The Very Reverend Ross Bay, Dean of Parnell’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, has been elected as the new Anglican Bishop of Auckland.

He will now be seen as more evidence that the Church is placing its trust in a new generation of leaders – because, at the age of 44, he’s been chosen to lead the country’s largest Anglican diocese. More than 170,000 Anglicans, almost one third of New Zealand’s Anglican population, live in the Diocese of Auckland.

Ross Bay was born and raised in Papatoetoe and went to Papatoetoe High School before starting his working life at the Bank of New Zealand. After his theological training, he served a stint as an assistant priest at the Cathedral from 1990 to 1992.

After a period overseas, which included postgraduate study, he then spent six years as the Vicar of Ellerslie, before becoming the Vicar of St Mark’s Remuera in 2001. He was commissioned as Archdeacon of Auckland in 2006, and in 2007 he was appointed Dean and Vicar General (the person who stands in for the bishop when he’s away).

Ross took up the Dean’s post in November 2007 – and less than two months later he was thrust into the international spotlight.

Ed Hillary had died, the Cathedral was chosen for his state funeral, and the Dean of Holy Trinity Cathedral quickly became one of the better known faces in the Anglican Church.

Ross Bay’s cathedral experiences have also given him another conviction that, as Bishop, he wants to underline: that Anglicans need to grasp that they belong to something much bigger and wider than just their local parish.

“The bishop is a visible reminder,” he says, “that local Anglicans in one place do have connections with a much wider reality.

“We’re not just this little group in this particular parish. We also belong to something much wider than that: the diocese, the three Tikanga church here in Aotearoa New Zealand, and the worldwide Anglican Communion. The bishop helps remind people of those connections.”

Another way Ross will exercise his leadership as Bishop is by speaking out in the public square.

That was a task expected of him as Dean, he says. But the Bishop has a different task to perform.

“The bishop is a focus for unity for the diocese,” he says. “People are not guaranteed to like what you have to say, so there’s a risk there.

“But I believe that’s a risk worth taking.

“Because the greater risk is of the church being silent.

“And that’s a risk that’s not worth taking.

“We’ve had some great moments as a church – standing up against the 81 tour, the Hikoi of Hope in 1998… moments which say a lot about us as a church, and say what we’re prepared to stand for. But the Church needs to maintain a more regular engagement and visibility.”

'A thankless task'

Till recently, says Ross, he’d thought that being bishop was one of the more thankless tasks going.

“There’s this impossible level of conflicting expectations that people place on their bishop,” he says, “and people become unhappy very quickly if the bishop doesn’t fulfil their own expectations. I’ve often thought – who would ever actually want that?”

But questions of personal comfort or job satisfaction weren’t the key consideration, says Ross.

For him, it’s more about being available.

So when Bishop John Paterson announced his intention to step down, Ross was urged by a number of people to allow himself to be nominated.

“I listened to that stuff for a while, and where I got to was… that this is a matter of vocation. And the way that we discern God’s call in the choice of a new bishop is through the processes of the church.

“There’s an electoral college, there are candidates, and the church debates the merits of those candidates. That’s the task of discernment.

“Therefore, the only way for the church to be able to effectively discern is if people are willing to allow themselves to be vulnerable – because it is a vulnerable process – in order to give the church the best opportunity to discern who should be their bishop.”

'Incredible opportunity'

Ross says that that the two years he’s spent as Dean have been “an incredible opportunity” – not only for service, but for his own growth.

“Two years ago,” he says, “I could never have imagined being bishop. Now, at this moment, it seems a bit surreal to find myself here. And while I don’t feel overawed by it, neither am I naïve about the challenges ahead.”

One of the ways he intends to tackle those challenges is by assembling a bishop’s team.

“The focus of that team”, he says, “will be to resource and equip people for ministry at local level. That’s also what I see the bishop’s job as being about: making sure people are equipped to do the tasks of ministry to which they are called.”

Ross sees three main elements in the bishop’s job description – being the focus for the unity of the diocese; being the chief pastor (“ensuring the care of those who care for others on your behalf”), and offering leadership to enable the diocese to fulfil its mission.

Five-year review

Ross Bay will be a relatively young bishop – certainly he’s younger than most of his fellow bishops. He acknowledges that the prospect of 20 years with the same bishop could make some folk feel uneasy: What if we get sick of him?

So just as clergy in the Auckland diocese are subject to review every five years, he says he will review his ministry after five years. At the 10-year point he proposes another, more thorough-going review.

“I won’t be putting myself up for re-election. But I will be listening very carefully to the voice of the Spirit. In part, that’ll be for me to hear – and in part it will be how I hear it through the diocese, and the wider church.

“I’ll be saying: what should I be doing next? Am I the right person to continue to exercise this leadership?

“Because becoming bishop isn’t about having reached the pinnacle of a career – it’s about vocation, and therefore, not being afraid to move on.”

Volunteer fireman

Ross is married to Jacquie, who works in science education. In his spare time, he works as a volunteer member of the Auckland Fire Police, plays squash, enjoys tramping in the mountains, and walking with their two golden retriever dogs.

The present Bishop of Auckland, John Paterson, will retire in March next year.

A date has yet to be set for the ordination and installation of Ross Bay, the 11th Bishop of Auckland.