The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia ( mi, Te Hāhi Mihinare ki Aotearoa ki Niu Tīreni, ki Ngā Moutere o te Moana Nui a Kiwa; formerly the Church of the Province of New Zealand) is a
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
of the
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and oth ...
serving
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
,
Fiji,
Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
,
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...
, and the
Cook Islands
)
, image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, capital = Avarua
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Avarua
, official_languages =
, langu ...
. Since 1992 the church has consisted of three ''
tikanga'' or cultural streams:
Aotearoa
''Aotearoa'' () is the current Māori-language name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference to only the North Island, with the name of the whole country being ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' ("North Island and Sout ...
, New Zealand, and
Polynesia
Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...
. The church's constitution says that, among other things, it is required to "maintain the right of every person to choose any particular cultural expression of the faith". As a result, the church's
General Synod The General Synod is the title of the governing body of some church organizations. Anglican Communion
The General Synod of the Church of England, which was established in 1970 replacing the Church Assembly, is the legislative body of the Church of ...
has agreed upon the development of the three-person primacy based on this three ''tikanga'' system.
It has three
primates
Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter includin ...
(leaders), each representing a ''tikanga'', who share authority.
The Anglican Church is an
apostolic church, which claims to trace its
bishops
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...
back to the
apostles
An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...
via
holy orders. ''A New Zealand Prayer Book, He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa'' (ANZPB/HKMOA), containing traditional
liturgies,
rites, and blessings, is central to the church's worship.
The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia is not
established as an official church of any sovereign state, unlike the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
from which it grew. However, Anglicans have taken a preeminent leadership role on New Zealand state occasions.
The 2018 census recorded 314,913 Anglicans in the New Zealand part of the church, making it the country’s second largest religious denomination.
Since the 1960s the New Zealand Anglican Church in general has approved the marriage by a priest in a church of someone whose earlier marriage was dissolved (even though the former spouse still lives), and has approved blessings for same-sex couples.
Names
Until 1992, the church was formally called the "Church of the Province of New Zealand", and was also referred to as the "
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
". It is now known as the "Anglican Church", reflecting its membership of the worldwide
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and oth ...
. Members of the church typically identify as "Anglicans".
The
Māori name for the New Zealand Anglican Church, – meaning "the missionary church" – reveals its origins in the work of the first missionaries to arrive in New Zealand.
History
First New Zealand Anglicans
While heading the parliamentary campaign against the British slave trade for twenty years until the passage of the
Slave Trade Act of 1807,
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually bec ...
championed the foundation of the
Church Missionary Society
The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...
(CMS) in 1799, with other members of the
Clapham Sect including
John Venn, determined to improve the treatment of indigenous people by the British.
[ pp 20-116]
The CMS mission to New Zealand was begun by
Samuel Marsden, the Anglican
chaplain
A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...
in
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
. He had met the Ngāpuhi chiefs
Te Pahi and
Ruatara when they travelled outside New Zealand, and they invited him to visit their country. Ruatara provided protection for the first mission station, at Rangihoua in the
Bay of Islands
The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for it ...
.
For the first years of the mission, intertribal
Musket Wars
The Musket Wars were a series of as many as 3,000 battles and raids fought throughout New Zealand (including the Chatham Islands) among Māori between 1807 and 1837, after Māori first obtained muskets and then engaged in an intertribal arms ra ...
hampered the missionaries’ movements and Māori interest in their message. Personal disputes between the early missionaries, and their involvement in trading muskets, also compromised their efforts.
