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The Anglican Archbishops of New Zealand have denied charges that the church’s “call to action” for increased government spending on the poor is an election year ploy to bolster the sagging fortunes of the Labour Party.

On April 4, Archbishops David Moxon and Brown Turei said the New Zealand Herald’s claims of political favoritism were unfair. Their aims had been to “challenge all policy being shaped in an election year,” urging both the National and Labour parties to provide “real jobs; a health system that people can trust; affordable housing; affordable and accessible education, and, the addressing of poverty.”

Archbishop Moxon and the leaders of the Baptist, Roman Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches and the Salvation Army released a statement on March 31 saying voters in this year’s general elections must know “the commitment of individual politicians to just and compassionate policies” to make an informed choice at the ballot.

In a statement entitled “Towards a More Just and Compassionate Society” the church leaders said that “many members of our society are still suffering from the effects of economic policies that were put in place by successive Governments in previous decades and that lacked a sufficiently strong social conscience.”

“Any neglect of our responsibilities to our families and communities puts both our personal and societal wellbeing at risk,” they said, urging an increase in welfare assistance payments for New Zealand’s poor.

The timing and motives behind the announcement were suspect, the New Zealand Herald editorialized, noting the Church leaders had been silent on poverty “since the last National Government was in office.” In 1991 the National party government cut welfare rates over sharp church protests over its effect on the poor. Successive governments, National and Labour, have not increased the payment rates, save for adjustments for inflation.

“The church leaders surely have not been waiting nine years for the Labour-led Governments to heed” their advice, the Herald said. “Their return to the fray at this stage can be taken only as an attempt to keep Labour in power and, should that fail, to prepare for a renewed campaign against a National government.”

The Archbishops responded it was the duty of the church to issues of social inequality. “Outside the state, the churches are the biggest providers of social services in this country. This field is our daily reality.”

“Challenging political policy and wanting to influence the shaping of policy with Christian values in these areas is crucial. It always has been and always will be,” they said.

Published in The Church of England Newspaper’s Religious Intelligence section.

The asylum appeal of an Iranian convert to Christianity has been rejected by the New Zealand government.

Lawyers for Ali Reza Panah told Radio New Zealand on April 1, the Immigration Service had turned down Panah’s appeal and would begin deportation proceedings.

Panah has been held in administrative custody for 20 months for refusing to sign papers that could lead to his expulsion and had staged a 52 day hunger strike before being paroled into the custody of the Anglican Church of New Zealand. He has won the backing of Archbishop David Moxon who pleaded for the government to exercise clemency on his behalf.

Returning Panah to Iran “would be unsafe for him,” Archbishop Moxon and the head of the church’s social justice commission said last fall, and they were “gravely concerned” for his safety should he be sent home, as “the number of people executed by the Iranian State each year is thought to be second only to China.”

The government argued Panah was in no danger of harm if he were deported home to Iran. On Sept 3 Mr. Cunliffe stated “there’s been no reported case of a deportee being killed or severely persecuted on return to Iran.”

However, legislation brought by the government of President Mahmoud Amadinejad before the Iranian Majlis in February seeks to impose the death penalty for apostates from Islam. The Washington think tank, the Institute on Religion and Public Policy reported on Feb 5 the proposed “Bill for Islamic Penal” law will be the first time that Iran has by statute mandated the death penalty for conversion from Islam.

A spectrum of theological belief and social concerns at work within the Anglican Communion were on display in Holy Week and Easter sermons and pastoral letters this past week.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori went Green for Easter asking American Episcopalians to consider the cost of their affluence. “We cannot love our neighbors unless we care for the creation that supports all our earthly lives,” she said and could not respect “the dignity of our fellow creatures if our sewage or garbage fouls their living space.”

“When atmospheric warming, due in part to the methane output of the millions of cows we raise each year to produce hamburger, begins to slowly drown the island homes of our neighbors in the South Pacific, are we truly sharing good news?” the presiding bishop wrote in an Easter message to the church.

New Zealand’s archbishops called Christians to see Easter as the celebration of love over death. Easter was the unique event in world history where the “final suffering of the Son of God reveal how deep God’s empathy is for the world, and how far divine love will go to redeem the pain and sin of the world. Evil manifested in so many forms - political, religious, psychological, and spiritual - poured itself out completely in this event.”

