The long-awaited report of the Way Forward Working Group[1] has been released.

Today’s publication comes almost 18 months since the 13-member group[2] began its work ”“ and it proposes two new liturgies to be considered by May’s General Synod.

These liturgies have been designed to allow for the blessing of couples who have been married in a civil ceremony ”“ according either to New Zealand law, or to the law in the Pacific Island nations which form part of this church. These liturgies also create a pathway for the people in such relationships to become ordained.

Civil marriages between a man and a woman have long been recognised in law in both New Zealand and in those Pacific Island nations. In New Zealand’s case, of course, an amendment to marriage law came into effect in August 2013 ”“ which allows same-sex couples to legally marry.

Read it all from Anglican Taonga.

…Whanganui Anglicans are expressing “understandable concern” about a rethink of how their services are delivered, Christ Church vicar Stuart Goodin says.

A local governance team has come up with a set of 11 proposals, including transition to just one parish, possibly with all services held at Christ Church in Wicksteed St and St Chad’s church moved to the same central property.

St Laurence’s in Aramoho, St Barnabas’s in Durie Hill and St Oswald’s in Westmere would be sold.

Under the proposals, All Saints’ in Whanganui East and St Luke’s in Castlecliff may be revamped. And services may be held at St Peter’s in Gonville while Christ Church is earthquake strengthened.

Change is needed because Anglican congregations are ageing and diminishing and resources are stretched. The changes would ensure a steady future for the denomination in the district.

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In the end, the 80 journalists and 15 TV crews who gathered for the final press conference looked for winners and losers.
In reality, though, we were all losers ”“ because we are still fractured, broken, still inclined to mistrust.
But we are committed to staying with each other.
We are committed to walking together, to trying to see through each other’s eyes, to stepping into each other’s worlds, and to keeping on keeping on until mutual understanding grows.
In simplest terms, I think we learned that we are all of us interdependent, and that we need each other. And when we put the needs of our most marginalised brothers and sisters first we can see this more clearly.

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Two archbishops will represent the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia at next week’s meeting of the primates and moderators of the Anglican Communion in Canterbury, the church has announced. On 2 Jan 2016 the church’s press office released a note stating “Archbishops Philip Richardson and Winston Halapua will be among 37 Primates at the historic meeting called by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.”

Alone among the churches of the Anglican Communion, the ACNZP, is divided along racial lines into separate but equal churches with three co-primates. As the international debate over South Africa’s apartheid policies took shape, the church in New Zealand began an internal self-examination of its own history. Critics of the existing power structures noted that since the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 between the British colonial government and the Maori people, the Maoris had been dominated by European culture.

To overcome this political history, the church in 1992 revised its constitution splitting it into three equal partnerships or Tikanga — one for whites, one for Maoris, and one for Polynesians. Each Tikanga was given its own church buildings, clergy, and language for liturgy. The church’s seminary saw the appoint of three co-equal deans, overlapping dioceses in New Zealand (one for whites and one for Maoris), and three archbishops.

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The Anglican Church is resisting a full commitment to reinstating Christ Church Cathedral because of concerns over safety and cost.

Bishop Victoria Matthews partially endorsed a plan to reinstate the quake-damaged church, but did not rule out building a new, contemporary cathedral in its place.

A report by Government-appointed mediator Miriam Dean QC found the cathedral could be either reconstructed to be “indistinguishable” from its pre-quake self or replaced.

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The Anglican Church said it is doing enough to ensure the survival of the kura it runs, contrary to criticisms made by the Minister of Maori Development, Te Ururoa Flavell.
Mr Flavell said that the churches running Māori boarding schools were not fulfilling their obligations by upgrading them and making a bigger financial contribution.
He was responding to the Minister of Education’s interim decision to close Turakina Māori Girls’ College.

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The Anglican and Methodist churches are in talks which could bring them closer than ever.

The two were working on equal recognition of each other’s ordained clergy and a hui, held in Auckland in September, had kicked off the latest round of discussions which could see them more united in the future.

Of all the Christian denominations, the Anglican Church of Aotearoa and the Methodist Church of New Zealand had the most similarities.

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The report was provided on 5 August 2015, in time for Te Runanganui and every Diocesan Synod.
In the report the Working Group outlines its intention to propose a two-step process which would allow consultation at Diocesan Synod and Hui Amorangi level between sessions of the General Synod/Te Hinota Whanui in 2016 and 2018.
This process will give more time for consultation than would have been possible for a proposal capable of adoption at a single General Synod/Te Hinota Whanui. It is the procedure provided for by the Church of England Empowering Act 1928.

Read it all and the link to the report itself.

An independent Government-appointed consultant will be brought in to negotiate plans for the earthquake-damaged Christ Church Cathedral after four years of deadlock.

Plans for the future of Christchurch’s iconic cathedral stalled in 2011 after Anglican leaders came out in support of plans to partially demolish the building.

They had faced ongoing opposition from heritage campaigners, particularly the Great Christchurch Building Trust (GCBT), which wanted the old cathedral to be fully restored.

Bishop Victoria Matthews made the announcement to a full house at the Christ Church Transitional Cathedral on Hereford St on Thursday evening.

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Maori Anglican Church leaders launched into a “spontaneous” and “thunderous” haka after voting to support the current New Zealand flag.

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

Options for a new flag have recently been narrowed down to a long list of 40 designs.
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…the church unanimously voted to support keeping the current flag, arguing it best reflected the country’s journey and sense of history.

Wellington Bishop Muru Walters said that after the vote all delegates stood up and sung the national anthem before performing the haka.

“It was spontaneous and it was really thunderous. There was a passion for what was being passed.”

The former Maori All Black said that he had never seen such a haka at a gathering of the governing council.

The reason the church voted against a flag change was about tradition, Muru said.

“Why change the flag after all these years? It has been part of our journey and our history and our understanding of ourselves. It’s a huge change and an unnecessary one.

“When you watch the haka there are some who think it is outdated and England is trying to make the All Blacks get rid of it, but it is what the All Blacks have done for years. It’s a tradition we need to keep.”

If the country was going to fight to keep the haka, then keeping the flag was part of that struggle, he said.

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Two well-loved, historic Far North churches have dubious futures as the The Anglican Diocese of Auckland discuss their sale.

St Catherine’s at Okaihau and St Stephen the Martyr’s in Kaikohe may get new owners if the decision goes ahead.

Anglican manager Kevin Third says the diocese is concerned about declining congregation numbers and the cost of keeping the churches open.

But member of Pakaraka Holy Trinity Anne Herbert is against selling them.

“All these churches are without debt, they are in good order because we’ve kept them so. We’re not quite sure what’s behind the thinking there.”

“I dont want the church hall and the church closed down. We have an op shop there that’ll be affected and the church also caters to the stockyard.

“So it means we’re not helping the community. Kaikohe is a community that needs help.”

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Christchurch’s Anglican Diocese has avoided censure for incorrectly using funds from an insurance payout to help pay for the transitional cathedral.

A High Court judgment released on Wednesday said it was sufficient for the Church Property Trustees (CPT), which holds property on various trusts for the diocese, to repay the $4 million it used from the quake-damaged Christ Church Cathedral insurance payout to construct the new building near Latimer Square.

The CPT repaid the money with funds diverted from a trust account after an interim High Court judgment in 2012 said the $39m payout for the Christ Church Cathedral could only be utilised for work on the existing structure or its successor in the Square.

The Great Christchurch Buildings Trust ”“ a pressure group led by former MPs Jim Anderton and Philip Burdon ”“ took legal action, believing the CPT should be penalised for its breach.

Justice Rachel Dunningham, who heard the respective arguments at a hearing in Christchurch in April, said the CPT would not be held liable.

The CPT was not at fault for under-insuring Christ Church Cathedral because it had based its policy on an estimate that did not reflect the value of the property

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Christchurch’s Anglican Diocese has avoided censure for incorrectly using funds from an insurance payout to help pay for the transitional cathedral.

A High Court judgment released on Wednesday said it was sufficient for the Church Property Trustees (CPT), which holds property on various trusts for the diocese, to repay the $4 million it used from the quake-damaged Christ Church Cathedral insurance payout to construct the new building near Latimer Square.

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The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, visited one of Tonga’s smallest islands this morning where he prayed and took action to prevent erosion.

On a mission to promote awareness of climate change and to protect the environment, he preached at an Oceanic Eucharist on Pangaimotu Island led by Archbishop Winston Halapua and attended by priests of the Anglican Church of Tonga, members of the local Anglican community and the St Andrew’s High School brass band and students.

On the exposed side of the island where the sea is rapidly eroding the land and trees have died, Archbishop Sentamu and his wife Margaret planted mangrove seedlings. They were assisted by the Acting Prime Minister, Hon Siaosi Sovaleni.

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Heritage advocates are furious approval has been given to demolish one of the last remaining buildings in Christchurch designed by renowned early 20th century architect Cecil Wood.

The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) has granted a request for a section 38 demolition notice on the historic Bishop’s Residence, known as Bishopscourt, within the Bishopspark Retirement Village in Park Tce, opposite Hagley Park.

