Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa will be offering its support to the Indigenous Canadian Anglican whānau at this month’s gathering of the Sacred Circle in Calgary.
The triennial gathering of the Sacred Circle, akin to Te Rūnanganui here in Aotearoa, brings together many of the Indigenous leaders of the Canadian Anglican Church.
Archdeacon Ngira Simmonds will be in attendance to offer the tautoko of Archbishop Don Tamihere and Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa as The Sacred Circle continues to shape the future of the emerging self-governing institution.
“I’m really privileged to take the tautoko of Te Pīhopa o Aotearoa who is seen as a senior indigenous figure globally, by that I mean Archbishop Don and the ones before him and express the tautoko we have for them.”
Archbishop Don Tamihere at Sacred Circle 2023
National Indigenous Archbishop Chris Harper told the Episcopal News Service in May, key topics will include working out the procedural structures needed to put its founding documents, Our Way of Life and the Covenant, into practice.
Archdeacon Ngira, who is attending his first Sacred Circle, is looking forward once again to seeing how other indigenous Anglicans find and live in their dual identity.
“I’ve been to a couple of Anglican Indigenous Network hui in the past. At those hui, we’re kind of all coming from across the world, and the meeting lasts a few days. This one has specific focus on how the indigenous people of Turtle Island want to do their thing.”
Archdeacon Ngira says his mission is to simply be present, observe, and tautoko.
“It is about forging what Archbishop Don sees as a growing whānaungatanga that Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa will have with key hāhi across the world, and his desire is that our brothers and sisters in Canada will be a relationship that we continue to prioritise.”
Archdeacon Ngira says indigenous Canadian Anglicans have constantly looked to Aotearoa for inspiration, as Aotearoa has looked to them also.
“I remember being inspired by so many people globally across te hāhi Mihinare, including from Canada.
“People like Ginny Doctor, she was a phenomenal theologian; retired Bishop Sydney Black – I knew him then as Archdeacon Sydney and the current Archbishop Chris Harper who I will meet for the first time.
“I also have lots of friends from the Province of Canada from when I went to the Lambeth Conference as a steward in 2008. I’m looking forward to finally getting up there and meeting people I have admired from a distance.”
The week-long 12th Sacred Circle gathering will be held in Calgary, Alberta from August 5 (Canada time)