The Rev Canon Jim White, the man chosen to lead the task of equipping the next generation of priests for the Pakeha wing of the Anglican Church here, has a fair idea of what the end product of that training ought to look like.

And that’s because he is, “first and foremost”, a priest himself.

Jim White, who is presently the Vicar of St Andrews, in the Auckland suburb of Epsom, and was, for 12 years, Vicar of All Saints, Ponsonby, has been appointed the Dean of the College of the Southern Cross, within St John’s College in Meadowbank, Auckland.
He’s had opportunities to go down the strict academic line.

He’s taken one Master’s degree at Yale and another at Auckland, and he’s scoping out doctoral studies. (Likely topic? Forgiveness – a subject that ties in with an interest he has in restorative justice.)

But he’s clear, he says, that “first and foremost he is a priest of and in the church, not the academy.

“I like, however, to think of myself as a scholarly priest. I care about learning, about our great intellectual tradition, and about rigorous study. I have had some great academic opportunities afforded me. So, I believe I can hold my own in the academic environment,

"I have a passion for what the academy stands for – but I applied for this role as a way to serve our church, and ultimately, our God.”

His hopes, as the college’s new dean, are simple, and consciously echo Anselm’s famous definition of theology as ‘faith seeking understanding’:

“I hope that students, wherever they come from, will gain a deeper understanding of their faith.”

So he sees this role – at least in part – as serving the church.

But at the same time, he says good theological seminaries must guard against “becoming preoccupied with the institutional church.”

“There’s got to be a connection between the theological enterprise and ecclesiology. But we don’t worship the church, we worship God... and the trap, when we are under pressure, is that we become drawn into caring just about our own life as the church, rather than God’s life.”

As an example, he notes how in the 20 years since his priestly ordination, the church’s thinking about what’s appropriate in funeral ministry has changed significantly.

“If students become too closely tied with the ecclesiological pre-occupations of the day, that doesn’t equip them to face the shifts and changes that are bound to happen in the next 20 years.”

Jim White, who is 46, was born in Mangakino, in the Central North Island, and raised on Auckland’s North Shore. He says he spent a good portion of his early days “in, on or under the Hauraki Gulf” – he’s been a keen swimmer, sailor and fisherman, and for two years after he left school he was a diver.

A touch radical and idealistic with it, too. Twice Jim was in the fleet of small boats that protested at the visits of US nuclear-powered warships, and in 1982 he lived in a Christian community on Waiheke Island.

Later that year he was accepted for ministry training, and the then Bishop of Auckland, Paul Reeves, sent him to Knox College in 1983. He graduated from the University of Otago with a Bachelor of Theology in 1987, was ordained deacon the same year, and priested the following year.

He served as deacon assistant, then priest assistant at St Luke’s Mt Albert in 1987 and 1988, and as Chaplain at Diocesan School for Girls from 1989 to 1991. He was priest assistant at St Matthew’s-in-the-City in 1992, and the following year he began his 12-year stint at All Saint’s Ponsonby.

While there, he served on the clergy roster for the Auckland Community Church – which has a gay and lesbian congregation – and he has also served as a chaplain to the Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve, and to the Korean Veterans' Association, a role in which he continues to serve.

He completed a Master of Arts (First Class Honours) at Auckland University in 2000; and in 2001 he received a St John’s post-ordination scholarship to study at Yale. He studied philosophical theology under the supervision of Professor Marilyn McCord Adams, and graduated from Yale with a Master's in Sacred Theology (STM).

As mentioned, he’s got doctoral studies in mind, too – though he says progress on that may have to go on the backburner while he picks up the reins at Southern Cross.

Jim White has been involved with the College of the Southern Cross since day one – since it was started in response to the constitutional changes of 1992. He has served on the College’s Management Committee and a Dean’s Advisory Group, and he teaches in the Anglican Studies programme.

As Vicar at All Saints and at St Andrew's, he’s also had a close hand in the training of a number of St John’s students and assistant priests who have come to his churches for short placements during their studies or for their curacies.

Jim White is married to Jane Hart, who teaches English at Diocesan School for Girls, and they have two children.

Jim has already begun to work himself into the dean’s role, while completing his ministry at St Andrews. He will formally begin fulltime work at Southern Cross at the beginning of next year.

The next issue of Taonga magazine will carry a further article on him.

Footnote: The dean’s job became vacant when the previous dean, the Rev David Jeans, decided not to renew his two-year contract, and to return to the United Kingdom and family there.