“And the Easter miracle is this - these murderous forces exhausted themselves without finally exhausting the faith, hope, and love of God,” Archbishops Brown Turei, David Moxon and Jabez Bryce wrote. “The resurrection,” they said “is the place in human history where evil, injustice, and prejudice are transfigured into justice, goodness, and enlightenment.”

The Dean of Perth urged Anglicans to rid themselves of outmoded notions of Easter. “The Resurrection of Jesus ought not to be seen in physical terms, but as a new spiritual reality,” the Very Rev. John Shepherd said, noting it was “important for Christians to be set free from the idea that the Resurrection was an extraordinary physical event which restored to life Jesus’ original earthly body.”

The resurrection was a spiritual event for the disciples and not “historical records as we understand them. They are symbolic images of the breaking through of the resurrection spirit into human lives,” Dean Shepherd said.

The Archbishop of Sydney used his Easter message to warn Christians against false teaching and the occult. The popular fascination with ghosts reprented “the longing of the human heart for an existence beyond the grave,” Dr. Peter Jensen said.

Yet Christians believed death was not the end. “When you trust in Jesus Christ, you are trusting the one person who can take you through the greatest calamity of life and bring you safe to the other side. Christians don’t try to contact their dead because we know that they are with Jesus and we will join them as whole people - in fact those who belong to Jesus will be transformed people,” Dr. Jensen said as it “shows you that new beginnings are possible.”

The president of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA), Archbishop Ian Ernest of the Indian Ocean, wrote he hoped the Paschal season “will instill in us an urge to seek transformation and thus empower us to work towards the making up of a society based on gospel values.”

“By his precious death and glorious resurrection, Jesus has reconciled the world to his Father. It is therefore imperative for CAPA to emerge as a reconciling body in Christ,” he said, and “facilitate conversations and dialogue in the midst of conflicts” that continue to plague Africa.

An American and a Canadian have been appointed bishops in the Anglican Church of New Zealand. On March 16, the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia confirmed that the former Bishop of Edmonton (Canada), the Rt. Rev. Victoria Matthews had been elected Bishop of Christchurch, and that the Dean of Dunedin, the Very Rev. David Rice, was elected Bishop of Waiapu.

Currently bishop-in-residence at Wycliffe College, Toronto, Bishop Matthews (54) served as Bishop of Edmonton from 1997 to 2007, and came second in the race for Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada at its General Synod last June.

The Primate of the church in New Zealand, Archbishop Brown Turei said he looked forward to welcoming Bishop Matthews into the church of these islands. “I’m sure that, with all her experience, she will make a good contribution to our life and witness.”

News of Bishop Matthews’ proposed appointment was leaked midway through the election process. In New Zealand, bishops are elected by a diocesan synod. The bishop-elect’s name is then sent to the House of Bishops for confirmation, and then to the General Synod for confirmation. Only after all three bodies have endorsed the choice, is the name announced.

The New Zealand Church dismissed assertions that Bishop Matthews would be a
“controversial” choice. “Despite media speculation, Bishop Matthews is careful and moderate on controversial issues such as the blessing of same-sex relationships. Indeed, she is known internationally for her theological orthodoxy and her resolve to maintain unity,” the statement announcing her election said.

“Speaking personally, I think a number of things stand in the way of blessing same-gender marriages or unions,” Bishop Matthews said in the New Zealand statement.

The church needs to decide whether gay marriage is a “faithful development of the Christian doctrine of marriage,” while also reconciling clashes between diverging “personal and corporate conscience.”

“By taking the time to do the theology thoroughly and well, we will ease the acceptance of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. To be impatient is to risk even further hate and violence against those we have ignored for too long,” she explained.

Born and educated in the United States, Bishop-elect David Rice emigrated to New Zealand ten years ago and was received into the Anglican Church after serving seven years in the Methodist Church in America. The Dean of Dunedin for the past six years, Bishop-elect Rice stated he was pleased to become bishop “of a moderate to liberal diocese. If anybody looks at my track record, they’ll see that’s a very good fit.”

Canadian bishop Victoria Matthews has been tipped to be the next Bishop of Christchurch in New Zealand.