The
Māori language
Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, an ...
did not then have an indigenous writing system. Missionaries learned to speak Māori, and introduced the Latin alphabet. The CMS, including
Thomas Kendall; Māori, including
Tītore
Tītore (circa 1775-1837) (sometimes known as Tītore Tākiri) was a Rangatira (chief) of the Ngāpuhi iwi (tribe). He was a war leader of the Ngāpuhi who lead the war expedition against the Māori people, Māori tribes at East Cape in 1820 and ...
and
Hongi Hika; and
Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
's
Samuel Lee, developed the written language between 1817 and 1830. In 1833, while living in the
Paihia
Paihia is the main tourist town in the Bay of Islands in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is 60 kilometres north of Whangārei, located close to the historic towns of Russell and Kerikeri. Missionary Henry Williams ...
mission house of
Anglican priest and the now head of the New Zealand CMS mission (later to become the
New Zealand Church Missionary Society
The New Zealand Church Missionary Society is a mission society working within the Anglican Communion and Protestant, Evangelical Anglicanism. The parent organisation was founded in England in 1799. The Church Missionary Society (CMS) sent mission ...
) Rev
Henry Williams, missioner
William Colenso
William Colenso (17 November 1811 – 10 February 1899) FRS was a Cornish Christian missionary to New Zealand, and also a printer, botanist, explorer and politician. He attended the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and later wrote an accou ...
published the Māori translations of books of the Bible, the first books printed in New Zealand. His 1837 Māori New Testament was the first indigenous language translation of the Bible published in the southern hemisphere. Demand for the Māori New Testament, and the Prayer Book that followed, grew exponentially, as did Christian Māori leadership and public Christian services, with 33,000 Māori soon attending regularly. Literacy and understanding the Bible increased and social and economic benefits, decreased slavery and intertribal violence, and increased peace and respect for all people in Māori society, including women.
Missionaries and the Treaty of Waitangi
Māori generally respected the British, partially due to their relationships with missionaries and also due to British status as a major maritime power, which had been made apparent to Māori travelling outside New Zealand. In England the church and state were interlinked and the Church of England had a
special status guaranteed in law.
Evangelicals
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
, as loyal Anglicans, accepted this status and encouraged Māori to look to the
British Crown
The Crown is the state (polity), state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories, overseas territories, Provinces and territorie ...
for protection and recognition. As a result CMS missionaries, especially Henry Williams, played a leading part in encouraging Māori to sign the
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in the treatment of the M ...
in 1840.
Assuming that a treaty in English could not be understood, debated or agreed to by Māori, Hobson asked CMS head missioner Henry Williams, and his son
Edward Marsh Williams, who was a scholar in Māori language and custom, to translate the document overnight on 4 February. Henry Williams was concerned with the actions of the
New Zealand Company
The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principl ...
in Wellington and felt he had to agree with Hobson's request to ensure the treaty would be as favourable as possible to Māori. Williams avoided using any English words that had no expression in Māori "thereby preserving entire the spirit and tenor" of the treaty. He added a note to the copy Hobson sent to Gibbs stating, "I certify that the above is as literal a translation of the Treaty of Waitangi as the idiom of the language will allow."
The
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
-based literacy of Māori meant some of the concepts communicated in the translation were from the Māori Bible, including (governorship) and (chiefly rule), and the idea of the treaty as a "covenant" was biblical.
In later years this missionary support for the treaty led to increasing disillusionment among Māori as the treaty was ignored by the colonial and settler governments.
The emergence of Māori religious movements such as
Pai Mārire and
Ringatū reflected this rejection of missionary Christianity. When the missionary
Carl Sylvius Völkner was suspected of spying by Māori in 1865, the fact that he was a member of the Anglican clergy afforded him no protection, and he was executed.
Settler church
After missionary work amongst Māori, the second major influence shaping Anglicanism in New Zealand came from the large number of Anglican settlers who arrived in the mid-19th century. Most were from England, with some from Ireland and Australia. The early CMS missionary beginnings and the large number of Anglican settlers resulted in Anglicanism becoming the largest religious denomination in New Zealand. In 1858, more than half of the colony's population was Anglican.
