John Mackey

John Mackey (11 January 1918 – 20 January 2014 ) was the ninth Bishop of Auckland, New Zealand (1974–1983).

Born in Bray, County Wicklow in Ireland, he came at the age of six to New Zealand with his widowed mother to live with Father John O'Byrne, who was his mother's brother and parish priest of Epsom.

Previously he had been professor of church history at Holy Cross College and lecturer in church history at the University of Otago.

Another event of his episcopate was the creation of the Diocese of Hamilton out of the area of the Auckland diocese located south of Auckland city.

In the 1983 New Year Honours, Mackey was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to education.

In the earlier years of his retirement, Mackey was a guest lecturer in New Zealand and abroad and conducted occasional courses in Church History at Holy Cross College. He supervised the preparation of the new faith education programmes for Catholic secondary schools on behalf of the New Zealand bishops. He was the author of three books. Until shortly before his death, Mackey continued to write on a variety of subjects, including reviews and reflections for Catholic publications.

His obsequies occurred on 27 January 2014 at St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland in which his remains were interred near those of one of his predecessors, George Lenihan OSB (1858–1910), fifth Catholic Bishop of Auckland (1896–1910), the only other bishop buried in the cathedral