5 December 2024

Kei te Whare Pīhopa, tēnei tō mātou mihi kau atu i runga i te Ingoa Tapu o tō tātou Ariki a Ihu Karaiti.

It is with great pleasure that we are able to announce that the Venerable Dr Anne van Gend has been nominated by the Diocese of Dunedin to be the next Bishop of Dunedin. This nomination has now been confirmed by the General Synod Te Hīnota Whānui of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.

We look forward to welcoming Archdeacon Anne as she takes up this important responsibility in our Church.

Anne will be familiar to many of us for her role as Diocesan Ministry Educator in the Diocese of Dunedin, and in her former role as Executive Director of the Anglican Schools Office. She has a wealth of experience in Provincial spaces, parish ministry and in the education sector both in Aotearoa and in Australia. Anne received her DPhil from Victoria University of Wellington in 2015, and has been ordained for 28 years. We note her deep joy in making the gospel accessible through her gifts of education and look forward to the impact this will have both for the Diocese of Dunedin and for the wider Church.

An announcement of a date and place for the Episcopal Ordination of the next Bishop of Dunedin will follow soon.

We give thanks to God for the careful process of discernment of the Electoral College of the Diocese of Dunedin and assure Archdeacon Anne, Michael and their whānau of our support and prayers over the weeks to come.

Yours in Christ

Archbishop Don Tamihere
Primate, Pīhopa o Aotearoa

Archbishop Justin Duckworth
Primate, Senior Bishop of the New Zealand Dioceses                                                                                            

Archbishop Sione Ulu’ilakepa
Primate, Bishop of Polynesia