Dear Friends,

Last week we held a farewell morning tea for Ms Cherie Dirkze, our Diocesan Safeguarding Officer. Cherie has contributed significantly to our Diocesan life in her work on safeguarding matters both concerning ministry safe practice and health and safety. Cherie’s work will now focus on a role she holds in the Parish of Shirley. Various strands of development in safe ministry practice and training through the past few years mean that later this year we will be advertising for a revised Safeguarding officer role - a role I hope can be full-time.

It was a privilege to be present for the commemorations of the Mosque shootings in 2019 at Al Noor Mosque last Friday evening. Many people spoken briefly, sharing their experiences of the shootings and of the loss of loved ones. An impressive array of politicians from most political parties were present, including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Leader of the Opposition Chris Hipkins. The outstanding theme from the evening is that compassion towards one another is vital as our continuing response to the terrible violence of 15 March 2019.

It was a joy to be at St Aidans Church, Mt Somers on Sunday morning, supporting the clergy of that parish, the Reverends Annette and Harvey Eggleston. Late Sunday afternoon, Teresa and I were at the Transitional Cathedral with a full congregation for a special Evensong sung in honour of the late Brian Law, previous Director of Music at the Cathedral (among other musical roles in the city).

Yesterday staff in the Anglican Centre were delighted to host Bishop Michael Gielen and staff from the Catholic Diocesan office for our annual Hot Cross Bun afternoon tea. Some church traditions are very enjoyable!

Next week is Holy Week and as is customary, on Tuesday, clergy will be present at Chrism Eucharists (11am, St Christopher's Avonhead; 5.30pm St Peter's Temuka) for the renewal of their ordination vows and for the blessing of oils for anointing. Later that week, as services for Maundy Thursday are taking place, youth groups from around the Diocese will be beginning Easter Camp at Spencer Park.

Since 1995 SOMA NZ has sent Kiwi servant teams to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit in Dioceses overseas. This work continues, coordinated nationally by the Reverend Andrew Allan-Johns. Andrew is working on new teams heading to Africa in a couple of months’ time and is keen to hear from any clergy or lay ministers interested in these opportunities. SOMA’s website is soma-nz.weebly.com and Andrew can be contacted directly at andrewallanjohns@gmail.com or 027 5600 599.

This week I am in Auckland for a meeting of our church's House of Bishops, meeting with our students at St John's College and then for a special session of the Tikanga Pakeha Conference.

Please pray for the Tikanga Pakeha Conference as we meet again to consider the matter of our new senior bishop – i.e. the person who will be senior bishop of the New Zealand Dioceses and participate in the shared primacy of our church as one of our three Archbishops. Our Diocesan representatives, apart from myself, are the Reverends Toby Behan, Lucy Flatt, Kofe Havea and our lay representatives, Byron Behm, Vivienne Jackson, Jessica McLeod, and Sue Robb. Note that any confirmed nomination for the role of senior bishop will be circulated to General Synod members for their confirmation so it may be after Easter that an announcement is made about our new Archbishop.

Responses to our Anglican Campaign to raise funds for our Cathedral are building up. Thank you. Your contributions and pledges are much appreciated.

Last week I mentioned the possibility of study groups or workshops on the Treaty of Waitangi. Common Grace has started developing some short video resources and discussion questions for small groups over the coming months. They will provide video content for two 90-minute sessions featuring respected Christian voices talking about the text of Te Tiriti, the context of its signing including our own Anglican connection to that story. There will also be questions to help open a conversation about what this might mean for us today. Please contact jolyon@anglicanadvocacy.org.nz for more details or to register your interest.

Diocesan Conference 26 October 2024: If you have not already put the date for our Diocesan Conference – open to all laity and all clergy – in your diaries, please do so now. This day long event will take place in Christchurch. Our lead guest speaker is Bishop Ellie Sanderson (Bishop of Hull, Diocese of York, England, formerly Assistant Bishop of Wellington). More details to come when, e.g. venue and other speaker(s) are confirmed.

The Gospel for this Sunday 24 March 2024, Palm Sunday is Mark 11:1-11 or John 12:12-16 for the "Liturgy of the Palms" and Mark 14:1-15:47 or Mark 15:1-39 for the "Liturgy of the Passion". Our journey with Jesus to the cross, through Lent in 2024, is reaching its climax. Everyone is either excited about or fearful of Jesus arriving in Jerusalem. Human plans and machinations are afoot. But God's will for the salvation of us all is the plan we should attend to as we read the gospel readings.

Arohanui,

+Peter.