Basil Meeking


John Basil Meeking was the 7th bishop of Christchurch, New Zealand from 1987 to 1995.

Career

Meeking was first ordained as a priest in 1953. He was appointed as Bishop of Christchurch by Pope John Paul II on 30 March 1987 and resigned the see on 15 December 1995. During this time, Meeking also served as the chaplain to Christchurch Hospital and represented the Catholic Church at the National Council of Churches, among other things.
From 1963 to 1966, Meeking studied at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, following which he was appointed to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in Rome, where he served for the following eighteen years.
Meeking died in Christchurch on 11 June 2020, aged 90, after what was reported as a "recent period of ill-health".