Tauranga is the oldest Catholic parish in New Zealand. Bishop Pompallier sailed to Tauranga on March 7 1840, after receiving an invitation from Tauranga Chiefs.  He sailed a month after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

The first four missionary priests to serve in the Tauranga mission dedicated to St Thomas Aquinas were French.  The first parish priest was Father Philip Joseph Viard SM who became the first Catholic Bishop of Wellington in 1846. The early missionaries endured extreme poverty as they established the mission base on the foreshore at Otumoetai. They travelled widely throughout the Bay of Plenty walking on the beaches down the East Coast and on the inland bush tracks to Rotorua and the Waikato.

The white weatherboard church of St Joseph at Otumoetai was built with a steeple – this was a landmark for ships sailing into Tauranga harbour. The Land Wars and confiscation of land from the Maori all but destroyed the missionary efforts, but the faith endured amongst the Maori people and was revived by the settlers and the early secular priests who replaced the French Marists.

Early priests included the Irish Father James Patrick Hoyne who ministered to the needs of the British Troops and the settlers from a raupo whare built alongside the Military Camp.

In 1871 a small wooden church, which served as a schoolroom, was built on the present church site on Cameron Road.  It was funded by money (one hundred pounds) raised by public subscription. A Gothic revival style church - built of kauri with Lancet windows - was built in 1888 and served the parish well until it was replaced in 1956.

The replacement was a brick church with a tower                                                         and that has been incorporated into the rebuilt present church.

The convent school, called St Mary’s, was built in 13th Avenue in 1940 and staffed by the Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny.  Lay teachers have since replaced the Sisters and the school has a maximum roll of 405, although this is set to increase. 

A secondary School, named Aquinas college - dedicated to St Thomas Aquinas in commemoration of the first mission station at Tauranga - was opened in 2003 with a roll of 310. Aquinas, which is located on Pyes Pa Road, now has a maximum roll of 770. 

The history of the Tauranga parish is one of dedication and service by the priests who have ministered to God and His people in Tauranga  - first the Marists until 1850, then the secular who often travelled on horseback to minister to the larger Bay of Plenty.  The parish was in the care of  Mill Hill missionary priests from 1895 until 1935 when the parish reverted to secular clergy.