“He’s young,” says Bishop John, “he’s enthusiastic, and he’s a highly respected parish priest. Not only does he have my full confidence, he has the trust and confidence of his colleagues. I am very pleased.”
Ross Bay was born and raised in Papatoetoe, and went to Papatoetoe High School before starting his working life at the Bank of New Zealand. After his theological training, he served a stint as an assistant priest at the Cathedral from 1990 to 1992, under Dean John Rymer.
That experience gave him a glimpse of the role the Cathedral can play as the mother church to Anglicans in this city, and to Anglicans in the wider Auckland diocese.
Fifteen years later, Ross sees that task as more important than ever.
“There’s an increasing trend,” he says, “towards ”˜congregationalism’ in the Anglican Church ”“ that is, for individual parishes to do their own thing without a sense of being part of something much bigger. The Cathedral can really draw the Church together, and be the heart of the diocese.”
Where is he theologically? Many moons ago I worshipped in the Christchurch Cathedral, but don’t know much about the theology prevalent in the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. I will say that St. Andrews Sydney left a much more lasting positive impression than did Christchurch.
Theologically he is where you would expect given he replaces Richard Randerson — the Dean who described himself as an atheist — the story was on Titusonenine some time ago
http://titusonenine.classicalanglican.net/?p=17178
He thinks folk want to hear — not based on any principle beyond providing apparent theological support for whatever people want to believe. We discussed last night at our house group his ramblings about genetic testing and abortion which can be found here:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10457364
To the best of our ability all we could discern was that he is a mixed up kid!
Margaret G, good grief, I hate to see this…
Interesting isn’t it, the diocese is the center of the universe. The dean is correct in, that as far as most Anglicans are concerned the local church is the center. Whether this is congregationalism, or not is another matter.
regards,
Jon r
I think cathedrals can be a focus, but that they can also suck the life out of the surrounding localities and the little churches that are serving a need, yet struggling to survive. Plus, they appeal to all sorts of silly, snobbish, authoritarian sentiments which are a hangover from the long gone days when Anglicanism really did rule the roost. The latter is very much the case in the diocese of Durham UK, where I live.
# 5: I would agree with all this, but if a cathedral is designated a parish it could have a different focus. I know clergy in England with little patience for cathedrals because they consider them tourist traps with paid choirs and well paid canons (would-be dons manque) without the normal pastoral responsibilities of parish clergy, and often nothing in the way of youth work. One clerical friend of mine in England (a professor of theology and associate parish minister) was very scathing about them.
From your comments, I doubt you would be sympathetic to the Diocese of Sydney, but it is significant that St Andrew’s Cathedral is running several different styles of services on a Sunday: formal with choir; family; youth; Asian outreach. I think its attendance and outreach have grown by diversifying and targeting specific groups.