Dorothy – 20/08/04
Legally New Zealanders had religious freedom and there was no discrimination against any group, but in the period 1925-50 in the community there was still a marked gap between Protestants and Roman Catholics, and many in each group regarded members of the other group with suspicion and sometimes dislike. The choruses of abuse chanted by groups of school children at pupils from the opposite side of the gap were one sign of the feeling in much of the community.
Helen attended the Roman Catholic Church. She remembers her First Communion.
“This was a special time, and all I wanted to do was go to Heaven. I was going to be white and clean from the outside in. Knowing me and the mischief I might get into, I felt it would be a good idea if I died that day, because I would be absolutely ready for Heaven. After receiving Holy Communion I felt I was really lucky because, as I was small, it would not take Jesus long to travel from my mouth to my heart.
“After Mass we went to the hall for the customary ‘Breakfast’. As we didn’t have a car Mum and Dad arranged for me to come home with a neighbouring family in their car. Mum and Dad would walk on ahead. When Mum and Dad were well out of sight I thanked the neighbours and said I had another way of getting home. I was not questioned. I set off in my white dress and veil walking in the middle of the road. I prayed hard for a car to come and knock me over so that I could go straight to Heaven.
“Not one car did I see!
“At the Catholic schools we had daily religious instruction. usually the first lesson of the day. It would include the Bible, New Testament only, prayers and hymns. As we grew older we also studied other world religions, The teaching emphasised the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes – not just a series of negatives, but emphasis on the positive value of service. Sexual matters were never discussed at all.”
The present cooperation between Protestant and Catholic churches was rare in this period, as Helen was to discover.
“I don’t think I had seriously thought about the differences between Catholic schools and non-Catholic ones. Until the family moved to the country I had gone to a Catholic school and all my friends had been Catholics from school, but our neighbours in two towns had been non-Catholic and it hadn’t seemed to make a difference. I had talked to children who went to the state school across the road from where we lived. There were the old chants about Catholics and Protestants, but they were like skipping chants – they didn’t really make sense and had no malice in them.
“Then I went to a country school where I was the only Catholic. Once a week a non-Catholic minister came to the school. I had learned at Catechism that Catholics did not go into non-Catholic churches or go to the services, even weddings or funerals. I presumed I must not listen to this man! I said ‘Hail Mary’s’ to myself and tried not to listen. After my having the embarrassing experience of being too shy and confused to answer a question, Mum asked the teacher if I could be exempted from the minister’s visit. I’m not sure which was worse – staying in with my ears closed, or walking into the other room and sitting on my own. I felt an outsider and had no one to share it with. Later the teacher taught a course on different religious leaders and made disparaging remarks about the Pope and aspects of church history, and following her example the pupils began to tease me. I was so pleased to leave and go to a Catholic boarding school.”