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National | Bishop Te Kītohi Pikaahu

Bishop Te Kītohi Pikaahu honoured

Bishop Te Kītohi Pikaahu has been named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the Anglican Church and Māori.

The Right Reverend Pikaahu is biishop of Te Tai Tokerau and faith leader to Mihingare (Māori Anglicans) in Northland and Auckland.

When consecrated a bishop in 2002, Bishop Pikaahu was recognised by the Archbishop of Canterbury as the youngest bishop in the global Anglican Communion at age 37. As one of the highest-ranking and longest-serving indigenous bishops in the global Anglican community, he has advocated for the wellbeing of Māori and indigenous communities.

Bishop Pikaahu has led the promotion of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a framework for religious leadership within the Anglican Communion. He has also chaired the worldwide Anglican Communion’s Anglican Indigenous Network since 2015.

He chaired the Common Life Liturgical Commission of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia from 2010 to 2016. He has been a member of the International Anglican Liturgical Consultation since 2007 and is chair of Te Rūnanga Whakawhanaunga i ngā Hāhi (the Māori Ecumenical Council of Churches).

He has been chaplain and occasional kaumātua of the Māori Women’s Welfare League since 2007. He is foundation chair of kaupapa Māori-based provider Te Whare Ruruhau o Meri, which provides crisis support services for victims of abuse. Bishop Pikaahu has been a member of the Police Commissioner’s Māori Focus Forum since 2014.