The newly ordained bishop was supported by groups from different areas.

She comes from from the Wairarapa, but now has charge of a large area that includes Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa and Wellington up to Palmerston.

Rev Dr Rangi Nicholson, the local minister, welcomed Waitohiariki. "I hope your ordination will bring new life to Rangiatea and the region", he said.

He noted that all churches welcomed her.

"We are faced with a lot of challenges. How do we, Anglicans and indeed all Christians, keep the church alive, especially for youth".

The service was organized and led by another Rangiatea minster, Rev Marie Collin.

She is an Anglican priest who also hails from the Wairarapa.

She was assisted by long-time Anglican support, Rev Georgia Hapeta.

The service was the one used on Aotearoa Sunday.

It marks the start of the Christian church in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

It recalls Samuel Marsden, whose arrival was to shape the bicultural identity of the church.

Waitohiariki pronounced forgiveness, read the Gospel and preached.

"I acknowledge all those who have gone before me. They opened the gateway to the Gospel for us.

I remember especially the different Maori Bishops before me, such as Bishop Paul Reeves, Bishop Hapai Winiata, Bishop Whakahuihui Vercoe and Bishop Muru Walters".

At her ordination in Masterton in September the bishop was presented with a full kakahu.

Denise Hapeta explained how it had been woven by local weavers.

It is called Tohaina o painga ki te Ao: Spread your good works to the world.

"This kakahu is a blessing for you to do that", she said.

The bishop gave a final Blessing.

After the service, the bishop was welcomed onto Raukawa Marae where further speeches were made and a lovely hakari to celebrate.

Source

Supplied: Pa Piripi Cody

he Archbishops of the Anglican Church in New Zealand have elected the world's first Maori woman Bishop.

The apology took place on the former site of the Otamataha Pa in the Bay of plenty on Saturday, December 1.

The church's apology centres on a piece of land known as the Te Papa Block.

The day began at 9am with two powhiri - the first for an ope from the Kingitanga, led by Kingi Tuheitia's sister, Heeni Katipa - the later one for the Anglican party.

Huikakahu Kawe (Ngati Ranginui) then outlined how things would unfold, and he introduced the historian Dr Alistair Reese whose work underpinned the church apology.

Reese spent 10 minutes giving a background to the events that led to the loss of the land.

The 540-hectare piece of land encompasses modern-day Tauranga's CBD and was purchased in 1838 by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and had to be used for the "benefit of the native race and the church."

Archbishop Emeritus Sir David Moxon offered a formal apology to Ngati Tapu and Ngaitamarawaho of Tauranga Moana.

"It was not sale in which you could do what you liked," Moxon said. "It was more like a gift."

"Built into this was an understanding that if you changed the purpose of what the land was being used for you must give it back."

In 1867, after the New Zealand Wars, four-fifths of the land was passed over to the colonial government following consistent and increasing pressure, and despite the CMS resisting and protesting the transfer.

The land kept by the Church was sold off a few years later.

Tangata Whenua was not consulted and have long since fought to have the land grievance recognised and acknowledged.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• anglicantaonga.org.nz
• Image: nzherald.co.nz

A kaumatua and a retired priest of 50 years still has people turning up at his door asking if he'll baptise their children, or if he knows anything about their whanau.

Taurangamoana iwi have been talking to the Anglican Church about the return of land under council buildings in the central city that was supposed to have been part of a Maori reserve.

The former Tauranga MP says the first transfer of church land was the Pehiaweri Marae at Glenbervie northeast of Whangarei Continue reading

Our first stop was St John's church in Te Awamutu, Waikato's oldest building. It was built to serve the mission station established there at Otawhao pain 1841. The community thrived, and its agriculture prospered. Read More

Priests from the Anglican Church in New Zealand who had made the 11,000-mile journey to be at her side, led her through the west door with family and friends, going head-to-head, and nose-to-nose, with their British counterparts in traditional Maori style. Continue reading

Bishop Michael Smith holds it up as a symbol of progress made by Maori and as an emblem of the partnerships formed between Anglicans in Aotearoa and Episcopalians in the United States.

It also symbolises the church's responsibility to advocate for social justice.

Smith was given the flag 2003 when he was a member of an American delegation attending a meeting of the Anglican Indigenous Network in Rotorua.

Members of each delegation were invited to bring flags that represented their native cultures.

Smith, a member of the Potawatomi tribe, is originally from Oklahoma, and he chose to bring that state's flag which features the battle shield of an Osage warrior and other Native American icons.

Bishop Whakahuihui Vercoe, who hosted meeting asked if he could have it and Smith gladly agreed. Then Vercoe gave Smith his Maori Anglican one.

When he received the flag Smith was a priest serving on an American Indian reservation in Minnesota. He was honoured to receive the flag but only later learned its full significance

In 2008, after Smith had become bishop of the Diocese of North Dakota, he met the Maori bishops at that year's Lambeth Conference.

They explained the flag's significance but said it would be improper to return such a gift.

They suggested, however, that it may be proper to arrange for the flag to be returned to the Maori after Smith's and Vercoe's deaths, which is what Smith will do. (Vercoe died in 2007.)

Source

• Episcopal News Service
• Image: Episcopal News Service

About 160 people met at the church's synod in Wellington this month, where the possibility of changing the flag was raised and discussed.

The church unanimously voted to support keeping the current flag, arguing it best reflected the country's journey and sense of history Continue reading

Lay leadership must step up and take control of the administration side of the Church, freeing clergy up to get on with their core business of worship. Continue reading

A statement issued by the Anglican Church of Aoteoroa said Archbishop Brown Turei, the head of Pihopatanga, (the Maori Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand) had appointed Bishop Te Kitohi Pikaahu as his Vicar General.

Bishop John Gray would remain as Bishop of the Maori Anglican Diocese of Te Waipounamu (The South Island). Continue reading

In 1994 the American Episcopal church ordained an openly gay bishop. In the face of the ensuing uproar, The Archbishop of Canterbury set up a commission to look at ways that the Anglican Communion could stay together in the face of conflicts. The commission proposed an Anglican Communion Covenant as a way of proceeding.

At a meeting of Te Runanganui o te Pihopatanga of Aotearoa (the Maori Anglican Church) gathered at Te Papa-i-o-uru Marae, Ohinemutu, last week the Rev Don Tamihere, when seconding a motion to reject the proposal said the covenant was not about homosexuality.

"It is about compliance and control. We are being asked to sign over our sovereignty, our rangatiratanga to an overseas group, to a standing committee over whom we have no choice or control."

Non-Maori dioceses are split on the matter. Wellington, Nelson and Waikato-Taranaki have expressed qualified support while Auckland, Waiapu and Dunedin have rejected it and Christchurch and the Polynesian diocese have yet to decide.

The proposed covenant will be considered by the church's General Synod in July.

Source

• The Daily Post
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