(The first bishop, Philippe Viard, was not named archbishop of the diocese.) McKeefry was the first New Zealand-born and the first bishop from the diocesan clergy to take charge of the archdiocese, his three predecessors having belonged to the Marists. By the time McKeefry arrived in Wellington the archdiocese's development had long been delayed by the depression and the Second World War. Seeking to reduce reliance on the Marists, he benefited from many local vocations and recruited priests and religious from Ireland and elsewhere. Thirty-nine new parishes – most with associated primary schools – were established in the archdiocese between 1947 and 1969. He invited the Cistercians to the Archdiocese and assisted them to establish Southern Star Abbey in Hawkes Bay. In 1960 McKeefry had been appointed to the Central Preparatory Commission, which supervised the drafting of documents for the forthcoming Second Vatican Council (1962–65). During the council's first session, in 1962, these very traditional statements were severely criticized. McKeefry had no sympathy for proposals to introduce vernacular languages into the liturgy. He did not attend the council's second session the following year, although he returned to Rome for the 1964 and 1965 sessions, which he found rather tedious. In 1962 Owen Snedden, who had assisted and then succeeded McKeefry as editor of Zealandia, was appointed auxiliary bishop of Wellington. He was largely responsible for liturgical matters including the editing of translations of liturgical books into English, in which undertaking he was helped by the Abbot and monks of Southern Star Abbey, Kopua. But, in liturgical matters and in other respects, Snedden was given little independence by McKeefry. Following the Council McKeefry established a hierarchy of parish and district councils culminating in the Diocesan Pastoral Council. On 28 April 1969 McKeefry was proclaimed by Pope Paul VI a Cardinal-Priest of "Immacolata al Tiburtino". He was the first New Zealand cardinal, a recognition by the Vatican of the maturity of the church in New Zealand and of its role in the South Pacific, as well as reflecting Paul VI's policy of making the College of Cardinals more international. It was clearly also a personal tribute to McKeefry who was well known and respected in the Vatican. As a cardinal, McKeefry was appointed to two international commissions based in Rome: the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy and the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (also called the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith).