Bishop Richard reflects on choices that affect our lives

Slipping the Moorings (Richard’s memoir).  STM… . gives chapter references below

Historical notes: Takapuna Grammar (53/7). Otago University. St John’s College, Union Seminary NYC (68/9).

Vocation 1  My years as curate at Papakura (’64/68) where I married Jackie were bleak years vocationally. I had offered for priesthood in the 50s when churches were full, but in the 60s people were leaving in droves. We went to New York for post-grad study in the midst of anti-Vietnam protests, Black Power and US capitalist exploitation in South America. There our understanding of missionwas blown wide open.  Key learnings:  First, the Church’s mission is to engage with society, and second, the experience of grace with finding this enlarged vocation.   STM 1

Industrial Mission (Teesside and Auckland 71-78), Vicar St Peter’s (78-90)

Vocation 2  At St Peter’s I corresponded often with Bishop Edward  Norman on key issues in Church and Society. Many kept silent. We developed a respect for one another. Key learning: “speaking truth to power” in a way that gets through is a skill to develop, but there can be a cost. As leaders to develop the skill to listen and consult is like gold – better outcomes, more commitment. STM3

Anglican social justice officer (90/94), Asst Bishop Canberra/Goulburn (94-99), Jackie was guidance counsellor at Canberra (Anglican Boys) Grammar.

Ethics 1 (and mission) As social justice officer, and with the impact of Rogernomics and Ruthanasia,  I ran 150 local seminars to link the theology of mission with analysis of local community needs, and then to plan local support services and advocacy for socio-economic change. Key learning: to integrate an outward-looking theology of mission with effective social engagement and strategies for change. STM 4.

Ethics 2 – Neoliberalism  As social justice officer I had frequent dialogue with the late Roger Kerr of the (then) NZ Business Roundtable. Roger described the churches as perpetrators of corrosive myths, undermining the neoliberal ideology. Some aspects of neoliberalism are positive, eg avoiding excessive regulation and freedom to use one’s gifts in a creative manner. But as practised it fails to recognise that St Paul’s teaching about individual gifts is that they are for the common good. Key learning: any economic or corporate policy must be measured by whether it is for the common good. STM 6

Ethics 3 –Royal Commission on Genetic Modification In 2000/1 I was the deputy chair of the four-member RCGM. In assessing the option for GM in NZ one of the considerations was ethics. I suggested we should create a statement of values as a measure of any recommendations. There was some doubt as to whether this was possible in a society but together we identified seven core values which we felt would be shared by most New Zealanders and were relevant to the consideration of genetic modification:

  • The uniqueness of Aotearoa New Zealand
  • The uniqueness of our cultural heritage
  • Sustainability
  • Being part of a global family
  • The well-being of all
  • Freedom of choice
  • Participation (in decision-making)                            STM 8

Vocation 3 – Ambition  Being part of an institution inevitably raises the question of ambition. But ambition for what? For God? For mission? For the Church? For one’s company or for oneself? Ambition can be positive if one feels called to exercise a leadership that serves God and mission.  The only position I ever aspired to was Dean of Auckland. I turned it down twice because on each occasion I had just started another job. It was pure grace that it came back to me after my year on the RCGM. I relished the opportunity to lead good worship, preach and also be a voice in the public square (2000/07). Key learning: in vocational choices whom or what do we choose? STM 10

Spirituality 1  A Quaker woman, Catherine Benland, composed the S-Factor – spirituality for all New Zealanders

  • freedom of conscience and belief
  • a sense of the sacredness of one’s own self and body, and that of others
  •  a sense of relationship among human beings
  •  belonging to a family, community or whanau
  • tenderness and compassion to the weak and needy
  •  love for the earth, its rivers, mountains and bush, and its various life forms
  • a feeling of awe in the face of the mystery of existence.

Spirituality 2/Vocation 4:  Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest in New Mexico, in Falling Upward, writes about two journeys in life. In the first journey of life we tend to be busy creating our place in the world – education, work, family, success, affluence, influence. But as we mature we come to see that bigger things are at stake – compassion, justice, truth, loving God and others. In the second journey we build those things into our lives, so that the second journey is shaping the first. Discovering the second journey early in life gives us a strong vocational sense of life’s purpose.

Key learning: what shapes your vocational choices?