The Rātana faithful are being urged to stay away from the church's annual celebrations and tune into the event online instead.
Te Tai Hauāuru Labour MP Adrian Rurawhe. Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Citing Covid-19 concerns, the Rātana Kōmiti Marae has cancelled today's traditional ceremony marking the 149th anniversary of the birth of Tahupotiki Wiremu Rātana.
Only the formal procession from the marae to the temple will proceed, along with speeches at the marae afterwards.
The online event starts today at 10.30am, hosted on a range of platforms from apps to Facebook pages.
Te Tai Hauāuru Labour MP Adrian Rurawhe told Morning Report "It is very different to what we're used to, but we wanted to make sure that everyone was able to still connect, even if they couldn't do that physically".
It was a difficult decision for the church committee to make, he said.
"First of all to make it a vaccine pass event so only those who have got a vaccine pass were able to attend and secondly with the change from orange to red settings, that's been reduced down to only 100 people being able to be present so most of us are going to leave that to the church officials to carry out everything that needs to be carried out today and the rest of us will watch online along with our families mostly, and we can still participate that way."
"We wanted to make sure that everyone was able to still connect, even if they couldn't do that physically" - Te Tai Hauāuru Labour MP Adrian Rurawhe
Having to hold such a scaled-back event two years in a row was disheartening.
"But the church has taken the position to make certain that the followers of them Rātana faith are safe and have encouraged everyone to organise their own events across different regions and within their parishes, which is definitely happening today."
Previously, the church had been adverse to broadcasting events online but the attitude had changed, Rurawhe said.
"The decision has been made by officials that we will be doing that now and into the future and I think that gives another avenue for the church to be relevant in people's lives and for them to access and participate within the ceremony so you, it's had some real down sides, but there's also been some upsides as well."