George Augustus Selwyn
George Augustus Selwyn (5 April 1809 – 11 April 1878) was the first Anglican Bishop of New Zealand. He was Bishop of New Zealand (which included Melanesia) from 1841 to 1869. His diocese was then subdivided and Selwyn was Metropolitan (later ...
became Bishop of New Zealand (the only Anglican bishop to have this title) in 1841. He headed both the Māori and settler Anglican parts of the church. Evangelical missionaries were suspicious of his control over them and his emphasis on the authority of the church, while settlers were hostile towards his pro-Māori stance. He increasingly found himself caught between Māori and
Pākehā
Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non- Māori New ...
issues of land and sovereignty.
The first
Anglican parish in the then capital of Auckland was
St Paul's, which was founded in 1841 within a year of the foundation of the city and is known as the 'Mother Church' of the city. The first St Paul's building was in Emily Place, just off Princes Street, where a plaque still marks the site of the beginning of the
Christian church
In ecclesiology, the Christian Church is what different Christian denominations conceive of as being the true body of Christians or the original institution established by Jesus. "Christian Church" has also been used in academia as a synonym f ...
in Auckland. St Paul's was the
seat
A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense.
Types of seat
The following are examples of different kinds of seat:
* Armchair (furniture), ...
of the Bishop of New Zealand, for Selwyn's entire 28 year tenure and served as Auckland's Cathedral for over 40 years.
Bishop Selwyn opened St Paul's Church over four services on 7 May 1843. He later wrote, "The services began with a native congregation at nine; some of whom having only heard of the opening on Saturday evening, paddled a distance of twelve miles by sea during the night, in order to be present. The greater number were in full European clothing, and took part in the Church service, in a manner which contrasts most strikingly with that of the silent and unkneeling congregations of the English settlers." St Paul's then held four Sunday services weekly, serving both Māori and European congregations, with two services conducted in ''
te reo Māori'' and two in English. Bishop Selwyn had learned ''te reo Māori'' himself.
The CMS criticised Selwyn for being ineffective in training and ordaining clergy – especially Māori. It took him 11 years to ordain the first Māori Anglican minister, Rev
Rota Waitoa (who studied under Selwyn for 10 years) at St Paul’s on 22 May 1853, and 24 years to ordain a Māori priest. Selwyn went on to ordain seven more Māori clergy at St Paul's, but his high church ways were blamed for undermining the work of the CMS and damaging Māori enthusiasm for Christianity.
Selwyn generally advocated for Māori rights and was often a critic of the unjust and reckless land acquisition practices that led to the
New Zealand Wars
The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the ...
. However, his support of the
Invasion of the Waikato
The Invasion of the Waikato became the largest and most important campaign of the 19th-century New Zealand Wars. Hostilities took place in the North Island of New Zealand between the military forces of the colonial government and a federation ...
as chaplain, damaged his and the church's relationship with Māori, which is still felt today.
In 1865, Selwyn wrote of the Anglican Church's relationship with Māori, "oh! how things have changed! how much of the buoyancy of hope has been sobered down by experience! when, instead of a nation of believers welcoming me as their father, I find here and there a few scattered sheep, the remnant of a flock which has forsaken the shepherd".
St Paul's was considered a garrison church, but when the first regimental colours unfurled in New Zealand were donated to the church after the New Zealand Wars, its second vicar, Rev John Frederick Lloyd (who was also a chaplain in the wars) turned them down so "no jealousies of race or feelings of hostility should ever be permitted to enter, but where men should remember only that they are one in Christ".
Church constitution
While Anglicans carried some of the privileges of the Church of England to New Zealand, they struggled to devise a method of church organisation which took account of their new non-establishment status alongside other churches. In 1857, after 15 years of consultation, a constitution for the New Zealand church was finalised on the basis of voluntary compact. Links with the traditions of the mother-church in England were guaranteed in their worship, ministry and beliefs. At national and regional levels, bishops, and representatives from the clergy and
laity
In religious organizations, the laity () consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother.
In both religious and wider secular usage, a laype ...
met together but voted separately on church matters, ensuring that each group had an equal voice. The constitution resolved problems for the settler church but failed to deal adequately with the administrative and leadership needs of the Māori church.
Regional identity
Selwyn's diocese was progressively divided into sub-districts, beginning in 1856 when
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
became a new diocese;
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...
,
Nelson and
Waiapu (East Coast) followed in 1858, and
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
separated from Christchurch in 1869.
Each diocese developed its own identity. The Christchurch diocese was heavily influenced by the English settlers who arrived with the
Canterbury Association
The Canterbury Association was formed in 1848 in England by members of parliament, peers, and Anglican church leaders, to establish a colony in New Zealand. The settlement was to be called Canterbury, with its capital to be known as Christchur ...
. Under its second bishop,
Andrew Suter, Nelson developed an evangelical flavour which continued in the 21st century. Waiapu had missionary beginnings, holding its first four
synod
A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin word mea ...
s (official church conferences) in the Māori language. That missionary influence was overtaken by the New Zealand wars and the growth of settler influence.
20th and 21st centuries
Despite Māori being a significant portion of the members of the Anglican church in the 19th and early 20th century, calls for a Māori bishop went unheard. Selwyn refused to ordain any Māori ministers despite ability, believing that anyone who was not trained in the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
and
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
languages was inappropriate to serve as a bishop.
After decades of lobbying from parishoners, and fears that more Māori would leave the church to join the
Rātana
The Rātana movement ( mi, Te Haahi Rātana) is a church and pan-''iwi'' political movement founded by Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana in early 20th-century New Zealand. The Rātana Church has its headquarters at the settlement of Rātana Pā nea ...
movement, the first
Pīhopa o Aotearoa (Bishop of Aotearoa),
Frederick Bennett, was consecrated in 1928.
By 1936 the proportion of Anglicans in the total population had dropped from half to 40%. Anglican numbers declined more sharply from the mid-1960s. Around 900,000 people identified themselves as Anglican in 1976, 800,000 in 1981 and 580,000 in 2001. In the 2013 census 12% of the population, or 460,000 people, identified themselves as Anglicans. The
2018 census recorded 314,913 Anglicans in the New Zealand part of the church. Anglicanism was the country’s second largest religious denomination after Catholicism.
The number who
attend services on a regular basis or have any connection with the church is considerably smaller. While one in three New Zealanders identify as Christian, only about one in ten identify as "active practisers".
In
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...
es that no longer had enough church members to financially support a
stipend
A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work pe ...
ed priest, schemes for local people or self-supporting priests to take responsibility for the tasks of ministry were developed.
''A New Zealand Prayer Book, He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa'', was published in 1989, after a period of revision that started in 1964.
The
General Synod The General Synod is the title of the governing body of some church organizations. Anglican Communion
The General Synod of the Church of England, which was established in 1970 replacing the Church Assembly, is the legislative body of the Church of ...
of the church adopted a revised constitution in 1992, introducing the ''
tikanga'' system. This structure has been criticised by some, with one Anglican priest comparing the ''tikanga'' to
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
or
ghetto
A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished ...
ization, arguing that the system has resulted in churches which are divided along racial lines.
Leadership
The church has decided that three bishops shall share the position of
Primate
Primates are a diverse order (biology), order of mammals. They are divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include the Tarsiiformes, tarsiers and ...
and style of
archbishop, each representing one of the three ''tikanga''. These are the three bishops presently sharing the title of Primate and Archbishop of New Zealand:
*
Don Tamihere,
Te Pīhopa o Te Tairāwhiti and
Te Pīhopa o Aotearoa
The Bishop of Aotearoa (Te Pīhopa o Aotearoa) is a bishop in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The post was created in 1928. The Bishop of Aotearoa is the most senior bishop of Tikanga Maori and the Ordinary of the Bisho ...
