Bishop retires at testing time for faith

Bishop John Paterson and wife Marion are saluted with a haka by Dilworth School students. Photo / Sarah Ivey

For a secular land, it seems a busy time for faith.

There is the arrival of Richard Dawkins, the world's most famous atheist; Brian Tamaki's Destiny Church has been assailed for weeks - but so far his empire remains intact; and the Anglican Church in Auckland is busy too, preparing for a new man at the top.

Bishop John Paterson has led the church for 15 years. At 65 he is retiring. "The time is right," he says. Younger clergy needed someone closer to their age and understanding. Ross Bay, Paterson's successor, is 20 years younger.

For a man in an influential post, Paterson has a low profile. Especially for a churchman who has been at the centre of convulsions which have shaken the global Anglican community. He chaired the Anglican Consultative Committee - the church's world parliament - for six years.

During his time the church in Canada backed same sex unions and American Gene Robinson became the first openly gay bishop. His nomination divided the 77 million member Anglican Communion - Robinson wore a bulletproof vest at his consecration - and divisions it created over scriptural authority remain. Paterson says: "We have not been immune from the stresses and strains which have rocked every major Christian body. For some people the inclusion of gay and lesbian people in ordained leadership roles is very difficult."

Paterson suggests many on the conservative side held to the views of St Paul, the apostle who condemned "unnatural" relations and "indecent acts" between members of the same sex.

Liberals, however, felt it important that the church was inclusive and loving and accepting towards all.

Asked where he lined up, Paterson replied that he came down on the inclusive side: "I tend to look to what Jesus said rather than what Paul might have said ... love one another."

Paterson spent his early years in the church in the Bay of Islands. He had a powerful weapon: he spoke Maori. He had learned te reo at the University of Auckland, when a foreign language was part of a bachelor's degree. The bishop at the time told him to study New Testament Greek, but Paterson persevered. He never regretted his decision: "I've met a lot more people fluent in Maori than there are in New Testament Greek."

A big part of Paterson's four decades in church work was immersed in the Maori world. He says he treasures the experience. "Personally speaking, I am naturally an introvert. Maori taught me you can never be anonymous in a crowd or with people. They helped me to be a priest."

When he went north, there were six full-time Maori priests in the church. Now there are hundreds. Maori - with Pakeha and Pasifika - is one of three strands which now make up the church in New Zealand.

Paterson feels the emphasis on autonomy has come at a cost, with the church elements "apart more than we are together".

But Paterson also feels New Zealand has been enriched by the relationship between Maori and his church, saying it was no coincidence that Maori Party president Professor Whatarangi Winiata also was an architect of the Anglican constitution.

"I happen to believe that the emergence of the Maori Party has made a very positive contribution to New Zealand - not just Maori."

Paterson is putting away his vestments at a time when religion is making waves. One of those stirring the pot is the high priest of atheism Richard Dawkins. The British scientist and author of The God Delusion is in New Zealand this weekend.

The bishop is not bothered: "The kind of debate that Dawkins introduces is not something the church should be worried about. Anglicans have never been afraid of ideas. We are not committed to such a narrow set of beliefs which would cause us to be upset by Dawkins raising questions about the existence of God."

The church, he added, had been around a long time. The "Dawkins' of this world" would come and go.

Destiny Church has been another religious issue generating headlines.

Asked his views on Destiny head Brian Tamaki, Paterson replied that little was served by Christian churches "knocking one another".

But he also remarked: "Brian has made it difficult for some other church leaders with the emphasis on support for himself. I am quite certain he has done a great deal of good and changed people's lives.

"We do that too. But we don't point it towards a personality and leaders of the mainstream churches don't consider they're managing a business which they profit from personally.

"I don't want to knock Brian but we couldn't operate in the way he does."

Throughout Paterson's career, fewer and fewer New Zealanders have answered Sunday morning bells. The bishop says Christian churches have been in the business for 2000 years, known hard times, and survived.

He relates how once moribund St Paul's Church in Auckland's Symonds St - the oldest in Auckland, dating from 1841 - had gone from just 12 worshippers a few years ago to hundreds on some Sundays.

Kiwis returning from OE in Britain are largely behind its new lease of spiritual life. "From 12 to 800 in the space of five years. That suggests the trends can be turned around."