Dear Friends,
Thank you for praying for Bishop Susan Wallace, prior to her ordination as bishop and installation as Te Pihopa o Te Hui Amorangi ki Te Waipounamu on Saturday in the Transitional Cathedral. The service was a joyful and memorable occasion with a very full congregation. See further reporting in this e-Life and on Anglican Taonga. It was wonderful that The Press on Monday morning gave its report of the service front page treatment. On Sunday morning it was good to be present at Te Hepara Pai, at Te Pa o Te Waipounamu, for Bishop Susan’s first service as a bishop.
On Sunday it was announced that the Reverend Simon Green will be the next Vicar of the Parish of Opawa-St. Martins. His induction service will be at 3pm Sunday 28 June 2026 in St. Mark’s Church, 101 Opawa Road, Christchurch. All are welcome to this service.
Yesterday, Archdeacon Indrea Alexander and I led the deconsecration service for St. Andrew’s, Tinwald in the Parish of Ashburton. It was moving to have memories shared from within the gathered congregation, including reminders of the era when this church was full each Sunday. Active church attendance patterns have changed in the past 60 or so years so that the buildings that serve us across the Diocese are changing. There will be more church sales in the years ahead as we consolidate congregational life on fewer sites.
The commissioning of the Reverend Dr Joshua Taylor as the new Archdeacon of Selwyn-Tawera will take place during Evensong, 5pm, this Sunday 14 June 2026 in the Transitional Cathedral. Clergy are invited to robe, with Green the colour for stoles. All are welcome from all Archdeaconries to this service.
I am pleased to share that a new lift will be installed at the Anglican Centre at Cardale House between approximately Monday, 22 June and Friday, 10 July. This important accessibility upgrade will help ensure our diocesan offices remain welcoming and accessible to all. There may be some disruption associated with the installation works, although access to the building will remain open. Thank you for your patience and understanding as this work is completed.
Catch Network is offering 2026’s Little Revolutions conference in Christchurch, Friday 26 to Saturday 27 June, at Oxford Terrace Baptist Church, Christchurch. Details are available, with the programme on their website. Invited speakers include Archbishop Justin Duckworth.
I am very pleased to promote our next Diocesan Youth Group Games Night for Years 7 to 13. This will take place, 7pm – 9pm on Friday, 3 July at the Bishopdale Recreation Centre, 13A Bishopdale Court, Bishopdale. There will be prizes for the Best Dressed, Best Team Chant, and more 😊. Please register your Youth Group today: youth@anglicanlife.org.nz. This will be a wonderful way to end this term!
Many years ago, when I was a Nelson Diocesan member of the General Synod/Te Hīnota Whānui, I was always impressed by the contributions of Professor Whatarangi Winiata. He was a visionary thinker, keen to advance the neglected interests and concerns of Tikanga Māori, and a master of synod process in his astute moving of motions and amendments. His influence within Te Ao Māori extended well beyond Te Hāhi Mihinare. Last week Professor Winiata died and his contribution to life in NZ and in the Anglican Church is measured by two articles, on RNZ and on Anglican Taonga. In the latter article, Professor Winiata’s significant contribution to the development of our church as a Three Tikanga church is noted in this way:
“At the 1984 General Synod, Winiata successfully proposed the establishment of a Bicultural Commission to study the Treaty of Waitangi and consider how the Church might engage in bicultural development, while also advising on how the principles of the Treaty could be embodied across church life. By 1990, this work led to proposals to revise the Church’s constitution and structure. This process resulted in Te Pouhere, the 1992 constitutional reform under which the Church continues to be governed.”
Yesterday, while in Ashburton, I learned through a friend that the Reverend Paul Bathurst, formerly a clergyman of this Diocese, died about a month ago, having been a resident in Whangarei for some years.
For those who may be interested, I have published some thoughts on the Pope’s recently published encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, which is largely but not exclusively interested in the impact of AI on our humanity. Within that blogpost is a link to a recent podcast I took part in, facilitated by a Canterbury-based Catholic priest, Fr John O’Connor. Also noted there, and perhaps of particular interest to those seeking some deep theological appreciation and critique of the encyclical is a link to an article by Ilia Delio, “Teilhard de Chardin points to what Pope Leo missed in ‘Magnifica Humanitas’”.
I haven’t made comment for some weeks on the situation in the Middle East. In many ways that is because, tragically, there is nothing new to say: there should be peace and there is not. Nevertheless, we could and should continue to pray, with hope in Christ, that the way to peace and the way to justice are found, for there is no peace without justice and there is no justice when war continues.
This coming Sunday, 14 June 2026 is Ordinary 11 and the Gospel is Matthew 9:35-10:8. Obviously this passage is all about mission, about the mission of Jesus and the role of the disciples in that mission and thus our role in the continuing mission of Jesus as we not only read the Gospel but receive it with a view to acting on it (spurred, of course, by the last words of Jesus in this Gospel, the so called Great Commission, 28:16-20. Within what is said here about mission there is a call to prayer (9:38) and a call to “go”, to proclaim the good news in word and through deeds (10:5-8).
Arohanui,
+Peter.