Refreshing lives, transforming faith, at the heart of the community Haere Mai, Piki Mai
Please Note:This web site makes extensive use of CSS for styling .
If you can read this message, it is probably because your browser does not properly support CSS or you have disabled this yourself.
Although the content looks better with with CSS 'turned on', this site is perfectly readable either way.
One oddity you may notice (with CSS turned off) is the display of text that is intended for PRINTERS ONLY
LAST MONTH I had the privilege of attending the annual Australian Deans’ Conference which was held in Perth, Western Australia. Most of the deans of the Australia cathedrals were there and as previously, it was a joy to be with them. I was accompanied by Dean Jan Joustra of St Peter’s Cathedral, Hamilton.
The Deans were privileged to meet the Governor of Western Australia, His Excellency Dr Ken Michael and his wife Julie.
The group as they assembled at Government House.
Our host Dean John Shepherd and his wife Joy certainly looked after us very well. The keynote speaker was Dean Nick Bury who speaking about his very historical location gave us real insights into traditional cathedral ministry in England. We also had presentations from different people involved in the ministry at St George’s Perth. We were also treated to an organ concert given by the Director of Music, Joseph Nolan.
It is important to get to know something of the community in which the cathedral is set. This time we were privileged to make a visit to the vivacious Lord Mayor of Perth, the Right Honourable Lisa Scaffidi whose warm welcome was matched by her commitment to Perth and its development. We also spent time with the Governor of Western Australia , His Excellency Dr Ken Michael and his wife Julie. (Please see the photograph of that visit).
It was a long way to go but was it worth it? Most definitely, yes. I returned home reassured that cathedral ministry in Australia, England and New Zealand is not just alive and well, but thriving. More and more people are turning to their local cathedral for traditional and relevant worship, excellent teaching and worthwhile pastoral care. Yes, each cathedral has its own challenges, not least the maintenance of these larger places of worship. In New Zealand terms, they must be seen as taonga, gifts, which we must cherish and develop and create ministries which meet the needs of people of all ages who come for worship.
SEPTEMBER is the month we begin to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Diocese of Nelson and the City of Nelson. This is a diocese wide opportunity to reach out to the communities in which we are set that they may know something of the love of Christ. Naturally the cathedral will be central to the festivities and we look forward to welcoming friends and guests here at this special time. I hope that every member of our diverse cathedral family will share this opportunity to welcome people into the spiritual heart of the diocese.
May God bless you all.
The Very Reverend Charles Tyrrell QSO
Dean
On the first weekend in September, Nelson Third Order Franciscans, parishioners from the Cathedral and from around the Diocese will join together for a retreat at Bridge Valley led by Rev’d Dr Raymond Pelly. We draw aside to make time to come closer to God and to listen to what God may be saying to us as individuals and as members of his body, the church.
I have attended quite a few retreats since I became a Franciscan; each one has its own flavour. Sometimes the main experience has been one of joy and peace; this was especially true when my children were very young. We step out of our normal routines, lay down our burdens and become still in the silence. Silence is one thing that can be shared by everyone, but of course our minds are not silent! We pray, we wrestle with issues and hopefully wrestle with scripture and what it means for us today and we worship. As the Spirit instructs us: “Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10
Something that I have come to realise is that being busy for God can mean that we can be so busy that there’s no time to listen to God. We have to conscientiously make time for God. For those of us with full diaries we need to set aside minutes each day, a few hours each month and one or two days each year. For those of us who have more time at our disposal we must still ensure that we are focused on God, purposeful in giving God our best. Even Jesus took time out each night to pray, especially after the pressures of meeting people’s needs. Jesus taught his disciples that they too should withdraw to lonely places for silence and prayer; he took Peter, James and John up a high mountain, it was there that they saw the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1 – 8) and of course just before his final trials he withdrew to the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36 – 46).
By the time you read this, our retreat will probably be over but I would encourage each one of us to purposefully set aside quiet time for God on a regular basis because this has a tremendous impact on the quality of our life both now for eternity.
The first Saturday morning in July the meditation group set out for a day of meditation and fellowship at Marahau.
The morning reminded me of the phrase from a song:- “Winters magic wonderland.”
The snow was down low on the hills all around us as we travelled to our place of retreat.
After a warming cup of tea and turning on the heaters we settled down for our first session of meditation, a shared time of silence as we came close to God.
After our time of meditation, with the sun now shining, we put on all our layers of clothing and went for a walk along the beach front to explore our surroundings on this cold winters day. How different from my last visit in January!
