The commissioning of the Archbishop of The New Zealand Dioceses 

 

From Friday 17th to the 26th May, we are on the road on a Taranaki Pilgrimage.

 

You can read our blog from each stop by clicking here...

 

 

The Taranaki bishopric extends all the way from Ngamatapouri to Uruti. The cathedral is here as a Mother Church and friend to each place of Anglican Ministry (including places like Tainui Rest Home and St Mary’s Diocesan School) around the mountain. This has become still more real in a gentle way, this year -- as we have started focussing our daily Evening Prayer on the needs of each ministry unit, day by day. But I find when I’m praying, it helps so much to be able to picture the place and the people in your mind.

Andrew Moffat - curator Social History at Puke Ariki - has recently written a very fine book - a collection of tales and treasures of Taranaki. Armed with a tent, a map, and several changes of clothing - Andrew and I (accompanied by any who would like to share this experience) are making a pilgrimage of the Taranaki Ministry Units - to meet people in their own communities -- the cathedral ‘going out’. Andrew will share a story of local interest from his book; I will offer a time of theological reflection and prayer. Food will be shared -- and then we will journey on. Thirty seven parishes in nine days. At the end of which, we will be better able to envisage the church-hall floors, from the vantage point of a sleeping bag (or the churchyard where the tent is the place for the night’s stopover).... but most of all, the community - the people - and will have begun a conversation, “In Christ” on the home-ground.

Andrew’s reflections in preparation :-
Puke Ariki’s heritage collection is full of treasure. It contains tales of triumph, folly, inventiveness and heartbreak and items of rare quality and beauty. It is an impressive, growing resource but what really brings it alive is when people connect with it. The collection serves the whole of Taranaki, and when Jamie invited me to join him to hit the road to meet people face to face on their own home turf, I jumped at it.

Using stories from Flashback: Tales and Treasures of Taranaki as a springboard, I want help share the fun and the laughter, the tears and the heartbreak of our past and help people look beyond clichés. I’m looking forward to opening up conversations about stories from people’s own back yards, and perhaps sparking some fresh bouts of yarn spinning and reminiscing in homes, schools, churches and pubs, where ‘real’ stories are told.

It will be great to share a little of what Puke Ariki has to offer and to be reminded of how much I have to learn about Taranaki’s rich history, and the characters who made it all happen.