Homeland calls after 55 years in NZ

Father Pat Cooke spent 21 years serving the Catholic community at Our Lady of Lourdes in Havelock North. Photo / Duncan Brown

Father Patrick Cooke is heading back to his homeland after 21 years serving the Catholic community at Our Lady of Lourdes in Havelock North.

Fr Pat, 86, has been in New Zealand most of his life, since coming over from Ireland with his brother Walter in 1960.

"There was an invitation from the bishop of the Wellington diocese. I had two aunties who had been religious sisters here."

There was a shortage of priests in New Zealand at the time, and few countries that Irish priests were not going to, he said.

He is retiring to Castletown in County Laois where he will be living close to Walter, who retired three years earlier.

Fr Pat stayed on as he still had his health and wanted to keep serving, he said.

Over his 55 years in New Zealand, Fr Pat served parishes in Wellington, Nelson, Taranaki and Manawatu.

He was not happy to be leaving the Hawke's Bay sunshine, but was looking forward to retirement in Castletown.

"Ireland has changed a lot, of course. It will be a wonderful land of discovery. It is a retirement, but I hope to be a help now and then in the local community doing some work as a priest.

"At my time of life you don't have the energy to spend looking ahead too much. I'm just living day by day."

His last two weeks have been a series of farewells, with families travelling from throughout New Zealand to say goodbye.

At his last sermon on Sunday he thanked people for their prayers and friendship. He said a challenge for the parish was to keep in touch with people who no longer attended Sunday mass but had not lost faith.

His retirement comes as Our Lady of Lourdes is amalgamated with other churches into the Hastings parish. He said he chose this time to retire because there were sufficient priests to replace him.

The church building won the New Zealand Enduring Architecture Award in 2010.