On Saturday March 29th something very special is happening at St Paul’s Cathedral. Dr Anne van Gend is being ordained as the new Bishop of Dunedin. This is a huge event which will be live-streamed around the world and attended by Bishops (and Archbishops) from all three tikanga of the Anglican church. There will be 100s of people there, including our Head Girl, Deputy Head Girl, Sacristans, as well as Board Chairs, Mrs Barron, and myself.

It is always an exciting as well as historic event when there is a new Bishop. There are traditions that go back centuries, such as the “knocking on the doors” where the Bishop uses their crozier to bang on the Cathedral doors three times; these are then opened as a signal to the city that we have a new Bishop! The Bishop also get to sit a “throne” called a cathedra, the special chair which is reserved for the Bishop – this is why a cathedral has its name!

The very first Bishop of Dunedin was Bishop Nevill in the 1890s. He was the one who had the idea of starting up a school for young women (for “daughters of Anglican gentlemen”) and called Sisters Geraldine and Etheleen to come over from London to start St Hilda’s, which they did in 1896.

The second Bishop of Dunedin, Isaac Richards, played first-class cricket for Auckland in the 1890s before coming down here to be the Bishop. He was also the chaplain at St Hilda’s for 38 years! His two sons attended St Hilda’s but were later killed at Gallipoli (hence our stained-glass window in chapel of St George which was given by the Richards family in their memory).

The two Bishops I have worked with have been Dr Kelvin Wright who was succeeded by Dr Steven Benford. Bishop Steven would often come to chapel or meetings with his lovely dog Marley which was always a treat. He retired last year and we had a lovely farewell for him and his wife Lorraine (and for Marley!), hence the call for a new Bishop.

The first Anglican woman in the world to be elected and ordained as a Bishop was Penny Jamieson and that happened right here in Dunedin in 1990! It has not been an easy journey over the last 2000 years of church history for women who felt called to church ministry (a serious understatement), and even in the 1990s this was still very difficult for many. In the 1990s, the Church of England in the UK was still debating whether or not women could be priests. In 1994, when 34 women were ordained in Bristol Cathedral by the male Bishops who supported them, Father Francis Brown said, “This is the one of the most tragic days in the history of Christianity.” Reverend Anthony Kennedy said the “bloody bitches” should be “burned at the stake like medieval witches,” while a layman, the rather aptly named Mr Hugh Pratt said, “The church had as much right to ordain women as it did dogs.”

However, this Sunday, thirty years later, Dr Anne van Gend will be celebrated as Dunedin’s second female Bishop. Bishop Penny has even given Anne her own special pectoral cross to wear which will be presented by one of the first woman in New Zealand to be ordained as a priest, Rev Claire Brown. So that will be a lovely connection between some amazing women who have been – and still are – trailblazers and inspirational for us all. I am looking forward to the celebration and to inviting her to St Hilda’s next term (although she has come here to take Eucharist services and other events over the last few years anyway!), but this time in her new capacity as Bishop!

Dr Gillian Townsley

Chaplain