A life of devotion

A resident biography series – Bishop Owen Dolan, Palmerston North Village.

Tell us about your childhood.

I was born in Palmerston North, and one week later my mother passed away. My parents had been married for just one year. I went to live with my maternal grandmother and aunts in Hawera, so that’s where I was raised and went to primary school. My father remarried and had more children. I often visited him for the holidays and long weekends. My grandmother died when I was 7 years old, but I remember a very happy childhood. I was well cared for by my aunts.

Where did you attend school?

In 1942 I started at St Patrick’s College in Silverstream, and we spent our first week building slit trenches in preparation for a potential invasion by the Japanese. At the time, thousands of American troops were in New Zealand, bringing with them scarlet fever from the Pacific that affected many young people, including myself. I spent six weeks living in a temporary hospital built under the main grandstand at Wellington’s Trentham Racecourse.

What inspired you to pursue your life path with the Catholic Church?

For me, the priests at Silverstream were great role models. Back then, I was certainly supported by my family, friends, and my parish in pursuing priesthood. I was ordained in Hawera in 1954 and entered the priesthood in Mosgiel. As a young priest, I worked as an assistant in various parts of the North Island and upper South Island.

What has been the most memorable place you have travelled to?

South America. I moved there in 1973 because there was a strong need for priests in this part of the world, and I was very keen to go. While there, I worked in some of the slum parishes among the destitute poor. I experienced how people were living there compared with what I was used to in New Zealand. Being surrounded by very obvious poverty but such generosity was an incredibly valuable lesson to me. I returned home in 1979 and have held several roles, including the national Director for Caritas New Zealand, the Catholic Church’s overseas aid agency. I was made a Bishop in 1995 and have travelled back to South America and had the opportunity to meet several Popes, both here and in Rome.

What are your hobbies or interests?

It’s the world I’m interested in. I like to know about news and events from around the world and I’m always interested in what is going on in Gaza and Ukraine. I’ve been a ‘map fanatic’ since I was a child. My father was a surveyor/engineer, so there were always maps in his house, and he would bring me a map whenever he visited. So I was fascinated with countries around the world, and I knew all the capital cities.

Tell us about a memory that still makes you smile.

I was brought up in the Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra era, and I’m a big fan. When I was in the fever hospital, we had small radios inserted into our pillows, and we would listen to a US military radio station based in Wellington. A big band with a fantastic solo singer would sometimes play, and the nurses would ask us to tell them when this singer would come on the radio. When he did, they would run to the ward and almost snatch the radios from our pillows! Later, we heard that the solo singer was Frank Sinatra.

How do you spend your retirement at Palmerston North Village?

I’ve been at Palmerston North Village for 11 years now. I still provide a Sunday service in our chapel to our small Catholic community. I also get around to several residents who are less mobile and unable to attend the Chapel service. The site of this village is just three blocks from the house I was born in. Having left Palmerston North 95 years ago as a baby, I’ve come back to the place where it all started.

What advice would you give to young people?

Try to seek out a career where you are doing something for others. The most satisfying career in life is spent helping others.