The church was originally a
chapel of ease attached to the cathedral, with Father O'Hara as the priest, until 8 December 1862 when it became a formal parish run by the Franciscans for eleven years. Following the Franciscans, Msgr. Henry Fynes was appointed the first diocesan priest. He ran the parish from 1873 to 1887 and was noted for his conciliatory approach toward the controversial debate at the time regarding the proposed New Zealand Government Education Act which aimed to make education
secular. Local newspapers reported frequently on the high profile of the church and the enthusiastic participation of the parishioners. At one ceremony to renew Baptismal Vows, it was said that "not only seats, but the aisle and doorways were thronged, and numbers stood around outside the door", and following a celebration of High Mass there by the Archbishop in 1880, another article reported that "the church was crowded to its utmost limits, and seats had to be laid through the aisle to proved extra accommodations". One year the Christmas decorations of the Church were said to be "most pleasing, full and appropriate...elaborate, but in every way becoming within the sanctuary". When Fynes died in 1887, the
New Zealand Herald appended a brief biographical sketch of the man they said was "possessed in no ordinary degree of soundness of judgement, devotion to duty, and a happy disposition of mind". There was a period of short-serving clergy until 1891 when the
Rev. Father Lenihan took over and was pastor until 1896. During his time the interior walls of the church were painted in a "light blue colour", noted as one of many improvements made by "the indefatigable parish priest, the Rev. Father Lenihan". After Rev. Joseph Kehoe took over as parish priest in 1896, there were extensions to the church, with the New Zealand Tablet noting on 13 October 1898 that "with a befitting ceremony the new Church of St John the Baptist in Parnell was opened...a credit alike to the energetic priest in charge, Father Kehoe, and his good people who have worked together long and zealously towards this successful confirmation". A new presbytery was later constructed and the old convent was demolished to be rebuilt in 1908. Kehoe died in 1914 and an obituary in the
Taranaki Herald noted that even during his sickness, he was "he was unremitting and full of zeal in the discharge of his priestly duties..[and]...in his day he was an able preacher and a very accomplished musician". The first New Zealand-born parish priest was
Rev. Matthew Brodie who only served briefly before becoming Bishop of Christchurch in 1915.
Monsignor Jeremiah Cahill, parish priest from 1916 to 1925, was known as "a genial and sporting Irishman and a great personality", and is noted as a life member of the Auckland Marist Brothers Old Boys Rugby Club. During Cahill's time a brick school building was erected. Rev. John Brennan was parish priest from 1925 to 1930 followed by
Monsignor Michael Edge who served in the role from 1930 until his death in 1942, and was remembered for his "
Tridentine altar arrangements...
[which]...were to become the swan song of the long-standing
liturgical order". In 1931, the 70th anniversary of the church was celebrated and modifications were noted as including new "Gothic arches, columns and pelmets...[and]...altar rails...[which]...emphasised the importance of the sanctuary in the existing liturgical order". Monsignor Leonard Buxton was the parish priest from 1942 to 1949 and he is credited with modifications of the convent building, enlargement of the chapel and the reconstruction of the entrance foyer. Father Edward Forsman, who was parish priest from 1949 until his retirement in 1974, has been described as "a man of genial temperament generous in hospitality, of musical and poetic gifts, and accomplished preacher and a born raconteur...also a scholar, philosopher and theological of some distinction". During the early period of Forsman's time at the church, the nuns at the convent continued to run a successful Catholic school, but in 1964 the Sisters of Mercy withdrew from Parnell and the school at the rear of church and convent was closed. Forsman was said to have been upset by losing the school and at the same time was unsettled by the requirements of the
post-Vatican II liturgical changes although he did cooperate with them by upgrading the altar and lectern. In 1980 when the
Marist Fathers took responsibility for the parish it was run by initially by
Rev. Sloane, followed by Rev. Fitzpatrick. In 1989 the Marist Fathers left Parnell and the status of the parish once again became
diocesan under the care of Father Kevin Hackett. In 1997 the church was completely refurbished and from 2001 the convent building has been used as commercial office space. Father Chris Denham came to Parnell from Holyname Parish,
Puhoi and served until 2021 when he was appointed
Dean of
St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland. In March 2021, Father Francis Poon took over as parish administer and priest, and as of 2023, Father Stephen Berecz is the parish priest. ==Local community==