THE FOUNDING OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN TARANAKI

This was Bishop Selwyn's favourite verse, and he records in his Journal of October 30, 1842, that the words came to mind when he viewed Mt. Egmont for the first time.

The Bishop had arrived in New Plymouth on October 28, after having travelled the 250 miles from Wellington on foot. The journey took 18 days. He was met by Mr. Wicksteed, Resident Agent for the New Zealand Com­pany and lodged at the house of Captain Cooke.

The house, built of raupo, was situated on the bank of the Henui stream, at the East end of Courtenay Street. The Bishop describes the scene thus:

"At the foot of the grounds ran one of those clear and rapid streams which abound throughout Taranaki, and all around, the fresh foliage of a New Zealand spring, tipping all the evergreens with a bright and sparkling verdure, formed a base on which the white peak of the mountain reposed."

On October 31, Bishop Selwyn, with the Chief Justice, Mr. Martin, walked over the greater part of the town, and selected sites for churches. 

Bishop Selwyn established an Anglican presence in Taranaki in October 1842, obtaining a Crown grant for the land on which the Pro-Cathedral now stands.

Selwyn’s hope was to establish a Diocese of Taranaki with its own Bishop.

Archdeacon Govett and Parishioners hoped to establish the Diocese in 1870, but the unsettled nature of the times prevented this.

On November 3, they sailed for the South in the Government brig "Vic­toria."

This was the first visit by the Bishop to New Plymouth. He considered it one of his duties to visit every settlement in the Colony. His walking has been described as of "free and elastic gait". Such an athletic style must have been a great advantage as he strode along the rough bush tracks and forded the streams in the course of his expeditions.

His second visit was made in November 1843. He had walked and canoed from Thames to New Plymouth, a distance of 550 miles. He had been delayed by floods in the upper Wanganui River, and came near to starvation. But he reached New Plymouth in time to wel­come Rev. Mr. Bolland and install him as Deacon in charge of the New Plymouth area.

When Bishop Selwyn was appointed Bishop of New Zealand, Melanesia was includ­ed in the diocese. This extension of boundaries was due to a clerical error at the colonial office in London and added enormously to the diffi­culties and problems to be faced in the admini­stration of such a large area.

The Bishop divided the North Island of New Zealand into three dioceses — Auckland (which included Taranaki), Waiapu and Wel­lington. These areas were later subdivided into archdeaconries.

In 1913 Archdeacon Cole established a fund seeking to endow a Bishop, to which, in 1922, were added other Trust funds begun by Govett.

The Diocese of Waikato, including the Central and Northern parishes in Taranaki, was established by separation from the Diocese of Auckland in 1926, and income from the Taranaki Bishopric fund was directed to Waikato by the General Synod. The Southern Parishes of Taranaki remained within the Diocese of Wellington.

Exploration towards placing a Bishop in a unified Taranaki was begun in the 1980s by Archbishop Brian Davis and Bishop Roger Herft, but it was not until Archbishop Brian Davis, Bishop Brian Carrell and Bishop David Moxon created a Taranaki Commission in 1996, that the unification of Taranaki became possible.

Approval from Parishes and the Waikato and Wellington Dioceses came on 31 May 1997; General Synod in 1998 approved the boundary changes and the creation of a Bishop in Taranaki within the Waikato Diocese.

An Electoral College held on 12-14 February 1999 nominated the first Bishop in Taranaki, the Reverend Canon Philip Richardson, to be licensed to the Diocesan Bishop of Waikato and to function as Vicar General of the Diocese. The Bishops and General Synod approved the nomination a month later.

From the outset the Bishop of Waikato, the Right Reverend David Moxon and the Bishop in Taranaki, the Right Reverend Philip Richardson, sought to work as two co-equal partners in the Diocese. As a result of the benefits of this way of sharing, both for the Bishops and the Diocese as a whole, the Diocese of Waikato brought a motion to the 2008 General Synod seeking the creating of two Bishoprics within the same diocese: a Bishop of Waikato and a Bishop of Taranaki. The wording is as follows:

“Be it known unto you by these Presents that the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, did, on the fifteenth day of May in the year of our Lord two thousand and eight did during the Fifty Eighth Session of the General Synod Te Hinota Whanui held in the Diocese of Wellington, following the passing of the Shared Diocesan Episcopacy Confirmation Bill 2008, in the presence of the bishops, clergy and faithful laity there assembled, recognise the two Bishoprics within the Diocese of Waikato.

One shall be known as the Bishopric of Waikato, and shall comprise the Archdeaconries of Piako, Waikato and Waitomo, and shall be based at the Cathedral Church of St Peter in Hamilton.

The other shall be known as the Bishopric of Taranaki and shall comprise the Archdeaconries of Parininihi and Waitotara and be based at the Cathedral Church of St Mary in New Plymouth.

It is noted that the new legislation recognises that each Bishop shall have Episcopal jurisdiction within their Bishopric and be Vicar-General to the other Bishop.”

Before, during and after this period, Diocesan structures evolved to reflect a “catamaran” structure of two hulls with one bridge and sail.  Each Bishop licenses clergy and lay ministers within their own jurisdiction, each Bishop is Vicar-General to the other, both Bishops chair the Standing Committee of Synod, the Board of Nomination, the Examining Chaplains, the Schools Board and the Episcopal Ministry Group.  The synergies and opportunities of this two-in-one arrangement have resulted in much creativity and energy for local mission while also benefiting from a wider network of resources and people.

The Bishopric of Taranaki realises, to a significant extent, the original 1842 vision Bishop Selwyn had for an Episcopal unit in this Province, but now in partnership with other Anglicans across a third of the North Island.

Legislation will be brought by the Diocese to the General Synod of 2010 to change the name of the Diocese to “The Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki” to reflect the above developments. The liturgy today celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of the Ordination of the First Bishop in Taranaki also celebrates the development of the two Bishoprics within the development of the Diocese as a whole.

This ecclesial and missional model of two Bishoprics in one diocese has not been provided for anywhere else in the Anglican Communion to date. The Diocese of Waikato has found it to be a life giving partnership opportunity that recognises regional integrity within a greater whole, for the good of all concerned.