, who oversees
Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa (i.e. all five Hui Amorangi/Pīhopatanga) for the
Māori people
The Māori (, ) are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand (). Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over severa ...
of Aotearoa New Zealand
*
Philip Richardson,
Bishop of Waikato and Taranaki
The Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki is one of the thirteen dioceses and ''hui amorangi'' (Maori bishoprics) of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The diocese covers the area from the Waikato to the area surrounding M ...
and Senior Bishop of the New Zealand dioceses, who oversees dioceses in Aotearoa New Zealand for
Pākehā
Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non- Māori New ...
(people of European heritage)
*the
Bishop of Polynesia (the sole
diocesan bishop of tikanga Pasefika), who oversees the
Diocese of Polynesia for the
Oceania region of the Pacific Islands that predominantly lie north and east of Aotearoa New Zealand; the See has been vacant since the death of
Fereimi Cama
Fereimi Cama (2 March 1955 – 2 July 2021) was an Anglican bishop. He was the first Fijian to be Bishop of Polynesia in the diocese's history.
Cama was born on 2 March 1955 in the Fijian village of Nukuni, Ono-i-Lau. He was raised a Methodist ...
on 2 July 2021.
''Tikanga'' system
Aotearoa
Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa, one of three tikanga, oversees churches for the
Māori people
The Māori (, ) are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand (). Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over severa ...
of Aotearoa. Aotearoa is made up of five ''pīhopatanga'' or regional
bishopric
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
s (sometimes called ''hui amorangi'', i.e. synods), each led by ''te pīhopa o...'' (the bishop of...):
*
Tairāwhiti (literally "east coast")
*
Tai Tokerau (literally "north coast")
*
Upoko o Te Ika (literally "the head of the fish", i.e. the southern part of the North Island; Wellington/Taranaki)
*
Waipounamu (literally "greenstone waters", i.e. the South Island)
*
Manawa o Te Wheke (literally "the heart of the octopus", i.e. North Island central region)
New Zealand
The tikanga of New Zealand is made up of seven
diocese
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...
s:
*
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...
*
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
*
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
*
Nelson
*
Waiapu
*
Waikato and Taranaki
*
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...
The dioceses in New Zealand are led by a "senior bishop" (previously "Convening Bishop") elected from among the
diocesan bishops of the tikanga. In the three-person primacy, that Senior Bishop is ''ex officio'' co-equal Primate and Archbishop for the whole province. The current Senior Bishop is
Philip Richardson,
Bishop of Waikato and Taranaki
The Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki is one of the thirteen dioceses and ''hui amorangi'' (Maori bishoprics) of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The diocese covers the area from the Waikato to the area surrounding M ...
.
Anglican Cathedral, Parnell.JPG, Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell, Auckland
Cardboard Cathedral 06.JPG, "Cardboard Cathedral
The Cardboard Cathedral, formally called the Transitional Cathedral, in Christchurch, New Zealand, is the transitional pro-cathedral of the Anglicanism, Anglican Anglican Diocese of Christchurch, Diocese of Christchurch, replacing ChristChurch Ca ...
", the pro-cathedral of Christchurch
Dunedin Anglican Cathedral 001.JPG, St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...
in Dunedin
Entrance of Nelson Cathedral.jpg, Christ Church Cathedral in Nelson
Waiapu Cathedral 3 (31694185302).jpg, Cathedral of St John the Evangelist in Napier
StPetersHamilton.jpg, St Peter's Cathedral in Hamilton
NZ's oldest stone church (11045206626).jpg, Taranaki Cathedral
The Taranaki Cathedral Church of St Mary (formerly known as St Mary's Church) is an Anglican cathedral church, located at 37 Vivian Street, New Plymouth, in New Zealand. Following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, in 2016 the cathedral was close ...
, Church of St Mary, in New Plymouth
New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. Th ...
Wellington, Cathedral of Saint Paul, 2016-01-25.jpg, Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
The Wellington Cathedral of St Paul (also called St Paul's Cathedral or Wellington Cathedral) is an Anglican church in the city of Wellington, New Zealand. It is the mother church of the Diocese of Wellington and the cathedral of the Bishop of ...
