Tahupotiki Wiremu Rātana, a gifted spiritual healer, had encouraged the followers of the movement built around him in 1918 to continue to go to their Christian churches.
Irreconcilable differences between the Anglican Church andRātana developed, however.
The formation of the Rātana Church occurred on May 31, 1925.
An emergency conference was held that year by the Anglican Church to consider the impact the Rātana Church would have on them.
Partly in response to the fear of the Anglican Church that they would lose Māori parishioners to the Rātana Church, a Bishop of Aotearoa was considered within the church, but which race – Māori or Pākehā would hold the position, was contentious, and took several years to be agreed upon.
Around half of the bishops in the Anglican Church agreed the bishop should minister to Māori – but were in favour of having a Pākehā, Māori-speaking bishop in this position.
These bishops objected to a Māori bishop on the grounds they believed Māori clergy had missed the opportunity for self-expression entrusted to them in the exercise of their office, and the General Synod (Anglican Church governing body which considers priorities and its direction) should not give way to sentiment.
Apirana Ngata, who was the leader of the Māori section of the Anglican Church, said no – and was insistent – the position must be held by a Māori.
The deadlock, after much heated debate, was broken in 1928 at the General Synod and the title of Bishop of Aotearoa was passed – but this bishop would not be given any territorial areas and was to be a suffragan role in supporting the Bishop of Waiapu (in Napier). (It wasn’t until 1978 that the Bishop of Aotearoa was licenced as a primate – that is his jurisdiction now covers all of Aotearoa, New Zealand. The current bishop is Donald Tamihere.)
Frederick Augustus Bennett, a pastor based at Waipatu marae in Hastings, was the natural choice for this role.
Frederick, who was ordained as a deacon in 1896 and as a priest in 1897, was born in 1871 at Ōhinemutu, Rotorua, to Thomas Jackson Bennett, the son of an Irish immigrant doctor, and Raiha Ratete, a high-born woman of Ngāti Whakaue.
Frederick married Hana Te Unuhī Mere Paaka in 1899 in Nelson.
With his second wife, Arihia Rangioue Pōkiha (Hana died in 1909), whom he married in 1911, they moved to Hawke’s Bay after spending 13 years ministering in Rotorua, when he was appointed in 1917 to Waipatu Marae in Heretaunga, Hastings, as pastor. However, his pastoral area extended from Waipawa to Nuhaka.
There was the problem of where the family would live, until Frederick would move to Kohupātiki marae and live at “Bishops Court”, a house of six rooms, provided for him by a chieftainess.
His pastoral duties were not an easy task for him, especially with many Māori defecting to the Rātana movement, but his hard work among the Māori people did not go unnoticed in the Anglican Church.
The service was notable for it was the first time Māori and Pākehā joined together to witness the consecration of the first Māori bishop – Reverend Frederick Augustus Bennett.
St John’s Cathedral, the scene of the consecration of the Bishop of Aotearoa in December 1928. Māori were seated on one side, and Pākehā seated on the other – but they sang hymns in perfect unison using their own languages. Photo / Michael Fowler Collection
Māori were seated on one side of the cathedral and Pākehā on the other.
When the singing of hymns took place, Māori sung in te reo, and Pākehā in English – which resulted in “perfect harmony” despite the two different languages.
The whole scene in the cathedral was said to be a “spectacular procession of choristers, clergy and bishops”.
Frederick’s work was to minister to Māori in all dioceses (pastoral care district) but many bishops refused to licence him to operate in their diocese and would carry on their own work with Māori.
He would exercise great patience in this regard, which hindered his vision of a reorganised Māori mission.
The first service Frederick conducted as the Bishop of Aotearoa was in the open air – honouring Māori tribal custom. His illustrations using examples in everyday life, unconventional at the time, got his message through.
Not only did Frederick make an impact of connecting Māori back to the Anglican Church but, especially in Hawke’s Bay, he became a link between Māori and Pākehā, moving freely in the latter circle with mana and respect. Relationships were said to be the best they ever had been thanks to Frederick.
From his two marriages, 18 of his 19 children, and his second wife, survived him at his death in 1950 at Kohupātiki. He was buried at the sanctuary of St Faith’s Church, Ōhinemutu, a stone’s throw from where he was born.
His children (as are their descendants) were blessed with extraordinary gifts and talents, including Bishop Manu Bennett, the third Bishop of Aotearoa; Charles M Bennett, a Māori Battalion commander and High Commissioner to Malaysia; and Dr Henry Bennett, Medical Superintendent of Tokanui Psychiatric Hospital.
Another son, William Tereni Bennett, became the first Hastings City (now District) Councillor in the 1960s.
