New bishop of Aotearoa to be installed

Rev Don Tamihere.

Bishop of Tairawhiti Don Tamihere will be installed as Te Pihopa o Aotearoa - the Bishop of Aotearoa - at Manutuke Marae tomorrow.

Hundreds are expected to attend, with dignitaries including the Maori King, King Tuheitia, and Minister of Maori Development Nanaia Mahuta.

Marae from throughout the district are coming together for the hosting duties of the occasion, including a mass powhiri at 8am.

Bishop Tamihere will become the leader of the Maori Anglican Church, the Maori arm of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.

This means he will also become one of three Anglican archbishops in New Zealand, alongside Archbishop Philip Richardson (Pakeha) and Archbishop Winson Halapua (Polynesia).

Bishop Tamihere will succeed the late Archbishop Brown Turei, who passed away in January 2017 at the age of 92, two months ahead of his planned retirement.

At the age of 45, Bishop Tamihere will be the youngest primate in the Anglican Communion.

As part of the planning for Archbishop Brown's retirement, Don Tamihere was nominated as Bishop of Tairawhiti in October 2016. He was consecrated and installed in March 2017.

Bishop Tamihere, of Ngati Porou whakapapa, was born in Gisborne and grew up on the East Coast.

He obtained a master's degree in theology at the College of St John the Evangelist in Auckland, before he was ordained as a deacon in March 2003 and as a priest in December 2004.

The event begins with a powhiri today at 4pm for Tairawhiti people to be welcomed on to Manutuke Marae.

Tomorrow's programme begins at 8am with a mass powhiri.The installation service for Bishop Tamihere begins at 10am.