On Feb 17 the diocesan electoral synod selected Bishop Matthews, who served as Bishop of Edmonton for ten years until last year and presently is “bishop in residence” at Wycliffe College, Toronto.

The New Zealand Herald described Bishop Matthews as a “controversial Canadian woman” who “had signaled support for blessing gay marriages, but was not expected to break with tradition.” It said her appointment “may be vetoed at the final stage, when it is put to the general synod” as her views on gay marriage might cause the conservative diocese of Polynesia to block her election.

Under New Zealand canon law, the successful candidate’s name is passed to the House of Bishops for ratification, and then to the General Synod for confirmation. Sources in the New Zealand church tell The Church of England Newspaper Bishop Matthews has been endorsed by the House of Bishops and her name will now be passed to the Synod for confirmation.

An official announcement is expected around mid-March. The new bishop’s installation date is set for June 14.

Bishop Matthews has twice stood for election as Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada and came a close second in the June 2007 election that saw Archbishop Fred Hiltz take the top spot. Last week the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams also appointed Bishop Matthews, whose reputation is that of a moderate conservative to the Windsor Continuation Group—the next commission chartered by Dr. Williams to ease the Anglican Communion through its difficulties over homosexuality.

The former Edmonton bishop—Canada’s first female diocesan bishop—was the swing vote in the House of Bishops on the June Synod’s most contentious issues. Bishop Matthews voted with the majority that held same-sex blessings were a moral good, but also voted with the majority that refused to permit their use in the Canadian church.

The Guardian broke the story of Bishop Matthews’ election on Feb 22, reporting that she had bested the Dean of Southwark, the Very Rev. Colin Slee for the post. The Church in New Zealand has declined comment, stating the election process is still unfolding.

On Feb 15, The Press of New Zealand reported that six candidates had been nominated for the post, a “British clergyman and one from Canada were also contenders.”

Church spokesman Lloyd Ashton told Canada’s Anglican Journal, “What has happened is there has been a leak to a U.K. newspaper and it is quite regrettable that confidentiality has been breached.”

The three part confirmation process is “not a rubber stamp,” he noted and bishops selected by the diocesan synod have not been confirmed by the Church. In 1985 Canon Paul Oestreicher was elected Bishop of Wellington by the diocese, but his election was vetoed by the House of Bishops.

Canon Oestreicher observed his “being a Quaker gave them an excuse to veto the election. It was my [pacifist] politics they didn’t like.”

Pro-life groups in New Zealand have castigated the Anglican Church for not taking a stand against abortion.

Right to Life New Zealand wrote to the New Zealand bishops on Sept 15 asking them to speak out against abortion. In December 1977 New Zealand passed the Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion Act permitting abortion. In the 30 years since the Act was passed, over 350,000 abortions have been performed in New Zealand.

Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.

The former Primate of the church in New Zealand, Archbishop Whakahuihui Vercoe died on Sept 12. He was 79.

The Anglican Church of Aotaroa, New Zealand and Polynesia’s first Maori bishop and archbishop, Archbishop Vercoe was elected Bishop of Aotearoa, the diocese for Maori Anglicans in New Zealand in 1981 and served as the church’s primate from 2004-2006.

Archbishop Vercoe was born at Torere, Opotiki, in 1928 and was educated at Canterbury University and College House Theological College. Ordained in 1952, he served his curacy in Feilding and as vicar of congregations in Wairapapa, Manawatu and Wellington before joining the army as a chaplain in 1961, where he saw overseas service in Malaya and South Vietnam.

A staunch opponent of women priests and of the gay movement within the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Vercoe helped craft the primates’ communiqué at Dromantine in 2005.

Ali Panah: Photo courtesy Anglican Church of NZ

An Iranian asylum seeker has been discharged from state custody into the care of the Anglican Church of New Zealand, following a 52 day hunger strike.

Immigration Minister David Cunliffe announced the government had given Ali Panah, a convert to Christianity, his parole from Auckland Central Remand Prison on Sept 3 due to his “parlous” physical state, but stated he could be deported at any time.