The shared lunch of all sorts of warm winter food, including a mug of hot soup, set us up for the afternoon session of meditation, reading and of course afternoon tea.
A meditation group exemplifies the conviction that the “full experience of Christ within” is a call made to each and every one of us.
During this day together we got to know each other a little bit more and came a little closer to God.
A meditation group exemplifies the conviction that the “full experience of Christ within” is a call made to each and every one of us.
As the booklet prepared for the World Community for Christian Meditation states, “What is needed to answer this call is not special gifts, nor the mastery of difficult theologies or techniques. All that is needed is acquaintance with a simple practical discipline that can lead us from the head to the heart, from thought to stillness, from noise to silence and from communication to communion.”
A meditation group is a spiritual cell. A group of twenty is not necessarily better or stronger than a group of three, numbers are quite unimportant.
Meeting in a group promotes a spiritual bond between members and a mutual support between those who have set out on a common journey.
The mediation group meets at 7pm each Tuesday evening in the Cathedral chapel.
with apologies to A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka - well worth reading
At the end of Burns Street in Mataura where I lived as a child, was a rather scruffy farm run by Mr McG. All the kids at our end of the street used it as their playground, and Mr McG didn’t seem to mind. He had a derelict old tractor and he taught us how to drive it - a “no, no” these days - many of us were 8, 9 and 10. Amazingly, no one was hurt.
My next tractor belonged to a well organised farmer, Mr McV. This was not a scruffy farm. His children and I were school friends and I sometimes did odd jobs for him. His tractor was modern and grunty and very high off the ground - a much more serious vehicle, and I was only allowed in the driver’s seat under the strictest supervision.
Several years later, in my late teens, I worked for farmer McK on a hill country station at the back of Wyndham. This was very serious tractor driving - crawler tractors, several of them - hours and hours of ploughing hillsides - but a real sense of achievement at the end of the day.
I have been reminded of these long-forgotten skills as I have watched the Normanby Bridge being rebuilt - tractors, cranes, bulldozers, with men of great skill manipulating them ; and I think to myself, “That might have been me if I had stuck to tractors”. But then I think maybe driving a tractor is not hugely different to driving a church. Both need skills accumulated over a long time. For example, how to start the machine, and what kind of fuel, and which of the many cavities to put it in; and once seated at the controls, you begin the really tricky bit, negotiating rocky outcrops, slippery slopes, and discovering at the last minute that a bit of the terrain that was there yesterday has slipped away overnight (gone to Jerusalem?)
At this stage in the life of the Anglican church, I think we are very fortunate to have an excellent tractor driver in the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Not everybody likes the way he does his ploughing, but that is part of belonging to the Anglican church with its huge variety of furrows. On the whole, he does keep the Anglican church on track and moving forward, and has excellent maintenance skills, especially when various bits fall off.
I met him as a fellow conference member at a Pastoral Conference in London in the early eighties. At that time he was a lecturer in theology at Cambridge. I was impressed then, as I am now, with his rich spirituality, encyclopaedic knowledge, and how approachable he is, and lots of other things like managing to be inclusive, thought-provoking and challenging. He wasn’t driving the current tractor back then, but he certainly looked as if he could.
Remember the Archbishop of Canterbury in your prayers.
The third national Hospital Chaplaincy Week to raise the profile of, and funding for, Hospital Chaplaincy in NZ takes place in September.
Ron Malpass, the National Executive Officer for the Interchurch Council for Hospital Chaplaincy (ICHC) says
“The work of providing spiritual care and support in hospitals is wide-ranging. From celebrating new life to visiting wards bringing hope and offering prayer; being there with those facing serious illness, major surgery or being at the bedside of the dying; to comforting families is a job with 24 hour a day, 7 day a week demands
on chaplains.”
The Hospital Chaplains now have a new 5 year contract to provide Chaplaincy Services in the main hospitals of the 21 District Health Boards. with increased Government’s funding. Half the funding for the chaplaincy service still has to be raised by the Churches and communities,
Hospital Chaplaincy Week in Nelson will begin with an ecumenical service of thanksgiving, to be held at the Hospital Chapel, Nelson, at 5pm on Sunday 21 September.
All are invited to come and join in this occasion.
TV ONE's Sunday morning hymn programme is planning another special programme
from Nelson as part of the 2008 Sesquicentennial.
An invitation is extended to anyone wishing to join a congregation in a televised recording
of hymns and worship songs under the music direction of Bishop Richard Ellena.
