Dear Friends,
The Induction Service for the Reverend Dr Meg Harvey, who will be the Vicar of Highfield, Kensington and Otipua (0.8 FTE) and the Priest-in-Charge of the Parish of Marchwiel (0.2 FTE), will take place at 7 pm, on Friday 1 May 2026, at St John’s, Highfield, Timaru. All are welcome. Clergy robing, please wear alb and red stole.
Archdeacon Nick Mountfort is promoting opportunities to learn how to pray through half-day workshops to encourage one another in the life of prayer. Different traditions and styles will be offered, and those styles of prayer will be practised them. This offering is a follow up to a resolution of our Synod in 2025. Please find further details further on in e-Life at “Connected to the Vine” prayer workshops.
The Reverend Lorna Gray, the Anglican National Youth Facilitator – Tikanga Pakeha, will conclude her work for Tikanga Pakeha at the end of May 2026. As part of her commitment to the flourishing of Anglican youth ministries, Lorna has been a great encourager of our work among the under 40s generations in our Diocese – thank you Lorna and best wishes for the next chapter in your life and ministry. In respect of the future of this role, the Tikanga Pakeha Conference Coordinating Group has communicated this:
“During a transition period, interim arrangements will be put in place to ensure continuity and to support Diocesan Youth Workers and those involved in the events and programmes already scheduled. Further details about these arrangements will be shared once confirmed. Before progressing to recruitment, a review of the Youth Facilitator role will be undertaken to ensure it is well aligned with current needs and future direction. Following the completion of this review, a recruitment process will begin.”
It was good to take part in the ANZAC Citizens’ Service in the Transitional Cathedral on Saturday. This service was exceptionally well-attended. In part that was due to the presence in the congregation of rugby fans drawn to Christchurch for the opening matches in Te Kaha. With excellent sunny weather, thousands of visitors to Christchurch, and the excitement of our new stadium finally in operation, the city was humming in ways not seen for a long time. I am pleased to report that the noise from a match being played late Sunday afternoon was not disruptive for the Evensong service held at 5pm in the Transitional Cathedral. However, closure of roads around the stadium, and thus around the cathedral, provided some challenges for participation in worship there on Sunday. Fortunately, on current patterns, most matches in the stadium in years ahead will not be on Sundays.
Stories on Anglican Taonga currently include a report on our Cathedral in the Square lighting up ANZAC Day, 1,400+ people in the South Pacific to receive Anglican-led training in stewardship of the oceans and climate science using an ocean-going canoe and a report on the recent meeting of FONO, a gathering of Primates and General Secretaries of the Anglican Provinces in Oceania.
This week the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, has been visiting Rome. Included in that visit has been a meeting with Pope Leo XIV and an opportunity for them to pray together. Pope Leo in his address at this meeting spoke honestly and hopefully about Christian unity between Anglicans and Catholics:
“As my beloved predecessor, Pope Francis, said to the Primates of the Anglican Communion in 2024, ‘it would be a scandal if, due to our divisions, we did not fulfil our common vocation to make Christ known‘ (read the Pope’s Address to Primates of the Anglican Communion, 2 May 2024). For my part, I add that it would also be a scandal if we did not continue to work towards overcoming our differences, no matter how intractable they may appear. As we continue to journey together in friendship and dialogue, let us pray that the Holy Spirit, whom the Lord breathed on the disciples on the evening after his resurrection, will guide our steps as we prayerfully and humbly seek the unity which is the Lord’s will for all his disciples.”
In our work for Christian unity, especially in the manner in which we conduct that work, in a spirit of aroha, rangimarie and manaakitanga (love, peace, and hospitality), we demonstrate our wider commitment to peaceful human relations. Christian ecumenicity is commensurate with our prayers for peace in our world, especially in these dark and difficult times for our world.
This coming Sunday, 3 May 2026, Easter 5, the Gospel reading is John 14:1-14. We often hear the first six verses of this passage as a reading in a funeral service. This is very appropriate because there are two great messages in this chapter, especially when read in the context of the Easter season, and the first definitely speaks to life beyond the grave. The two messages are that Jesus is both the pioneer of the resurrection of all believers and the guarantor that when Jesus ascends to the Father after his resurrection, believers will continue the ministry and mission of Jesus on earth in the power of the Spirit of Jesus.
Arohanui,
+Peter.