The authority has declined a request for a demolition order on the neighbouring chapel though.

Bishopscourt was designed by Wood and built in 1926 as the residence of the city’s Anglican bishop. It is owned by Anglican Care – an arm of the Anglican Diocese of Christchurch. It has the highest heritage rating possible in New Zealand with both a Heritage New Zealand category one and a Christchurch City Council group one classification.

“It’s a masterpiece of 1920s colonial Georgian style domestic architecture. It is considered to be Wood’s most important work of domestic architecture and is thought by many to be one of New Zealand’s finest colonial Georgian style domestic designs,” Historic Places Canterbury (HPC) deputy chairman Ross Gray said.

It was shocking and disappointing that Cera had given the demolition order as it was not a dangerous building nor was it holding up the timely and expeditious recovery of the city.

Read it all and there is a video report here

The Anglican Diocese of Auckland plans to sell two Mid North churches, in response to what it says are declining congregations and rising costs, but some at least are not prepared to let them go quietly.

A deputation, none of whom wished to be identified, representing St Catherine’s at Okaihau and St Stephen the Martyr’s in Kaikohe, told the Northland Age last week that they would fight the decision, and hoped that the two communities would rise up in their defence.

A report from Assistant Bishop of Auckland the Rt Rev Jim White, based on a draft that he said had been circulated to the Waimate North community earlier in the year, was accepted and approved by the Diocesan Council on May 28.
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Critics of that decision, which they said was based purely on a highly offensive business model, pointed to the history behind the two churches, particularly St Catherine’s, the fact that they had been built for and by their communities, that they continued to be maintained by the communities at no cost to the diocese, and the distasteful realities of selling them, complete with their graveyards, for some other purpose or development.

St Catherine’s was completed in 1875. It was built, for the use of all denominations, on land gifted by Captain Henry Burleigh, using totara he also donated, that was pit-sawn by local settlers. It was erected by one Robert Neilson.

The church and its graveyard had been maintained and cared for by Okaihau families ever since.

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The Anglican Diocese of Auckland plans to sell two Mid North churches, in response to what it says are declining congregations and rising costs, but some at least are not prepared to let them go quietly.

A deputation, none of whom wished to be identified, representing St Catherine’s at Okaihau and St Stephen the Martyr’s in Kaikohe, told the Northland Age last week that they would fight the decision, and hoped that the two communities would rise up in their defence.

A report from Assistant Bishop of Auckland the Rt Rev Jim White, based on a draft that he said had been circulated to the Waimate North community earlier in the year, was accepted and approved by the Diocesan Council on May 28.

Read it all.

‘…Bishop Matthews wrote she had informed the chairman of the commission Bruce Gray QC and Archbishop Philip Richardson “I am aware that this matter in the Diocese of Christchurch is causing a high level of angst on all sides. I decided I would be unable to minister effectively in this Diocese and also have membership on the Way Forward Working Group as time progressed. My resignation was a matter of maintaining my integrity and is in no way a judgment on the work that the Way Forward Working Group is attempting to achieve for the next General Synod.”

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The Ravet family have lived in New Zealand for 11 years, but the parents’ work permits have expired, and they face being sent back to Chile.
They had first sought refuge at a Catholic Church in Burnside.
But Bishop John Gray of the Anglican Church said he could offer them a home within his church’s grounds and he was prepared to fight the Government over the issue.

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“Marsden was probably born in 1765 and grew up in the Yorkshire area of England….

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A bishop’s crozier, or pastoral staff, discovered in a cupboard in New Zealand is being returned to Maori by the Anglican Church.

The carved crozier was presented to the then Anglican Bishop of Auckland, Bishop Averill, in 1914 by four northern Maori tribes.

It marked 100 years since Samuel Marsden and other Anglican missionaries set up a permanent European settlement with Maori in the Bay of Islands and it is now being returned 200 years later.

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A call to reflect, pray and take action on child poverty, from the bishops of the Anglican Church.

In a new booklet, they’re asking Anglicans to keep up the focus on child poverty, even with the election done and dusted.

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A call by the world’s most senior Anglican bishop for Christchurch to stop clinging to the past has been criticised by those fighting to save the city’s earthquake-damaged cathedral.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby made the comments during a visit to Auckland last week, saying the city should not “be boring” and should look to England’s Coventry Cathedral as something to aspire to.

Coventry Cathedral had incorporated the ruins of the city’s old cathedrals when they were destroyed by time and war.

