COOK, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of the ISLANDS. - The evangelization of the C. Islands began in 1894 through the work of the Picpus Fathers, hindered by the Protestants, who had been established there since 1821. The first church was blessed at Avarua on 25 Dec. 1896.
The mission remained interrupted during the World War of 1914–18. Until 1922 the C. formed part of the apostolic vicariate of the Tahiti Islands, from which they were detached on 27 Nov. of that year to form the apostolic prefecture of the C. and Manihiki Islands; on 11 Aug. 1926 this assumed its present designation, and on 12 Feb. 1948 it was elevated to an apostolic vicariate.
Out of a population of approximately 15,000 inhabitants, there are 1,377 Catholics, 28 catechumens, and nearly all the rest are Protestants. There are 21 catechists. The primary stations number 9, the secondary ones 6. In the 6 elementary schools, 425 pupils are educated. The periodical Torea is printed there, with 500 copies. Communism is active in these islands as well. After the last war, emigration to New Zealand caused the loss of many Catholics.