Whakahuihui Vercoe
Encyclopedia
Whakahuihui "Hui" Vercoe PCNZM
MBE
(4 June 1928 – 13 September 2007) was an Anglican bishop
in New Zealand
. He was the Archbishop of New Zealand
from 2004 to 2006, the first person from the Maori church to hold that office. He was also Bishop of Aotearoa
from 1981, the first person to be elected to that position by the congregation rather than being appointed by the church hierarchy. He held both offices until his retirement in 2006. He was also the first person to become a Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit
after the rank was introduced in 2000.
, near Opotiki
on the North Island
, to Joseph Vercoe and Wyness Williams. He was named Whakahuihui ("to gather together") to record the crowds that gathered to pay their respects to his grandmother, who died on the day he was born. His paternal grandfather, Henry Vercoe, was a Cornish
farmer and settler in New Zealand. His father left the family soon after he was born, and he was raised by his mother and maternal grandfather, a Māori farmer, in a small earthen-floored shack (kauta
). He was educated at Torere Native School, Feilding Agricultural High School, and the University of Canterbury
in Christchurch
, before studying theology at College House (which was still theologically oriented).
in 1951 and as a priest
in the Anglican Church of New Zealand
in 1952. He served as a parish priest in, successively, Wellington
, Wairarapa
, and Rangitikei
. He became politically active, and supported the "No Maoris No Tour" movement in 1960, which complained that no Māoris were permitted to join the All Blacks
rugby tour to South Africa
that year.
He joined the New Zealand Army
in 1960, and became a military chaplain. He ministered to New Zealand forces in Malaya
from 1961 to 1963, and the Anzac Brigade in Vietnam
from 1968 to 1969, and was chaplain at Burnham Military Camp from 1965 to 1971. He was awarded the MBE in 1970. He was Principal of Te Waipounamu Girls' School from 1971 to 1976, and then Vicar in Ohinemutu from 1976 to 1978. He was promoted to become Archdeacon
of Tairawhiti
and Vicar-General to the bishopric of Aotearoa in 1978.
as Bishop of Aotearoa
(Pihopa o Aotearoa) at Houmaitawhiti Marae in Rotorua
in 1981.
He was a leading advocate of Māori rights and supporter of the Treaty of Waitangi
. On Waitangi Day
in 1990, the 150th anniversary of the Treaty, he complained in a speech attended by Dame Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu
, Queen Elizabeth II, the Governor-General
Paul Reeves
, and Prime Minister
Geoffrey Palmer, that the promises made in the Treaty had not been honoured by The Crown
. As a result of the continuing tensions between the different peoples of New Zealand, he also opposed immigration to New Zealand.
He was in favour of separate public institutions — such as schools — for Māori people, and in 1980 became the first head of the Māori people in the Anglican Church in New Zealand to be elected, rather than appointed by the church hierarchy. The Anglican Church in New Zealand created three sections in 1992, one for the Māori, another for European New Zealanders (known in Māori
as Pākehā
), and a third for Polynesians
, recognising the three separate cultural traditions (tikanga) in New Zealand, Fiji
, Tonga
, Samoa
, and the Cook Islands
. Vercoe became head of the Māori tikanga, Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa
.
He became a Principal Commander of the Order of Merit of New Zealand (the equivalent of a knighthood) for services to the Maoris and the community in 2000, and became Primate and Archbishop of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia (Pihopa Matamua) in 2004.
He held conservative religious views, condemning homosexuality as "unnatural" and "an abomination". A storm of controversy erupted in June 2004 when the New Zealand Herald reported his vision of a "world without gays". He ordained women priests, but opposed the ordination of women bishops and refused to attend the ordination of New Zealand's first woman bishop in 1991, when Penny Jamieson
was installed as Bishop of Dunedin.
He was diagnosed with cancer of the brain in 2005 and retired due to ill health in 2006. After he stepped down, the office of Archbishop has been shared by the heads of the three tikanga, with William Brown Turei
as Primate.
(funeral) at Torere Marae was attended by over 40 Anglican bishops. He was buried at the Torere urupa (burial ground) on 17 September.
New Zealand Order of Merit
The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order established in 1996 "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions or other merits."The order includes five...
MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(4 June 1928 – 13 September 2007) was an Anglican bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. He was the Archbishop of New Zealand
Archbishop of New Zealand
The Archbishop of New Zealand is the primate, or head, of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. However, since Whakahuihui Vercoe stepped down at the end of his two-year term as archbishop in 2006, the church has decided that three bishops shall share the position and style of...
from 2004 to 2006, the first person from the Maori church to hold that office. He was also Bishop of Aotearoa
Bishop of Aotearoa
The Bishop of Aotearoa is a bishop in the Anglican Church of New Zealand.-List of holders:#The Rt. Rev. Frederick Augustus Bennett - first Māori people Bishop in the Anglican Communion#The Rt. Rev. Wiremu Netana Panapa...
from 1981, the first person to be elected to that position by the congregation rather than being appointed by the church hierarchy. He held both offices until his retirement in 2006. He was also the first person to become a Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit
New Zealand Order of Merit
The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order established in 1996 "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions or other merits."The order includes five...
after the rank was introduced in 2000.
Early life
Vercoe was born in Torere, a coastal Māori village (kainga) in the Eastern Bay of PlentyBay of Plenty
The Bay of Plenty , often abbreviated to BOP, is a region in the North Island of New Zealand situated around the body of water of the same name...
, near Opotiki
Opotiki
Opotiki is a town in the eastern Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand. It houses the headquarters of the Opotiki District Council and comes under the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.-Population:* of the town: 4176 - Male 1,989, Female 2,187...
on the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
, to Joseph Vercoe and Wyness Williams. He was named Whakahuihui ("to gather together") to record the crowds that gathered to pay their respects to his grandmother, who died on the day he was born. His paternal grandfather, Henry Vercoe, was a Cornish
Cornish people
The Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...
farmer and settler in New Zealand. His father left the family soon after he was born, and he was raised by his mother and maternal grandfather, a Māori farmer, in a small earthen-floored shack (kauta
Kauta
Kauta is a Powerpop/Alternative Rock group from Guipúzcoa whose songs are sung in euskara. They were founded in 2001 in Andoain, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country.-Discography:*Izan zaitez zu - 2004 *Biluzik - 2006...
). He was educated at Torere Native School, Feilding Agricultural High School, and the University of Canterbury
University of Canterbury
The University of Canterbury , New Zealand's second-oldest university, operates its main campus in the suburb of Ilam in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand...
in Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
, before studying theology at College House (which was still theologically oriented).
Clerical career
Vercoe was ordained as a deaconDeacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
in 1951 and as a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
in the Anglican Church of New Zealand
Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia is a church of the Anglican Communion serving New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the Cook Islands...
in 1952. He served as a parish priest in, successively, Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
, Wairarapa
Wairarapa
Wairarapa is a geographical region of New Zealand. It occupies the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service towns, with Masterton being the largest...
, and Rangitikei
Rangitikei
Rangitikei is an area in New Zealand that follows the course of State Highway 1, from just south of Waiouru with the QEII Army Memorial Museum, through Taihape, Mangaweka, Hunterville, Marton and Bulls, and then winds down a minor road to the coast at Turakina & Scott’s Ferry...
. He became politically active, and supported the "No Maoris No Tour" movement in 1960, which complained that no Māoris were permitted to join the All Blacks
All Blacks
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....
rugby tour to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
that year.
He joined the New Zealand Army
New Zealand Army
The New Zealand Army , is the land component of the New Zealand Defence Force and comprises around 4,500 Regular Force personnel, 2,000 Territorial Force personnel and 500 civilians. Formerly the New Zealand Military Forces, the current name was adopted around 1946...
in 1960, and became a military chaplain. He ministered to New Zealand forces in Malaya
Federation of Malaya
The Federation of Malaya is the name given to a federation of 11 states that existed from 31 January 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957...
from 1961 to 1963, and the Anzac Brigade in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
from 1968 to 1969, and was chaplain at Burnham Military Camp from 1965 to 1971. He was awarded the MBE in 1970. He was Principal of Te Waipounamu Girls' School from 1971 to 1976, and then Vicar in Ohinemutu from 1976 to 1978. He was promoted to become Archdeacon
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
of Tairawhiti
Tairawhiti
Te Hui Amorangi O Te Tai Rawhiti is an Episcopal polity of Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The Hui Amorangi covers the East Coast of the North Island. In general this covers the Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu and the Turanga-nui-a-kiwa iwi. According to the 2001 census there...
and Vicar-General to the bishopric of Aotearoa in 1978.
Episcopal ministry
Vercoe was consecratedConsecration
Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service, usually religious. The word "consecration" literally means "to associate with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different groups...
as Bishop of Aotearoa
Bishop of Aotearoa
The Bishop of Aotearoa is a bishop in the Anglican Church of New Zealand.-List of holders:#The Rt. Rev. Frederick Augustus Bennett - first Māori people Bishop in the Anglican Communion#The Rt. Rev. Wiremu Netana Panapa...
