Korty Wilson venerates Te Ara a Maria at St Mary's Church in Whanganui, by strewing rose petals. Photo / Laurel Stowell
Korty Wilson venerates Te Ara a Maria at St Mary's Church in Whanganui, by strewing rose petals. Photo / Laurel Stowell
Ohakune woman Korty Wilson has been thrilled to be the chauffeur for a commissioned artwork depicting a Māori madonna as it tours the Catholic Diocese.
The painting, Te Ara a Maria, was in Whanganui last week at Catholic schools at St Mary's Church and at Kaiwhaiki Marae.
Wilson is oneof two Māori Apostolate co-ordinators for the large Palmerston North diocese. She and 11 others make up Te Rūnanga o Te Hāhi Katorika and advise bishops.
Wilson was present when the artwork arrived at St Mary's Church for a mass on February 23.
"What was really special was that everyone who came had an opportunity to be able to carry her. There must have been about 20 people," she said.
The rūnanga Wilson belongs to was asked to advise the painter, Damien Walker, on what Māori Catholics wanted in the picture. He painted Mary sitting on the crescent moon rather than in a waka as he had planned, on their advice.
The pictures on the panels alongside her give context. On one side is the Hokianga Harbour where Bishop Pompallier held the first Catholic mass in New Zealand in 1838. On the other side is a wharenui.
The rūnanga wanted Mary to have a moko kauae, a chin tattoo, but that didn't happen.
"She hasn't got one, not at the moment. That could happen later," Wilson said.
The Te Ara a Maria artwork was commissioned by bishops to mark the rededication of New Zealand to Mary, Mother of God. Photo / supplied
Wilson has had a long connection with the artwork. After advising on its composition, she was at the mass in Wellington where it was unveiled on August 15 last year, and then in the first diocese it travelled to on its one-year hīkoi wairua - Dunedin.
She stayed with it overnight at an Invercargill Marae, because a woman there said it shouldn't be left alone.
After Whanganui Te Ara a Maria moves to Marton, Ohakune, Taranaki and then Hawke's Bay, Wilson said.
It finishes up its hīkoi back at St Mary's of the Angels in Wellington, where a shrine will be built for it.
