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Gilberd
Bruce C: "Community Priests in the New
Zealand Anglican church" in Francis & Francis
op. cit. pp 127-135
The notes to this paper provide a history of development (mostly church
reports) in relation to PSEs in NZ. The most useful ones for our purpose are -
- Randerson
Richard: Self-supporting Clergy: enablers of lay people in their mission to the
world ( 4 pp)
- General Synod of NZ report
A theology of priesthood for New Zealand ( 1982
20
pp)
- Unattributed Anglican NZ source: Together in
Ministry (1983
12 pp
published in response to a visit by Loren Mead of the
Alban Institute)
For some other New Zealand sources
see also the entry
for Booth
K: "Anyone for Ordination ?".
Gilberd concentrates on
"those priests/presbyters who do not receive
stipends
... [though such priests] do not want to be defined by their
financial relationship with the church ... Most in the church would want all
priests referred to without adjectives.' [Quote p 127]
In a few pages
Gilberd has not only to explain the facts of life in New
Zealand Anglicanism but also to explain where unpaid ministers fit into
it. It is an impossible task
and inevitably the treatment is
simplistic. As is appropriate for an international audience
Gilberd
concentrates on the indigenous development of minita-a-iwi
equating them with
Pakeha community priests. Such an identification is however superficial
and assumes that Maori and Pakeha communities work in simlarly when in fact
they work in profoundly different ways. 'Iwi' and 'community' are not
equivalent terms.
Gilberd identifies seven issues -
"
- Is the representative and missionary nature of presbyterate more
appropriate for the community priest and the sacramental/pastoral nature of the
presbyterate more appropriate for the parish priest ? [Note the use of the word
'appropriate']
- education ... the norm is for parish priests to be educated at the
provincial college and community priests to be educated in diocesan
contexts. ...
- community priests
thrust up out of ['natural human communities']
are a most appropriate form of ordained ministry
working in partnership with
many others. ...
- [biculturalism - not specifically a PSE issue]
- Community priests should be neither exploited nor under-utilised
but
according to their context
vision and gifts
offer appropriate ordained
ministry." ['appropriate' again ! ]
- At present church structures are proving more inflexible than
helpful to community priests.
- The seventh issue concerns the significance of baptism and the
ministry of the laity.
... How many priests do we need in relation to our
vision for the church and actual work needing to be done ? ... In a
church with a significant increase in the number of priests
do laity feel
undermined and undrevalued in their ministry ?"