Catholic Religious Identity and Social Integration in Interwar New Zealand

Abstract

Comparing the history of the Catholic Church in Australia and the United States, John Tracy Ellis noted, "In both communities an environment unfriendly to their religious faith nurtured a separatist spirit which varied according to time and place but which in general bred a so-called ghetto mentality."1 The Catholic "ghetto" was sustained to a considerable extent by the establishment of denominationally-based organizations and institutions which reinforced the Catholic worldview and reduced the need for Catholics to associate with non-Catholics in