Polynesia
The
Diocese of Polynesia, or the ''Tikanga Pasefika'' serves Anglicans in Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the Cook Islands. The diocese's first bishop was consecrated in 1908. The diocesan cathedral is Holy Trinity Cathedral in
Suva
Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Di ...
,
Fiji. In the province's three-person primacy, the diocesan Bishop of Polynesia is automatically Primate and Archbishop. The Bishop of Polynesia has been supported by four suffragan bishops:
Api Qiliho Apimeleki Nadoki Qiliho is an indigenous Fijian from the Province of Nadroga-Navosa in the Fiji Islands and a retired Anglican bishop.
Consecrated a bishop on 10 April 2005, he became "Bishop in Vanua Levu and Taveuni" in the Diocese of Polyne ...
recently retired as Bishop in
Vanua Levu
Vanua Levu (pronounced ), formerly known as Sandalwood Island, is the second largest island of Fiji. Located to the north of the larger Viti Levu, the island has an area of and a population of 135,961 .
Geology
Fiji lies in a tectonicall ...
and
Taveuni; Gabriel Sharma is Bishop in
Viti Levu
Viti Levu (pronounced ) is the largest island in the Republic of Fiji. It is the site of the nation's capital, Suva, and home to a large majority of Fiji's population.
Geology
Fiji lies in a tectonically complex area between the Australia ...
West;
ʻAka Vaka is Bishop in Tonga; former Archbishop Winston Halapua led the ministry to Polynesians in mainland New Zealand before he became diocesan bishop — his suffragan post has not been filled since; there are archdeacons of Suva and Ovalau, Samoa and American Samoa, and Tonga.
Guard Suva MatthiasSuessen-8368.jpg, Diocese Of Polynesia Holy Trinity Cathedral in Suva
Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Di ...
, Fiji
Ministry
The Anglican Church embraces three orders of ministry:
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...
,
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
(or
presbyter
Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros,'' which means elder or senior, although many in the Christian antiquity would understand ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning a ...
) and
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
. Increasingly, an emphasis is being placed on these orders to work collaboratively within the wider ministry of the whole people of God.
Theological training
Residential theological training is carried out primarily at
St John's College, Auckland, which is also organised according to the three ''tikanga'' approach. Theological training was formerly carried out by
Selwyn College, Otago in Dunedin and
College House in
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
, currently these colleges are
hall of residence
A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university ...
for students from all faculties of the
University of Otago
, image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg
, image_size =
, caption = University clock tower
, motto = la, Sapere aude
, mottoeng = Dare to be wise
, established = 1869; 152 years ago
, type = Public research collegiate u ...
and the
University of Canterbury
The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...
. While the two colleges still fall under the jurisdiction of the
Anglican Diocese of Dunedin and
Anglican Diocese of Christchurch
The Diocese of Christchurch is one of the thirteen dioceses and hui amorangi of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The Diocese covers the area between the Conway River and the Waitaki River in the South Island of New ...
and have the extensive
theological holdings in their libraries, they no longer train ordinands.
Worship and liturgy
''A New Zealand Prayer Book, He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa'', providing
liturgy for "a multitude of voices",
contains a
liturgical calendar
The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and wh ...
, forms of daily prayer, of baptism, of the Eucharist (also known as Holy Communion), and other texts for services such as marriage, funerals, and ordination, as well as a
catechism for instruction in the faith. All these are central to this Church's worship, as for other Anglican Churches.
The book was published in 1989 and attracted considerable interest for its use of locally-composed and borrowed texts, and the use of Maori language as well as of English. A revised edition in 2020 expanded use of Maori as well as providing some liturgies in other Pacific languages.
Use of the 1662 and 1928 versions of the ''
Book of Common Prayer
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 ...
'' (BCP) of the Church of England is also permitted, along with resources from the prayer books of other provinces within the Anglican Communion.
Social and cultural issues
Ordination of women
The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia has allowed the
ordination of women
The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominations in which "ordin ...
as deacons and priests since 1977 and as bishops since 1988.
