Cathedral dean resigns
The Dean of Taranaki’s Anglican Cathedral has resigned after only a month in the post.
The Very Reverend Ross Falconer was appointed as Dean of the Taranaki Cathedral of St Mary in April, and had planned to hold the role until the end of the year while the Anglican Church looked for a permanent dean.
However, Archbishop Phillip Richardson announced yesterday that Falconer was resigning.
‘‘When Ross came to see me to say that he intended to resign he was very clear that after a month of looking closely at the needs of cathedral life he had come to the view that the skill set required was different from what he could offer, and felt it best to say that sooner rather than later,’’ Richardson said in an email.
‘‘Ross is hugely experienced and I trust his judgment.’’
This resignation has come within weeks of the Anglican Church’s controversial announcement that bishops could now bless same-sex relationships.
However, Richardson said he had no reason to think Falconer’s decision had any link.
Falconer had been vicar of Opunake, Katikati, Stratford and Hillcrest before taking on the cathedral role, and also served an extended period as chaplain in the Defence Forces.
He replaced Very Reverend
Peter Beck, who had been the dean of the cathedral for two years.
Falconer’s replacement will be Vicar General of the Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki, the Venerable Trevor Harrison.
Harrison is currently working in South Taranaki across five parishes and will take over the role as dean of the cathedral on June 1.
A media release said Harrison has been Archdeacon of Waitotara for seven years and for the past two years has also been Archdeacon of the northern Taranaki Archdeaconry of Parininihi.
Harrison has served on the Diocesan Standing Committee for a number of years.
Prior to coming back to South Taranaki, where he had previously served as Vicar of Pa¯ tea, he was for 14 years Vicar of St Augustine’s Parish in Napier and before that spent eight years as the vicar of West Karori in the Diocese of Wellington, where he also served as a Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral.
Harrison is a long-serving police chaplain and fire service officer.