For more than three decades, Peter Wolfkamp has been a broadcaster on Newstalk ZB.
For more than three decades, Peter Wolfkamp has been a broadcaster on Newstalk ZB.
He’s known to New Zealanders as a broadcaster, building expert and as firm-but-fair site foreman “The Wolf” on The Block NZ.
But Peter Wolfkamp’s career could have gone in quite a different direction if he had followed the path he started down in early adulthood by joining the Catholic priesthood, an idea he once “toyed with”.
“ I have enormous respect for those that choose that lifestyle, that make that commitment,” Wolfkamp told Newstalk ZB’s Real Life with John Cowan on Sunday night.
“Would celibacy have suited me? Well, possibly not. But is there something to be admired about a life of service and dedication? 100%.”
For more than three decades, Wolfkamp has been a broadcaster on Newstalk ZB – he hosts The Resident Builder each Sunday morning, a three-hour programme about building and carpentry – and he’s remained involved in the construction sector over that period.
He’s also been a key part of all 10 seasons of the reality renovation TV show The Block,and worked as a brand ambassador, a public speaker and communicator on building literacy: “ I want people to be more engaged with the science and understand why building science is important, why building better houses is better for all of us.”
Peter Wolfkamp is known to New Zealanders as a broadcaster, building expert and as firm-but-fair site foreman "The Wolf" on The Block NZ. Photo / Dean Purcell
But for a time, it looked more likely that Wolfkamp would end up in clerical robes than with a tool belt on and a radio mic under his chin.
After leaving Auckland’s De La Salle College in the mid-1980s, Wolfkamp’s first job was as a Catholic youth worker, having been inspired by “tremendous discussions” the school’s brotherhood led with his class.
“ As we’re forming our ideas as young people, we need to be able to explore those. So we’ll say things that are not fully formed in order to tentatively reach out and try and make connections or try and understand the world and so on,” he told Real Life.
“Those brothers were just so incredibly patient. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to them.”
Wolfkamp went on to live with Rev David Tonks and five other young lay people at the Catholic teachers’ training college in Remuera, and it was here that he met his wife, Debbie.
Peter Wolfkamp with his partner Debbie. Photo / Dean Purcell
Wolfkamp’s faith remains one of the central pillars of his life.
“One of the things I like about being Catholic is that Catholics are pretty good at accepting people that don’t do particularly well, right? And I think all of us in our own journey, we have our ups and downs and we spend time in the church and outside of the church and sometimes, we’re really good Catholics and sometimes we’re not-so-good Catholics. But ultimately I can still say that I love my time in the church.
“If I travel, it’s really hard for me not to wander into a church, whether it’s in New York or London or Paris or Dunedin … just to spend a moment of quiet and contemplation and let go of all of the noise and hubbub. It’s my centre.”
Wolfkamp says in an increasingly modern world, the tradition of the Catholic Church is a source of great value.
“As Catholics we’ve been in the business of trying to explain faith for a long time, hence the stained glass windows and the light and the ritual and the pageantry, to some degree, and the different vestments that we wear and why we stand and why we sit and why the bell rings at different times.
“All of those are traditions that have developed to be able to explain the mystery of faith to generations of people that wouldn’t have had formal learning, or wouldn’t have had textbooks, or wouldn’t have been able to read.
“So I love those traditions, and I think understanding where you’re from helps, hopefully, to inform where you’re going in the future.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Wolfkamp spoke about how he got his start in both building and radio, his parents’ decision to migrate to New Zealand, and his dream for Kiwis to see the value in building better-quality houses.
Real Life is a weekly interview show where John Cowan speaks with prominent guests about their life, upbringing, and the way they see the world. Tune in Sundays from 7.30pm on Newstalk ZB or listen to the latest full interview here.