Penny Jamieson, Bishop of Dunedin from 1990 to 2004, was the world’s first Anglican diocesan woman bishop.
Wai Quayle
Waitohiariki Quayle (born 1950, Gladstone, New-Zealand) is a Māori Anglican bishop. She was ordained as Bishop of Upoko o Te Ika in the Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa at Rathkeale College on Thursday, September 12, 2019, where she also received a Ha ...
became the first indigenous woman bishop in 2019.
Divorce and abortion
In 1970 it became possible for divorcees to be married in Anglican churches with the permission of the diocesan bishop; since 1984 this permission is no longer necessary. From the 1980s society's acceptance of unmarried couples living together and the use of secular marriage celebrants further undermined the church's traditional attitude towards and role in controlling marriage.
Anglican submissions to the McMillan Committee on Abortion in 1937
opposed abortion, regarding both abortion and birth control as part of a general moral decline. The church’s submissions to the ''1974 Royal Commission on Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion'' showed a considerable shift from this earlier position, with a range of opinions on abortion and an attempt to balance religious care for the mother and the rights of the foetus. This diversity indicated a lack of an authoritative Anglican Church position on issues like abortion and a loosening of traditional attitudes.
Homosexuality and same-sex relationships
The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia has no authoritative, definitive position on homosexuality and same-sex relationships. It is one of the 2 provinces of the
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and oth ...
which fully permit (since 2018) the
blessing of same-sex relationships, including same-sex
civil marriage
A civil marriage is a marriage performed, recorded, and recognized by a government official. Such a marriage may be performed by a religious body and recognized by the state, or it may be entirely secular.
History
Every country maintaining a p ...
s and civil unions.
This followed years of consultations and debates.
In 2011, the
Diocese of Auckland voted in favour of ordaining partnered gay and lesbian priests. Congregations in the Auckland Diocese may offer a 'relationship blessing' for two partners. In 2005, a same-sex couple was joined in a civil union at
St Matthew in the City in the Auckland Diocese. A gay priest was licensed in the Auckland Diocese as of 2009. The
Dunedin Diocese also provides a blessing for the relationship of "two people" irrespective of gender. In the Dunedin Diocese, "Blessings of same-sex relationships are offered in line with Diocesan Policy and with the bishop’s permission." The Dunedin Diocese also ordained an openly gay deacon in "a committed same-sex relationship." Subsequently, the same deacon was ordained a priest. In 2011, the Waiapu Diocese adopted a resolution affirming the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy and asking for an authorised liturgy for blessing same-sex relationships. The Bishop's chaplain in the Waiapu Diocese has also performed a blessing for a same-sex couple. In 2017, the Bishop of Waiapu installed an openly gay priest, who is married to his partner, as the dean of
Waiapu Cathedral.
In 2012, some bishops and four dioceses supported a rite of blessing for same-sex unions. Motion 30, adopted by the 62nd General Synod on 14 May 2014, designated a working task group with the purpose of creating a "process and structure" that would allow the blessing of same-sex unions, while also upholding the traditional doctrine of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. This proposal drew the opposition of the most conservative factions of the province's clergy and laity, with a submission presented by two clergy and a layman stating that the church's constitution stated that "No doctrines which are repugnant to the Doctrines and Sacraments of Christ as held and maintained by this Church shall be advocated or inculcated by any person acknowledging the authority of General Synod." While the blessing services were being developed and discussed, the resolution said "clergy should be permitted 'to recognise in public worship' a same-gender civil union or state marriage of members of their faith community."
In 2016, the committee responsible for developing the rites of blessing released its proposed liturgies for same-sex couples to be discussed by the General Synod. The General Synod 2016 voted to 'receive' the report on blessings but left the option to "
ieon the table" and the issue will be reviewed again in 2018. The church's spokesperson said that "
he Synod
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
needs more work and time to create a structure that can allow for blessing of committed life-long monogamous same-sex relationships." "However, Synod did pass a constitutional change allowing bishops the right to authorize (sic) a service for use in his or her diocese". In 2018, the General Synod/Te Hinota voted in favour of approving Motion 29 and allowing blessing rites for same-sex unions.