Recording
Date :
Wednesday 17 September 2008
Time :
7.00pm to 10.00pm
Venue :
Christ Church Cathedral
Nelson
Rehearsals
1st :
Mon 8 Sept 7.30pm - 9.30 pm
2nd :
Wed 10 Sept 7.30pm - 9.30pm
3rd :
Mon 15 Sept 7.30pm - 9.30 pm
Every effort should be made to attend all rehearsals and a full attendance is essential for the final rehearsal on Monday 15 September
Hymn booklets will be supplied for the rehearsals and recording
Dr Edric Baker a doctor working in a very poor part of Bangladesh, is currently on leave in New Zealand Dr Baker, who lives a very self-sacrificing life-style, based on his Christian faith is providing the only professional medical care in the area. We are fortunate to have him visit again, and be with us over morning tea following the Friends of the Cathedral Anniversary communion service on Wednesday 17 September at 10am in the Chapel.
Dr Baker has built up two clinics, staffed with local paramedics whom he has trained to a very high standard, on the principle of the poor helping the poor.
He is now fully involved at one of these clinics, the Kailakuri Health Care Project. Funding is becoming difficult with rises in food prices, travel costs, medicine costs and surgical transfer costs.
Bangladesh does not have the free hospital care that we enjoy in New Zealand. Most of the funding for these clinics comes from private donations from the USA and New Zealand. Edric says donors are extremely generous but planning ahead is difficult too. Budgeting is based on trust and prayer that giving will continue to cover the increasing costs and numbers of patients.
While the many TB and Diabetes patients do get some government funding for others low fees are charged. It is difficult however to turn away the many poor patients with no money.
The Friends of the Cathedral have long supported Dr Baker’s work and are running an Emergency Appeal to continue this project. If you cannot come to this meeting, please consider making a donation to this work.
Donations [cheques to Dr Baker’s Emergency Appeal] can made be at the Cathedral or posted to PO Box 657, Nelson.
Could either of these be your tree on display in the Cathedral?
Festival of Christmas Trees
potential publicity from taking part in our festival
Parishioners,
Has it occurred to all the business people amongst you the potential publicity from taking part in our festival?
You have only to equate the number of people who pass through the Cathedral with the cost - for the tree, which you may use again and again + $10 to cover electricity.
And that doesn′t include the fun factor of thinking up a suitable theme to represent your line of business.
Gold painted dentures, if you′re a dentist?
Please
contact
the Cathedral Office
or Sally Astridge (545 2244) should you want further information.
The choir has recently had new members join to help improve the numbers and we are very grateful for this.
There is a possibility of a new member who is moving up from Christchurch next month.
We would still like new members however and if you know of any 8—13 year olds who are interested please ring Raewyn in the office. With sickness and family situations over the last few weeks the choir have had to work very hard.
A brand new display area is being created in the Cathedral for our 150th.
You’ll be able to see important items from the early days of our Diocese including the communion set given to Hobhouse by his Oxford parishioners
and the ring he received from Bishop Samuel (Soapy) Wilberforce, son of the anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce.
You’ll also be able to see the Letters Patent signed by Queen Victoria establishing our Diocese and the city of Nelson.
The displays include a piece of commemorative art glass commissioned from Flame Daisy, a new banner for the 150th which will be hanging
in the ‘north’ transept’ and a young person’s art display with contributions from around our region
The Diocese and city celebrate the signing of the Royal Charter and related scenes, and a Birthday Party with street entertainment food stalls and music .
A special Commemoration Service will follow in the Cathedral
From midday onwards there will be an hourly programme with choral music, recordings, prayers and a children′s story will be read. On display inside the cathedral will be historic artifacts, maps, prayers from around the Diocese, artwork from the children of the Nelson Region including the 9 winning entries. Souvenirs and Devonshire teas, supplied by the Association of Anglican Women, can be purchased in the Quiet room.
Come and enjoy our celebration, experience the beauty of the Cathedral building, listen to Adrienne Frater′s Children′s story especially written to commemorate our 150th Anniversary and enjoy Guided Walking tours in the restful cathedral grounds. There′s something for everyone!
Hourly Programme
0:00
Bells rung
0:05
Walking tour leaves
0:05
Reading of the Royal Decree
0:10
Choral Music
0:15
Prayers led by Cathedral Clergy
0:20
Organ Music
0:30
Story Time in the Chapel
0:45
Choral / organ music
0:55
Message from Bishop Richard
Background for the 150th Anniversary of the Anglican Diocese of Nelson and the City of Nelson.