Great Christchurch Buildings Trust member and retired reverend Graeme Brady said he was always moved by the old ruins, but the rest of the cathedral had dated very quickly.

It was a shame Coventry’s authorities had “completely wiped out” all of the city’s old buildings and replaced them with a “concrete mess”.

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The congregation of a Hamilton church divided by a denominational debate on the proposed blessings of same sex relationships spent yesterday’s services in separate buildings praying for one another.

Around 100 members of West Hamilton Anglican Parish left the Rifle Range Road church last week under the Rev Michael Hewat and his wife Kimberley Hewat’s leadership. The departure came following months of discussion of a controversial motion passed in May by the General Synod of the Anglican Church in New Zealand and Polynesia.

The motion aimed to establish a working group to recommended a process and structure which included a “yet-to-be-developed liturgy for blessing right ordered same-gender relationships”.

The Hewats, supported by 95 per cent of the congregation who attended a special meeting this month, opposed the motion on the grounds that it was contrary to the teachings of the Bible.

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The church’s perceived obsession with homosexuality has seen an Anglican pastor break camp and lead his flock into the religious wilderness and find a new home in the city.

Reverend Michael Hewat, the vicar of West Hamilton Anglican Parish on Rifle Range Rd, was the second high profile Anglican leader to leave the Anglican Church in opposition to Motion 30 – a national declaration by the governing body to bless same sex relationships.

He said homosexuality had dominated the church’s agenda for two decades and “it amounts to an obsession”, he said in a letter to Waikato Times.

His refusal to submit to General Synod on the motion passed in May that aimed to recognise same-sex relationships meant a forfeiture his licence to practice as an Anglican pastor.

In May, former Auckland pastor Charlie Hughes walked away with his congregation and Hewat said more would come.
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A special general meeting was held earlier in the month where he received 94 per cent support from parishioners and a further postal vote brought that figure to greater than 95 per cent.

“It’s a family breakup and even though its only 5 per cent it still hurts,” he said.

There were about 250 members on the parish roll but children were too young to vote and some older members were unable to make it to the meeting.

A handful of churchgoers were expected to show up at the church next Sunday but the rest – more than 100 who voted and their families – were looking for new place to call home in Hamilton’s western suburbs. “We’re not pushing it too far and we’re not going to some promised land but we believe that our ministries will continue and that’s what is important.”

Motion 30 was an “unmitigated disaster” and illegal as it contravened the Church of England Empowering Act, he said.

Read it all and the story of the first departure is here and the Synod decision here and here

Auckland’s best-known Anglican Church is shutting its doors for three months after Sunday morning’s service so it can undergo a facelift.

The Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell has hosted the funerals of Sir Edmund Hillary, Sir Paul Homes and Sir Paul Reeves.

More than 100,000 people attend the church each year.

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A group of Anglicans in a small Canterbury community are vowing to take the battle for Christ Church Cathedral to the court of public opinion after a judge lifted a stay on a planned demolition of the 110-year-old building.

Justice Graham Panckhurst released findings on Friday lifting the stay on demolition of the cathedral.

However a small group of Anglicans say the fight is not over.

Akaroa resident Mike Norris organised a group of parishioners to meet and discuss what the decision meant for their battle to restore the cathedral.

“This is the beginning of the next stage of the campaign,” he said. “We have gone through the courts, which has not advanced our cause, now it is time to go through the court of public opinion.”

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The High Court has permitted the deconstruction of the earthquake-damaged Christchurch Cathedral, but the Anglican Church says it won’t happen any time soon.

Justice Graham Panckhurst yesterday lifted a stay against the Anglican Church taking the iconic stone building down before it had committed to building a new cathedral.

It wants to reduce it to a height of two to three metres and build another cathedral in Cathedral Square, but that was fought by the Great Christchurch Buildings Trust.

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An Anglican pastor has quit the church and is taking his congregation with him after the governing body moved ahead with plans to bless same-sex relationships.

Charlie Hughes, the former vicar of St Michael’s in Henderson, says he cannot reconcile the decision of the church to recognise same sex relationships with his ordination vows.

He said the vows were a pledge to uphold the constitution of the Anglican Church. The constitution states it is “not lawful to ordain anything contrary to God’s word written”.

“It’s not because we have a problem with people who are in a same sex relationship but because of the commitment we have to shaping our lives around the teachings of the Bible,” Mr Hughes said.
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Mr Hughes said he knew of other churches in which rifts had formed.

“There is a large body of Anglican clergy who are convinced this is the wrong way to go.”

There was also a group of lawyers ”” including two QCs ”” who were working on a legal challenge to the church’s move.

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