The Auckland Latin Mass Chaplaincy is part of the Catholic Diocese of Auckland in full communion with the Roman Pontiff. The Chaplaincy provides pastoral care centred in celebrating the traditional liturgy of the Roman Rite in the Diocese of Auckland.

Before the establishment of the Auckland Latin Mass Chaplaincy, the Traditional Latin Mass was celebrated in Auckland by Rev. Fr. Pierre Denzil Meuli (RIP 2019) with the permission of Most Rev. Bishop Denis Browne at Mt St Mary’s Chapel in Titirangi since 1989.

The Establishment

In 2016, under the arrangement with Most. Rev. Bishop Patrick Dunn, Bishop of Auckland and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, the Auckland Latin Mass Chaplaincy was established with Rev. Fr Antony Sumich, FSSP as Chaplain. The Chaplaincy is to minister to the faithful who attended Mass with Fr. Meuli at Mt. St. Mary’s Chapel. St. Anne’s Chapel was assigned to the Auckland Latin Mass Chaplaincy and St. Peter Chanel house was established.

Our Community

The community has triple its number since the establishment in 2016 from around 100 faithful at Mt St Mary’s Chapel to now averaging 350 faithful at St. Paul’s College Chapel on Sunday. A number of community groups were established to foster spiritual growth and fellowship within the community. Today, the Auckland Latin Mass Chaplaincy is renowned for its excellence in liturgy, faith formation and sacred music as well as a vibrant and diverse community life. In 2023, the Most Rev. Bishop Steven Lowe has approved Rev. Fr. Nathan Pospischil FSSP to be the Assistant Priest to assist Fr. Sumich.

Priestly Vocations

In the past 9 years, our community celebrated two priestly ordinations in Auckland, Rev Fr Roger Gilbride FSSP (2020) and Rev Fr Brendan Boyce FSSP (2021) despite of COVID-19 restrictions. Currently there are three New Zealand seminarians from our community studying toward sacred priesthood with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter in the Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Nebraska, USA.

The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) is a Clerical Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical right, that is, a community of Roman Catholic priests who do not take religious vows, but who work together for a common mission in the world.  The mission of the Fraternity is two-fold:  first, the formation and sanctification of priests in the cadre of the traditional liturgy of the Roman Rite, and secondly, the pastoral deployment of the priests in the service of the Church.

The Fraternity was founded on July 18, 1988 at the Abbey of Hauterive (Switzerland) by a dozen priests and a score of seminarians.  Shortly after the Fraternity’s foundation and following upon a request by Cardinal Ratzinger, Bishop Joseph Stimpfle of Augsburg, Germany granted the Fraternity a home in Wigratzbad, a Marian shrine in Bavaria that now lodges the Fraternity’s European seminary. Some years later, a second seminary was opened in the USA and it now resides in Denton, a small town outside Lincoln in the State of Nebraska.

The Fraternity has chosen St. Peter as their special patron in order to express their gratitude, filial love, and loyalty to the Supreme Pontiff. With more than 380 priests (including 4 New Zealanders) and 180 seminarians from 30 countries (including 3 from New Zealand), the Fraternity serves in over 130 dioceses on 5 continents. International headquarters are located in Fribourg, Switzerland and North American headquarters in the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Fraternity seminarians receive training at one of two international seminaries: Priesterseminar Sankt Petrus in Wigratzbad, Germany (for German and French speakers) and Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Nebraska (for English speakers). click here to find out more.