The Venerable Susan Wallace has been elected as the third Pīhopa ki Te Waipounamu, becoming the first wahine to hold the role.
Bishop‑elect Susan will step into the position previously held by her father, the late Right Reverend Richard Wallace, who died suddenly in 2024.
Born and raised across in her Ngāi Tahu and Tau Ihu o te Waka a Māui whakapapa, Bishop-elect Susan brings a wealth of leadership and experience gained in her years of service in hāhi, iwi and community to the office of Pīhopa o Te Waipounamu and to the wider Aotearoa.
“I’m looking forward to challenging what a woman might bring into the role of Pīhopa. I’m thinking of ira wahine. A lot of what we do has been shaped, rightly so, by those who built the foundations of our hāhi before us, most of them were men,” she said.
“I also look forward to wānanga and to sitting alongside other women, shaping a pathway for what wāhine can bring to the role of pīhopa and to service within our hapori, including what it means for wāhine behind the altar.”
Bishop‑elect Susan becomes just the second wahine Māori elected to the office of Pīhopa, joining Te Pīhopa o Te Upoko o te Ika, Waitohiariki Quayle.
Bishop Waitohiariki, who has been the sole wahine Pīhopa in Tikanga Māori for nearly seven years, and one of only three wahine Pīhopa currently serving across the three tikanga, said she is looking forward to Bishop‑elect Susan joining the House of Bishops.
“I really look forward to having another sister Bishop there. It’ll be good. It has been hard at times, but Susan is strong, and together we’ll make an awesome team,” she said.
“There have been many visible signs that our church is ready for transformation. If our hāhi cannot truly reflect our hapori, our whānau, our iwi, our hapū, and our world, then we risk losing the fullness of who we are.”
Bishop‑elect Susan was nominated by the Electoral College of Te Hui Amorangi ki Te Waipounamu at Christchurch earlier this month. The Primates of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia have since confirmed that her nomination has been approved by the House of Bishops and the Te Hīnota Whānui / General Synod Standing Committee.
She paid tribute to the Venerable Hannah Pomare, who also presented to the Electoral College, and to all wāhine who have put their names forward in previous Colleges.
“It takes courage to accept nomination — to expose yourself,” Bishop‑elect Susan said. “I remember being told early on, when I was struggling to accept nomination, that it wasn’t going to be easy. But one of our nannies once told me that if it’s easy, it’s not worth doing.”
Throughout the Electoral College process, Bishop‑elect Susan said she had her late father, Pīhopa Richard, at the forefront of her mind. Together with his wife, Archdeacon Mere Wallace, their commitment to ministry, faith, and service to their community and iwi helped shape and form her calling.
“I would never, ever have thought that I would be closely following in his footsteps. I thought he would be around a bit longer, that he would get to retire — but that wasn’t to be. God was ready to call him home,” she said.
“I don’t take lightly what it means to step into that legacy, or the responsibility I carry to our people, our whenua, and to speak into injustices happening around the world.”
Bishop‑elect Susan sees her calling as Pīhopa as reflective of the season Te Waipounamu finds itself in, rather than a direct call of whakapapa. Nevertheless, her whakapapa is deeply rooted in Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa, and particularly in the office of Pīhopa.
Her maternal whakapapa shares a connection with Wiremu Netana Pānapa, the second Pīhopa o Aotearoa (1951–1968).
Biography of Bishop-elect Susan Wallace
Ven. Susan Wallace has a long record of service to Te Hāhi Mihinare, with decades of trusted leadership across the Church, iwi, education, and community in Te Waipounamu. Her ministry is grounded in whakapapa, tikanga, and faithful stewardship, and has been shaped through more than forty years of lay service prior to ordination.
In 2023, Ven. Susan was commissioned as Archdeacon and Poutokomanawa (Vicar General) of Te Hui Amorangi ki Te Waipounamu. She was ordained deacon in March 2024 and priest in September of the same year.
Ven. Susan holds a Leaders Way Certificate from Yale Divinity School and a Bachelor of Applied Management in Māori Organisational Leadership from Te Hokainui | Otago Polytechnic. Her professional background includes extensive senior management and governance experience, including fifteen years as Tumuaki (General Manager) of Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio.
Ven. Susan currently serves as Te Manahautū Amorangi and Educational Director of Te Hui Amorangi ki Te Waipounamu, and as part of Te Kāhui Minita o Te Hēpara Pai.