The newly-elected Bishop of Polynesia, the Rt Rev Dr Winston Halapua, has been announced at the meeting of General Synod in Gisborne.
Bishop Winston was nominated recently by the electoral college of the Diocese of Polynesia, and the confirmation process involves all the bishops of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia and then all other General Synod members.
Bishop Winston becomes one of the three archbishops in this three-tikanga (cultural streams) church. Bishop Winston has been lecturing at the Auckland University School of Theology since 1996, and is Principal of the College of the Diocese of Polynesia at St John’s College. He will be based in Suva, Fiji, where he lived for many years.
Please keep Bishop Winston, his diocese, and General Synod in your prayers.
More information here and here.
Photo from Taonga.
As one of the three Archbishops of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and the Pacific, perhaps one day +Winston will serve as primate and his voice will be heard at Primates Meeting? This one is a Doctor of Sociology. A dangerous lot they are. Especially in the Church, doubly so as a bishop. I so liked this chapter that he wrote;
Moana Waves: Oceania and Homosexuality
David, our province has three primates. When Bishop Winston formally becomes Bishop of Polynesia he automatically becomes a primate.
But as far as the Anglican Communion goes, the ACANZ&P is not sending three primates to the Primates Meeting. Of late the only church to do that has been the Church of England. How does you determine your church’s primus inter pares?
David, I’m fascinated the CofE has been sending two to the Primates Meeting. That being the case, I see no reason why ACANZ&P cannot send three, can you? We’ve only had three primates for a couple of years. I don’t know the answer to your question – or even if there is one.
I am working from memory, but I did do a search, not finding anything to back up what I remember. The AB of York was in Alexandria, Egypt last year at the Primates Meeting. The ABC said that he had invited the ABY to represent the interests of the CoE, as the ABC had become more involved in representing the whole AC. (More evidence of the inflated image this man has of his position?) The only person I recall objecting to the ABY’s presence was the AB of Nigeria, Akinola. I do not recall the ABY being at the previous PM in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Currently the AC’s official website lists the Primate of the ACANZ&P as AB Turei.
David, it would be fascinating to have some confirmation of your point about the Church of England sending two primates to the Primates Meeting. Taking it a “layer down”, I understand the TEC model of primacy, primus inter pares, the Presiding Bishop actually is not a bishop of a diocese? So not totally first amongst equals. Our church explored that option, but has currently rejected it.
I have pointed out more than once that our church’s communications could be improved. The Waikato/Taranaki website, of which David Moxon is a bishop, does not even list him as a primate, but as a co-presiding bishop. We in fact do not have co-presiding bishops, so he is not that. We went from a single primate/archbishop, John Paterson was primate/presiding bishop/ but not archbishop. Then primate with three co-presiding archbishops and I think a senior bishop for a tikanga, 2006 General Synod changed to three primates, which went round all the episcopal units and was ratified at General Synod 2008 (I think it then “sits on the table for a year for anyone to object”). So yes, our provincial website and wikipedia (which anyone can update) notwithstanding, the current arrangement of the deckcathedras is that we have three primates. I don’t know if they will all three be welcome at the Primates Meeting, but I know David Moxon was present at 2009.
The primate of the Anglican Church of Canada also does not serve a diocese. So in the case of TEC and the ACoC perhaps Primus inter pares means first in faculty, but not jurisdiction. In the larger churches the primacy is a full time job without administering a diocese as well. Even the ABC does not actually run the day to day business of Canterbury, he has a suffragan who does that. From his website;
The Archbishop of Canterbury is supported in his diocesan ministry by two supplementary (so-called ‘suffragan’) bishops: the Bishop of Dover (who acts as the archbishop’s delegate for the day to day running of diocesan affairs) and the Bishop of Maidstone.
I have found evidence that +York was at the Primates Meeting of 2007 in Tanzania;
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/communion/primates/history/2007/index.cfm
It was this at meeting that Akinola objected to his presence.
And I have photographic evidence that he was at last year’s meeting in Alexandria, that is him with the gap between his front teeth;
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/communion/primates/2009/photos/gallery/7/raw/005.jpg
The thing about Primates Meetings is that it is the same as the Lambeth Conference, by invitation only. So if the ABC does not invite all three of your ABs, then all three would not be welcome.
The Church of Ireland also has two provinces with two metropolitan archbishop primates; the Primate of All Ireland (Armagh) and the Primate of Ireland (Dublin). But only Armagh is considered the primate as far as the AC is concerned and only he has been invited to the Primates Meetings so far.
Yes, +York was recently in Christchurch. On your photo that’s David Moxon on +York’s left (our right) – so even though ++David is not on any of the lists, he actually is a primate.