The Young Queen Victoria
by Franz Xavier Winterhalter (1806-1873)
Nelson officially became a city in 1858, not because it had reached a magic number in its population, but because the city was established as a see, or seat, for an Anglican bishop. Queen Victoria issued Letters Patent, or a royal decree, allowing the creation of a cathedral in the city. Once a town had a cathedral, or at least permission for one, it could enjoy the status of a city. In fact, the right to constitute a Cathedral in Nelson was not exercised for 29 years when the Church on the Hill, opened in 1851, was enlarged and consecrated in 1887.
The city by 1858 only had a population of 5000. It looked more like a rural village, with many sections still farmed. Half a world away the royal decree was written with these key words included:
‘And we do further, by these our Letters Patent, order and constitute the Town of Nelson, to be a Bishop’s See and the seat of the said Bishop,
and do ordain that the said Town of Nelson shall be a City.’
The Nelson Anglican diocese and the city of Nelson are therefore this year celebrating 150 years of existence. The centennial celebrations held by the city in 1958 opened with an exhibition on missionary work. It was the provincial push from Nelson to get its own bishop, just as Christchurch had done and Wellington was in the process of doing, that led to Queen Victoria issuing her royal decree.
Bishop Selwyn
Bishop George Selwyn, who had opened the Church on the Hill in 1851 on an acre site bought from the New Zealand Company, was, by the late 1850s, keen to subdivide his huge diocese, (which included New Zealand and Melanesia) into manageable units. He travelled to England and lobbied for the idea.
However, his suggestion that Wellington and Nelson should be united in one diocese met loud protests at a public meeting in Nelson. Even he appreciated that the latter would have seen very little of their Wellington-based bishop. Nelson was able to become a diocese because it was endowed with £10,000 from the England-based Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and therefore had the financial means to support a bishop (by 1895 the endowment paid £375 of the bishop’s £500 annual stipend).
Other endowments were £5,000 from the New Zealand Company, which founded the Nelson settlement and a sum from the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
Bishop Hobhouse
Nelson’s first bishop was tall, good-looking, athletic, Eton and Oxford educated and well-off. He later bequeathed his Bishopdale property, which he had fancied as a site for the city’s cathedral, to the Diocese. It was Hobhouse’s friendship with Selwyn that saw his name put forward to be Bishop of Nelson. He had served as Vicar of Saint Peter’s in East Oxford, England for 15 years. He married Mary Broderick on New Year’s Day, 1858 and was consecrated in the Lambeth parish church (London) later that year, aged 41. The sermon was delivered by the Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce, son of anti-slavery crusader William Wilberforce. The current Bishop of Oxford, the Right Reverend John Pritchard, has been invited to preach in Nelson in April 2009.
The Hobhouses set out on the long voyage to New Zealand in December 1858, travelling via Malta, Suez, and Colombo. Mary, homesick and craving for ‘a little frost’ to make her feel at home, as their ship exited the warm climes of the Red Sea, wrote: ‘On the 1st of January we could write no letters for it was the first of two days of headwind which implies much more than I had any idea of. Most of the passengers .......disappeared or were laid prostrate, and yesterday there could be no service, from the impossibility of clergy or congregation keeping their legs.’
View of Nelson Haven in Tasman's Gulf
November 1841
by Charles Heaphy (1820 - 1881)
Bishop Hobhouse left Mary in Sydney to seek dental care and arrived in Nelson on February 18th 1859 to start househunting. When she eventually reached Nelson in March she found the accommodation less than pleasing but admired the beauty of the bay ‘but as everything is valued with reference to good grazing she does not find the settlers of Nelson proud of their picturesque advantages.’
In the middle of April the Bishop returned from attending General Synod in Wellington to be re-united with his wife. Ten days later, on April 28th, Thursday in Easter week, he was installed in Christ Church on the Hill. The Bishop’s Chair, made of intricately carved black birch, was presented by some women in the congregation. The next day, as if setting a pattern for his tireless pastoral visits, a feature of his bishopric, Bishop Hobhouse set out for Motueka on horseback, where he met a large number of Maori who were delighted to have their own bishop. They tried hard to pronounce the name ‘Hobhouse’ but confessed ‘Truly the name is a hidden name’ and gave up the attempt.
Edmund Hobhouse would only be Bishop of Nelson in full measure until 1864 when he announced his resignation due to ill-health. He then administered the Diocese for a two further years as far as health permitted before he returned to England. His wife Mary had died in October 1864, two days after giving birth to a still-born child. Her grave in the Brightwater cemetery is an enduring memorial to the generous and energetic leadership the Hobhouses provided in the establishment phase of the Diocese of Nelson.
