The Venerable Ruihana Paenga will be installed at Waiapu Cathedral in Napier at a service on Saturday 1 August at 11am. Upon her installation she will become The Very Reverend Ruihana Paenga, Dean of Waiapu Cathedral.
The appointment was announced in June by the Most Reverend Dr Don Tamihere, Archbishop of Aotearoa, and Bishop Andrew Hedge of the Waiapu Diocese. The shared appointment sees Ven. Ruihana become the first Māori Dean of Waiapu Cathedral, realising the promise of the longstanding relationship between Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa and the Diocese of Waiapu.
Ruihana said she is honoured to be named Dean of Waiapu Cathedral — a role she never imagined filling. “I know it’s a milestone in our hāhi whakapapa. I’m honoured, excited and challenged by what it means and how I will live into it,” she says.
“The greater focus is to grow a community that reflects and represents Napier today — Māori, Pākehā and all those surrounding the cathedral. That is what is most exciting to me.”
Born in Wellington and raised in Gisborne (Waiapu Valley), Ruihana is Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Kahungunu. Her early ministry began in the Waiapu Valley, assisting local leaders with community ministry.
As Archdeacon of Leadership for Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa and Archdeacon of Te Tairāwhiti, Ruihana has helped shape the life of the Church through a range of synodical governance roles, strategic leadership, wāhine and rangatahi ministry, and community development. She has also represented the Church internationally, including at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
Archbishop Don Tamihere said, “Archdeacon Ruihana represents the very best of leadership within Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa. She is an astute governor and leader in both hāhi and iwi spaces, a gifted minister and, more importantly, has deep aroha and compassion for whānau and community.”
Bishop Andrew Hedge said, “We’re looking forward to welcoming Ruihana to the new role. The blend of our two Tikanga in working with the parish community makes for an exciting awakening across the Church, with female leadership, a renewed embrace of our Māori whakapapa, and a commitment to working together into the fullness of our three Tikanga and Te Tiriti, as the Gospel envisioned.”
Background
Waiapu Cathedral in Napier is unique in housing two cathedrae, one for the Bishop of Waiapu and one for Te Pīhopa o Aotearoa – a single cathedral that serves as a spiritual home for both Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa and the Diocese of Waiapu, and therefore the joint appointment of the Dean-designate.
The Diocese of Waiapu was formed in 1858 and is named for the region within which the Gospel was first preached by Māori evangelists in 1834. Waiapu later became the host and supporting diocese for the first Bishop of Aotearoa in 1928, and subsequently for the Bishopric of Aotearoa in 1978.
Following the adoption of the 1992 Constitution ’Te Pouhere’, which rearranged the Anglican Church into three Tikanga or cultural streams, the name Waiapu was gifted by the Māori Anglican Church to remain with the Diocese as a reminder of the shared whakapapa between Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa and the Diocese of Waiapu.
The Waiapu diocese covers parishes from Omokoroa, just north of Tauranga, across the Bay of Plenty to East Cape, and south through Tauranga, Rotorua, Taupō to Turangi and across the Ruahine Ranges to Woodville and the coastal communities.
The name comes from the Waiapu River on the East Coast – as the tribal whakatauaki says, ‘Ko Hikurangi te maunga, ko Waiapu te awa, ko Ngāti Porou te iwi’.
