Becomes one of three Archbishops of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
We are grateful to Philip Culbertson for sending this report:
Bishop Winston Halapua, until recently the bishop charged with oversight of the Pasifika congregations in New Zealand, was announced yesterday at the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia as having been elected the Archbishop of Polynesia. Bishop Halapua replaces the Rt. Rev. Jabez Bryce, who died in February. Archbishop Halapua now assumes head charge of the Anglican Church in Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji, as well as the New Zealand Polynesian congregations. In his new capacity, he will serve as one of the three archbishops of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia, alongside the Rt. Rev. Brown Turei and the Rt. Rev. David Moxon.
Archbishop Halapua is married to Sue Halapua, an ordained priest serving in the Diocese of Auckland, and is the son of the first Polynesian Anglican bishop. They have two adult sons. Halapua was born in Tonga, and has served the church in Fiji and New Zealand. He is also a member of the Anglican Consultative Council, and was a chaplain at the recent Lambeth Conference.
In addition to his national and international pastoral responsibilities, he is also a scholar of note. He teaches on the faculty at St. John’s Theological College in Auckland and of the School of Theology at the University of Auckland. He holds a PhD in sociology from the University of the South Pacific (Suva, Fiji), and is the author of several books and articles, among them “An Approach to Pastoral Care with a Difference: The Case of Forgotten People,” in Counseling Issues in South Pacific Communities (ed. Philip Culbertson; 1997); Living on the Fringe: Melanesians of Fiji (2001), “Moana Waves: Oceania and Homosexuality,” in Other Voices, Other Worlds (ed. Terry Brown; 2006); Waves of God’s Embrace: Sacred Perspectives from the Ocean (2008); and “A Moana Rhythm of Well-Being,” in Spirit Possession, Theology, and Identity: A Pacific Exploration (ed. Philip Culbertson; 2010).
AnglicanTaonga reports:
Archbishop Brown Turei declared that Bishop Winston Halapua had been elected as the new Bishop of Polynesia – and therefore, as one of the three Archbishops of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.
…
This Electoral College was originally scheduled to take place in May – but with Bishop Bryce’s death, the election was moved forward.
In the Anglican scheme of things, bishops are declared elected only after they have been approved in a three-part process. They are nominated at the Electoral College – and that nomination must then be approved by the other bishops in the church, and (assuming there are no hitches there) by General Synod, which functions as the parliament of the church. The final stage of the electoral process, the balloting of members of the General Synod, took place during their Gisborne meeting.
…
The new diocesan Bishop of Polynesia – and therefore Archbishop of this province of the Anglican church – will be ordained and installed at Suva’s Holy Trinity Cathedral on August 1 this year.
