On enrolment all pupils are placed into one of our four school houses – In the spirit of house competition, there is a series of events planned between the houses including athletics, cross country, house sports day and a classroom competition. Children can earn (and lose!) points for their house in a wide range of activities.
POMPALLIER
Pompallier, a French Marist Priest, was appointed vicar Apostolate of Western Oceania which included New Zealand.
He arrived in New Zealand in January 1838. The first Mass was celebrated at Thomas Poynton’s house at what is now called Totara Point.
On 20 June 1846, the Catholic diocese of Auckland came in to official existence with Pompallier as its Apostolic Administrator.
LISTON
Bishop Liston was very active in promoting Catholic Action. He established the Knights of the Southern Cross and founded the Catholic University Students’ Union, the Catholic Women’s League and the Correspondence School in Religion.
The Catholic Youth Movement, encouraged by Bishop Liston, re-introduced the idea of lay apostolate. By the end of the war, Bishop Liston was the most senior active Bishop in the country. His deep spirit of prayer, the poverty of his life, and his total dedication to the church was recognised. He had a phenomenal memory for names and sent personal notes to countless people on special occasions.
MCAULEY
Catherine McAuley was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1778 in a time when Catholics were less fortunate.
While growing up, Jesus was the centre and love of her life. She took Him as her model and never lost the sense that she was the steward of God’s mercies.
In 1831 the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy was formally established. This was a major event in the Catholic Church in the 19th century, and Catherine McAuley is certainly one of the greatest Irish servants of the church universally.
The Mercy Missionary Movement continues as an ongoing Church organisation. For Catherine McAuley, Mercy was where the need was and wherever there is need today, there is likely to be the Sisters of Mercy. Holy Cross is a Mercy School. It was opened in 1953 and has had over 60 Sisters of Mercy serving the school.
MCKEAN
Before Holy Cross became a parish with Father Alan McKean as the first parish priest in 1945, Papatoetoe was served by the parish of Otahuhu and Masses were celebrated in private homes.
The old presbytery, which is the brick house opposite the Church, was opened in April 1946 and Father McKean moved into the new house where he lived and worked hard for all the parishioners until his sudden death in 1960.
The grotto at the entrance of the school was erected by his parishioners as a mark of the respect and love which each one had for him.
