Bishop Steve Lowe re-elected to lead the Catholic bishops
Shared from
New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference
First published 7 May 2026
Meeting in Hamilton for one of their four gatherings of the year, New Zealand’s Catholic bishops elected Bishop Steve Lowe of Auckland to a second three-year term as president of the Bishops Conference. Bishop Michael Dooley of Dunedin was re-elected vice-president, and Archbishop Paul Martin SM was reappointed general secretary.
While the bishops were in Hamilton, Bishop Richard Laurenson blessed a statue of St Peter Chanel, the patron of his diocese, on his feast day, 28 April. Their agenda also included the recent rise in the number of people becoming Catholic.