Prayers urged for new New Zealand Bishop

THE NEW ZEALAND House of Bishops has asked for prayers as they begin the process of electing a new archbishop to succeed Dr David Moxon, who steps down in April to become the director of the Anglican Centre in Rome.

Under New Zealand’s tripartite ecclesial structure, the Church is divided into racial or cultural groups: Pacific Islander, Maori and Europeans/others. Dr Moxon’s successor will become the head of the Tikanga Pakeha, the diocesan structure for the country’s European and Asian immigrant population.

Eight bishops from the New Zealand dioceses will meet on 18 March in Wellington to nominate from amongst themselves a senior bishop, who will become the new archbishop. On 23 March an InterDiocesan Conference will be convened in Wellington with one clergy, lay and episcopal representative from each diocese to confirm the election.

In an email released after their meeting in Dunedin last month, the bishops wrote: “The Senior Bishop’s role is an important one. As part of the shared primacy s/he will be a focus of unity for the whole church. S/he, along with the other archbishops, will represent our church to the world wide Anglican communion and represent the communion to us.

“S/he will be one of the major instruments whereby our church is represented to the government and to our country. S/he will lead Tikanga Pakeha as it continues to refine and establish its role within our three tikanga church.

The bishops asked the church to “pray for wisdom and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in making this important decision” as “this decision will have a great influence on the immediate direction of Tikanga Pakeha.”