The Venerable Fran Hokianga has added another milestone to her remarkable journey of ministry and mission: on 2 May 2025, she graduated from Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in Whakatāne with a Bachelor of Humanities, majoring in Mihinare Studies.
She was one of six students from Te Tai Tokerau in what she warmly called the “Mihinare cohort.”
“Hooray—it’s done, it’s finished. And I bless the Lord for His absolute guidance over this period. There were many times I wanted to give it up,” she laughed.
Ven. Fran Hokianga on graduation day
The three-year degree, which began in July 2021 under a memorandum of understanding between Awanuiārangi and Ōrongonui – Te Kura Mihinare, focused on theology, Māori studies, indigenous studies, and critical thinking, taught from a distinctly Māori and Mihinare perspective.
Fran brought to the study her deep roots in the church. A third-generation Mihinare priest, her grandfather trained at Te Rau Theological College in Gisborne and was ordained in 1912 at St Joseph’s Church in Awanui—the same church where Fran herself was ordained a deacon.
Her koro, Rev Hone Karaka, shown second row, third from left.
Her father, Ven. Bert Karaka, was a well-known Mihinare leader who raised his family steeped in karakia. “We had 7am and 7pm prayers in our house. Ministers came from all over— Parengarenga, Ahipara, Peria Pastorate (PAP) to Auckland—to share karakia with us,” she said.
Rev. Hone Karaka (Koro)
Ven. Bert Karaka (Father)
Rev. Keri-Ann Hokianga (Daughter)
Her ministry is interwoven with her whānau life. Married to a fellow Mihinare priest, Rev. Rapiata Hokianga, they have five children—one now ordained and another a liturgical assistant. Even when they tried to “run away” from the Māori Anglican church in Sydney, her father’s voice pulled them back. “He said, ‘Remember who you are and who you belong to.’ So we went back!”
Fran’s commitment to study came with sacrifice. In 2020, she resigned from her role tutoring Te Hāhi Mihinare at Ōrongonui to fully dedicate herself to her academic journey and her growing ministry as Priest in Charge of PAP. “By 2022 I’d administered over 50 tangi—that’s not counting services or pastoral care,” she said. “It got really crazy.”
The studies brought both intellectual challenge and personal reflection. “When I was 18yrs, I walked into an employment agency under the name Fran Clarke after a polite phone call. They made me wait for hours, then refused to see me. I didn’t realise it was racism. I just thought, ‘What’s going on?’” she said. “This course helped me unpack those experiences. It gave me a deeper understanding of colonisation and how much we’ve been assimilated.”
A highlight of the programme was being taught by Rev Dr Beverley Moana Hall Smith, a leading voice in Mihinare theology. “She taught us how to pray, how to preach, how to serve. She put it all into practice. It wasn’t just about church history—it was about living it. A wealth of skills and talent that many of us as ministers already have — this broadened our horizons, especially from a Māori perspective.”
Although the course was online, graduation brought the cohort together in person for the first time. “We began with a pōwhiri at Mātaatua wharenui, then walked through Whakatāne with hundreds of graduates and tamariki singing waiata ringa — unforgettable,” she said.
Fran continues to serve her people not only as Archdeacon of Muriwhenua but also through the Minita-a-Whānau model—training whānau to lead worship on their marae and in their homes. “Some of our churches you can only reach in summer by boat,” she said. “But every time, we leave a Bible and a prayer book. And we’ve seen new students for Ōrongonui come through this.”
She credited Hemi Hireme, her kaiako in Indigenous studies, for guiding her thinking, especially in exploring how we think about thinking.
Fran with Hemi Hireme
Their debates about belief were intense; at one point, she even declared, “I’m out of here.” But through the struggle and the space to speak openly, she believed the hand of the Lord was on all of them.
Looking ahead, she hopes to return to postgraduate study—perhaps a Master’s degree on Indigenous Church models—but for now, she’s focusing on her mokopuna and supporting others into leadership. “Our foundation is always Christ,” she said. “I never see myself as an individual, but part of the whānau of Christ.”
Reflecting on the years of learning and sacrifice, she said, “This journey has helped me understand myself, my connection to the world, and the purpose of the ministry I’ve been called into. And boy, do I recommend it.”