

References

External links

NRAM website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Engel, Pauline Frances 1930 births 2017 deaths 20th-century New Zealand Roman Catholic nuns 21st-century New Zealand Roman Catholic nuns Anti–death penalty activists Burials at Waikaraka Cemetery Heads of schools in New Zealand People from Brightwater New Zealand Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Roman Catholic anti-apartheid activists Sisters of Mercy Women school principals and headteachers New Zealand women educators New Zealand women activists New Zealand activists