The parish covers the area of Nelson and Stoke under the patronage of the Holy Family: Joseph, Mary and Jesus. The family with the youth as the domestic church is the locus of our ministry to build a community committed to Christ.
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Our Parish
Holy Family Nelson is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington. Our parish is a mixture of suburban and rural lifestyles centred on the city of Nelson where it nestles itself into its own bay at the north of the South Island of New Zealand. As well as the central city area of Nelson our parish includes the suburbs of Tahunuanui, and extends eastward through Rai Valley extending partway to Kenepuru Sound. On this eastern border it is flanked by St Joseph’s Parish Picton and St Mary’s Parish Blenheim. It is bordered in the south and west by St Francis of Assisi Parish in Stoke.
While there has been a Catholic presence the area since earliest times, St Mary’s Parish in Nelson was established along with the Diocese of Wellington in 1850. St Mary’s Parish as it was established stretched a long way and included what is now Marlborough (including Kaikoura) Tasman, Motueka, Golden Bay, the northern part of the West Coast taking in Murchison, Reefton and Westport.
St Mary’s Parish is part of the Kahurangi Pastoral Area comprising ourselves,St Francis of Assisi Parish in Stoke, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Richmond, St Peter Chanel Parish Motueka, and Sacred Heart Parish Takaka.