Relation with the Anglican realignment
The
Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans in New Zealand was started in April 2016 with two conferences that took place in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...
and
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
with nearly 500 members of the province. The FCA in New Zealand is the local expression of the
Global Anglican Future Conference
The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) is a series of conferences of conservative Anglican bishops and leaders, the first of which was held in Jerusalem from 22 to 29 June 2008 to address the growing controversy of the divisions in the An ...
(GAFCON), whose chairman, Archbishop
Eliud Wabukala from
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
, sent a message of support read at the conferences. Video greetings were also sent by Archbishop
Foley Beach of the
Anglican Church in North America
The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cu ...
and Bishop
Richard Condie, of the
Anglican Diocese of Tasmania and chairman of FCA Australia. The Rev. Jay Behan became the chair of FCA New Zealand. The creation of FCA New Zealand was a result of the passing of Motion 30 by the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, and the subsequent document ''A Way Forward'', proposing the blessing of same-sex marriages, presented at their general synod in May 2014. Bishop
Richard Ellena
Victor Richard Ellena (born 15 January 1951 in Christchurch) is a New Zealand Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Nelson between 3 February 2007 and his retirement at the end of 2018.
He was educated at the University o ...
of
Nelson, an Evangelical Anglican, is a supporter of the
Anglican realignment
The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States ...
, having attended the
Global South
The concept of Global North and Global South (or North–South divide in a global context) is used to describe a grouping of countries along socio-economic and political characteristics. The Global South is a term often used to identify regio ...
Fourth Encounter in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
in April 2010 and
GAFCON II in
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city prope ...
,
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
, in October 2013. FCA New Zealand was represented at
GAFCON III in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, in June 2018 by a 56 members delegation, plus two from Fiji, led by Jay Behan.
The
Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa/New Zealand was created from the
Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans of
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
and was officially established on 17 May 2019. This followed the decision taken by the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia to allow the blessing of same-sex marriages and civil unions.
Sexual abuse
The Anglican Church in New Zealand has historically had instances of sexual abuse of children, adults, and clergy. The abuse took place in church-run schools as well as churches, and the church was accused of attempting to cover up the sexual crimes.
In March 2021, at the request of Catholic and Anglican Churches, among others, church bodies were included in a nationwide inquiry, the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. As part of this inquiry it emerged that many documents pertaining to the sexual abuse of people in the church from the 1990s had gone missing.
See also
*
Christianity in New Zealand
Christianity in New Zealand dates to the arrival of missionaries from the Church Missionary Society who were welcomed onto the beach at Rangihoua Bay in December 1814. It soon became the predominant belief amongst the indigenous people with an ...
*
Christianity in Fiji
Religiously, Fiji is a mixed society with most people being Christian (64.4% of the population), with a sizable Hindu (27.9%) and Muslim (6.3%) minority, according to the 2007 census. Religion tends to split along ethnic lines with most Indigen ...
References
Further reading
*
* Cox, Noel, ''Church and State in the Post-Colonial Era: The Anglican Church and the Constitution in New Zealand'' (Polygraphia (NZ) Ltd,
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...
, 2008; )
External links
*
Anglican history in New Zealand- primary texts from
Project Canterbury Project Canterbury (sometimes abbreviated as PC) is an online archive of material related to the history of Anglicanism. It was founded by Richard Mammana, Jr. in 1999 with a grant from Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold
Frank T ...
{{Authority control
Christian organizations established in 1992
Aotearoa
''Aotearoa'' () is the current Māori-language name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference to only the North Island, with the name of the whole country being ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' ("North Island and Sout ...
Protestantism in Fiji
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
Anglicanism in Samoa
Protestantism in American Samoa
Christianity in the Cook Islands
Anglicanism in Tonga
Members of the World Council of Churches