[Anglican Taonga] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori arrived in Auckland on June 25 to begin an informal weeklong visit to the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.

Jefferts Schori arrived on a day of persistent, heavy rain, but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of some 60 people, including archbishops William Brown Turei and David Moxon, who took part in the powhiri — a Maori welcoming ceremony — at the College of St. John the Evangelist.

The presiding bishop was clearly among friends who were determined that she should experience manaakitanga — a Maori word meaning hospitality — on her arrival in the country.

Moxon said the New Zealand church had benefitted from three decades of Episcopal Church generosity and hospitality.

If you’ve been to St Nicholas, you’ve experienced a little manaakitanga too – the poetic, yet vigorously modern language of the “New Zealand Prayer Book/He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa” graces some of our weekly prayers. Currently, the Prayers of the People are taken from the NZ Prayer Book, and sometimes the lovely “Night Prayer” is used for the occasional evening service.