On Sept 2, Archbishop David Moxon of New Zealand, and the head of the church’s social justice commission, the Rev. Anthony Dancer visited Panah in prison. They stated that although “some in authority” had questioned whether “Ali Panah is a bona fide Christian”, they were convinced of the truth his faith.

“Ali has been obedient to Christ’s command” and had been a witness to the faith, they said. “His former boss, his workmates, his Vicar and his fellow parishioners testify that he has sought to share his faith whenever possible.”

Returning Panah to Iran “would be unsafe for him,” they said, and they were “gravely concerned” for his safety should he be sent home, as “the number of people executed by the Iranian State each year is thought to be second only to China.”

However the government argued Panah was in no danger of harm if he were deported home to Iran. On Sept 3 Mr. Cunliffe stated “there’s been no reported case of a deportee being killed or severely persecuted on return to Iran.”

“Mr. Panah is still subject to a removal order and could be removed at any time, if and when that becomes possible,” he said.

Panah has been held in administrative custody for 20 months for refusing to sign papers that could lead to his deportation from New Zealand to Iran. He has won the backing of the Anglican Church of New Zealand, which has pleaded for the government to exercise clemency on his behalf.

The Iranian asylum seeker had exhausted his legal avenues of appeal, the government minister said. One review panel found Panah’s claims “implausible and inconsistent” while a second said his evidence had been “fabricated and found him not to be credible”.

Mr. Cunliffe said the Church was not in possession of the “full facts” of and urged it to review the matter more closely.

NEW ZEALAND’S Anglican Archbishops have issued an appeal for clemency for a failed asylum seeker who risks deportation to Iran.

On Aug 17 Archbishops David Moxon and Brown Turei called upon the government to grant Ali Panah refugee status. A convert to Christianity from Islam, Panah faces grave risks if returned to Tehran, the Archbishops said.

Panah has been held by the New Zealand government in administrative detention for 18 months, and began a hunger strike over 40 days ago to protest about his pending deportation.

“As things stand, we fear Mr. Panah will, in the near future, either die at home in Iran - or die here in New Zealand,” the Archbishops wrote. “We ask the Minister for Immigration to give him life.”

The Anglican Church leaders affirmed the government’s duty to regulate immigration but said its first priority should be to do “justice. And to deliver justice also requires the exercise of mercy.”

“There is a need for the Government and its officials to take more seriously the concerns about the ongoing persecution of Christians in Iran,” and to grant clemency to Ali Panah.

Immigration Minister David Cunliffe last Monday said the hunger strike had had the benefit of the ‘full rights of the law in respect of his refugee claim and appeal,’ but declined to state whether he was considering granting him a temporary visa.

The populist New Zealand First party’s immigration spokesperson Peter Brown on Aug 17 urged the government not to grant Panah asylum.

Some asylum seekers were trying to “rort the system” by converting to Christianity, he said. “While some may have genuinely found Christianity, it appears somewhat convenient that others have converted to Christianity during the refugee claims and appeal process.

“If this is the case then such stunts are not acceptable and demean genuine refugees,” said

Mr Brown. However, Panah’s vicar, the Rev Clive Sperring, said he had “no doubt whatsoever that his faith is genuine.”

Newly elected ACC vice-chairman George Khoshy of the Church of South India and ACC chairman Bishop John Paterson of the Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. Photo taken on Oct 6, 2002 at ACC-12 in Hong Kong. This was first published in The Church of England Newspaper.

THE ANGLICAN and Roman Catholic bishops of New Zealand have released a National Statement on Religious Diversity calling for a tolerant pluralism among the country’s religious groups. The bishops’ call came during the third Asia-Pacific Regional Interfaith Dialogue, which was held last month in Waitanga, New Zealand. The government-sponsored conference drew political and religious leaders from 15 Asia-Pacific nations to New Zealand for talks aimed at promoting peace, regional security and religious tolerance. New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark (pictured) told the gathering, which included Philippine President Gloria Arroyo and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, that the dialogue was initiated in the wake of the Bali terror bombings to promote understanding between Islamic and Western countries.

Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper

The Rt Rev John C. Paterson, Bishop of Auckland, New Zealand and Chairman of the Anglican Consultative Council. Photo taken on 6.20.05 at ACC-13 in Nottingham, England. First published in The Living Church.