(Pihopa o Aotearoa) at Houmaitawhiti Marae in Rotorua
Rotorua
Rotorua is a city on the southern shores of the lake of the same name, in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. The city is the seat of the Rotorua District, a territorial authority encompassing the city and several other nearby towns...
in 1981.
He was a leading advocate of Māori rights and supporter of the Treaty of Waitangi
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
. On Waitangi Day
Waitangi Day
Waitangi Day commemorates a significant day in the history of New Zealand. It is a public holiday held each year on 6 February to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document, on that date in 1840.-History:...
in 1990, the 150th anniversary of the Treaty, he complained in a speech attended by Dame Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu
Te Atairangikaahu
Dame Te Atairangikaahu, ONZ, DBE, OStJ was the Māori queen for 40 years, the longest reign of any Māori monarch. Her full name and title was Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu...
, Queen Elizabeth II, the Governor-General
Governor-General of New Zealand
The Governor-General of New Zealand is the representative of the monarch of New Zealand . The Governor-General acts as the Queen's vice-regal representative in New Zealand and is often viewed as the de facto head of state....
Paul Reeves
Paul Reeves
Sir Paul Alfred Reeves, ONZ, GCMG, GCVO, CF, QSO was Archbishop and Primate of New Zealand from 1980 to 1985 and the 15th Governor-General of New Zealand from 22 November 1985 to 20 November 1990...
, and Prime Minister
Prime Minister of New Zealand
The Prime Minister of New Zealand is New Zealand's head of government consequent on being the leader of the party or coalition with majority support in the Parliament of New Zealand...
Geoffrey Palmer, that the promises made in the Treaty had not been honoured by The Crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
. As a result of the continuing tensions between the different peoples of New Zealand, he also opposed immigration to New Zealand.
He was in favour of separate public institutions — such as schools — for Māori people, and in 1980 became the first head of the Māori people in the Anglican Church in New Zealand to be elected, rather than appointed by the church hierarchy. The Anglican Church in New Zealand created three sections in 1992, one for the Māori, another for European New Zealanders (known in Māori
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
as Pākehā
Pakeha
Pākehā is a Māori language word for New Zealanders who are "of European descent". They are mostly descended from British and to a lesser extent Irish settlers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although some Pākehā have Dutch, Scandinavian, German, Yugoslav or other ancestry...
), and a third for Polynesians
Polynesians
The Polynesian peoples is a grouping of various ethnic groups that speak Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic languages within the Austronesian languages, and inhabit Polynesia. They number approximately 1,500,000 people...
, recognising the three separate cultural traditions (tikanga) in New Zealand, Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
, Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
, and the Cook Islands
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
. Vercoe became head of the Māori tikanga, Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa
Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa
Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa is home to Māori Anglicans across Aotearoa , and one of the three Tikanga of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The first Māori Bishop was appointed in 1928, and the Pīhopatanga itself was established by General Synod as an autonomous body in 1978...
.
He became a Principal Commander of the Order of Merit of New Zealand (the equivalent of a knighthood) for services to the Maoris and the community in 2000, and became Primate and Archbishop of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia (Pihopa Matamua) in 2004.
He held conservative religious views, condemning homosexuality as "unnatural" and "an abomination". A storm of controversy erupted in June 2004 when the New Zealand Herald reported his vision of a "world without gays". He ordained women priests, but opposed the ordination of women bishops and refused to attend the ordination of New Zealand's first woman bishop in 1991, when Penny Jamieson
Penny Jamieson
Penelope Ann Bansall "Penny" Jamieson DCNZM was the seventh Bishop of Dunedin in the Anglican Church of New Zealand from 1989 until her retirement in 2004...
was installed as Bishop of Dunedin.
He was diagnosed with cancer of the brain in 2005 and retired due to ill health in 2006. After he stepped down, the office of Archbishop has been shared by the heads of the three tikanga, with William Brown Turei
William Brown Turei
William Brown Turei is the Archbishop, Te Pihopa o Aotearoa/Bishop of Aotearoa and Primate/Te Pihopa Mataamua of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia...
as Primate.
Private life and death
Vercoe married Doris Eivers in 1951. They had three sons. He died in Lynmore, near Rotorua, his home for over 20 years. He was survived by his wife and their sons. After a farewell ceremony at St Faith's Church in Rotorua on 14 September, his tangiTangihanga
Tangihanga, or more commonly, Tangi, is a Māori funeral rite.Each iwi differs on how they honour those who pass. Tangihanga generally take three days with burial on the third day. From the moment of death, the tūpāpaku is rarely alone. The tūpāpaku is transported to the marae...
(funeral) at Torere Marae was attended by over 40 Anglican bishops. He was buried at the Torere urupa (burial ground) on 17 September.