Taiaha recalls Bishop Hobhouse’s support for Maori communities
Bishop Hobhouse put in considerable effort into building up the Maori Christian communities of Tasman Bay and Golden Bay. He appointed the Rev C L Tudor as Priest with responsibility for developing the Maori Churches, and made considerable effort to set up a Maori Industrial Training School at Whakarewa in Motueka. On his leaving Nelson he was presented with a fine taiaha which came back to New Zealand many years later and which Archdeacon Harvey Whakaruru has restored for display during the cathedral 150th celebrations. Bishop Richard will be using the taiaha at appropriate occasions
Bishop Edmund Hobhouse, soon after his arrival in April 1859, set out to assist Maori communities. In particular he spent time and funding to build up the Whakarewa Home and Industrial School at Motueka. He gave the Rev C Tudor the task of supporting Maori activities and worship including the use of te reo Maori. For some time the Rev Tudor had a room in the Hobhouse home in Nelson. It was to be a full century before tikanga Maori became recognised as an equal strand of the Anglican Church in New Zealand.
In 1853 land at Whakarewa near Motueka, which had been a Maori reserve, was transferred to the Anglican Church for educational purposes. The school shown here was built on the land. This was just one example of considerable land alienation in the region. However when the Nelson diocese of the church began to sell the land in the mid-1980s, local Maori leaders objected. Harvey Ruru, an Anglican priest with ancestral connections to the land, occupied the place and was arrested. Some years later the diocese returned the land to the original owners.
Thanks to the generous donations from many parishioners over the years the windows of our cathedral are a splendid recording of the scriptures through the stained glass and coloured glass windows. Many craftsmen have worked on these over the years and added to the rich heritage of our building.
Stained glass, and the generally less expensive coloured glass, have been used over the years.
Over the years styles have also changed and therefore it is easy to see throughout the cathedral the changes in styles as the years have passed. This has given us a very precious collection of windows.
Windows of these sorts were originally placed in churches to tell the stories of scripture for the congregations who were largely illiterate in the earlier times of the church. We must be grateful that we have these lovely works of art.
These are two other precious features of our cathedral which are regularly used in the worship throughout the week. The bells call us to worship for the services and the organ is a very powerful instrument which leads the singing and often completes services of worship with and offering by which worshippers can sit, listen and meditate. Along with the choir these all become and important part of our offering of worship and praise. Again it is thanks to the generosity of our forefathers that we have these features .
Your opportunity to be a Cathedral Welcomer for this 150th celebration
Piki Mai Haeremai- Christ Church Cathedral welcomes all Nelsonians to celebrate the 150th joint celebration of our city and our cathedral.
From Saturday 27th September through to Sunday 12th October the cathedral will be set up with a range of valuable displays. We need volunteer welcomers to greet our many visitors and to maintain security from 9am to 6pm daily .
We would like volunteers from our sister churches and from community organisations who would like to help in this important task
A special commemorative leaflet of the cathedral’s 150 years will available to give to visitors
In the summer months our cathedral receives over 2000 visitors a month – we will be welcoming many, many more than for this special celebration.
This is our opportunity for a community outreach to a wide range of people of our region and from beyond our shores.
What is involved?
As a welcomer you have opportunities to talk about features which interest those who you meet – or to hear their stories or their responses
to the many and varied items of interest in our fine building.
You do not have to be an expert on diocesan or cathedral history – friendly greeting goes a very long way!
There will be opportunities for you to join a brief training and orientation session.
Dear friends,
On the first weekend in September, Nelson Third Order Franciscans, parishioners from the Cathedral and from around the Diocese will join together for a retreat at Bridge Valley led by Rev’d Dr Raymond Pelly. We draw aside to make time to come closer to God and to listen to what God may be saying to us as individuals and as members of his body, the church.
The first Saturday morning in July the meditation group set out for a day of meditation and fellowship at Marahau.
At the end of Burns Street in Mataura where I lived as a child, was a rather scruffy farm run by Mr McG. All the kids at our end of the street used it as their playground, and Mr McG didn’t seem to mind. He had a derelict old tractor and he taught us how to drive it - a “no, no” these days - many of us were 8, 9 and 10. Amazingly, no one was hurt.
Speaker on Diabetes
The third national Hospital Chaplaincy Week to raise the profile of, and funding for, Hospital Chaplaincy in NZ takes place in September.
From midday onwards there will be an hourly programme with choral music, recordings, prayers and a children′s story will be read. On display inside the cathedral will be historic artifacts, maps, prayers from around the Diocese, artwork from the children of the Nelson Region including the 9 winning entries. Souvenirs and Devonshire teas, supplied by the Association of Anglican Women, can be purchased in the Quiet room.
