Our Kiwi Home: The making of a bishop

Saturday, 18 May 2024

Former Cantabrian Mark Walton, an internationally-recognised clarinettist and saxophonist, has an enduring fascination with NZ history and writes regularly about his home country.

In the game of chess the bishop may move in any diagonal direction, it cannot jump over pieces and can only capture one piece per turn. These rules are clear and leave no room for creative negotiation so I wanted to find out from Bishop Peter Carrell if his job description was just as well defined.

Peter’s grandmother, Connie, was born in Christchurch in a little house in Lincoln Rd and when she married George Carrell they continued to live in the same house along with Connie’s father and grandfather. Peter’s father, Brian, was born there too, so by now there were four generations living under the same rather small roof.

By the end of the 1930s there were now two additional Carrell boys, so Connie and George were able to acquire a state house in Neville St, Spreydon, where another son was born. Peter says this house was a fantastic place for his father and three brothers to grow up in and Peter has many very happy memories of visiting his grandparents there.

Ada Archbold, Peter’s grandmother on his mother’s side, grew up in Linwood and Riccarton and married Herbert Bruhn, who was at that stage pastor of the Lutheran Church in Christchurch. There were some problems with the church so the Bruhns moved to Brisbane, where Herbert was born. Ada and Herbert had five daughters, the youngest being Peter’s mother, May. Ada brought her five daughters back to Christchurch for a family holiday and never returned to Brisbane. In time she divorced, remarried and with her new husband they had a son.

Brian and May met through the bible class at St Martin’s Church, Spreydon. Peter was born in 1959 in St George’s Hospital, the eldest of five children, two brothers and then two sisters. At that time his parents were living in St Albans, where his father was in his second parish as a curate. When Peter was 1, his father was appointed the vicar of the Parish of Hororata. Peter’s first memories are of growing up in a spacious two-storey vicarage set in a large garden, with beautiful lawns and an orchard. His greatest regret from this time was that neither he nor his brothers realised their true potential playing cricket and rugby on those large lawns as they left there when he was only 5.

Peter and his brothers gave up that idyllic rural life to shift to Dunedin, because their father felt the call of God to become the vicar of St Matthew’s Church in Hope St. The vicarage was around the corner in High St, so now the Carrells were very much living an inner city lifestyle. Peter has wonderful and vivid memories of life in Dunedin and remembers with real affection the Dunedin Public Library. He was a voracious reader and would sometimes read all five books on the day he’d borrowed them. He also fondly remembers playing schoolboy cricket down at The Oval and on Saturday afternoons going to Logan Park to watch his father play in the Presidents Grade. Looking back now, Peter thinks that for his father, playing cricket well and truly grounded him into ordinary life.

From Dunedin, Peter’s dad became the general secretary of the Church Missionary Society back in Christchurch. Peter attended Cobham Intermediate and was lucky enough to have a Mr Barry Smith as his teacher. Peter says Mr Smith was one of the top two most outstanding teachers of his life. He taught in a way that never involved discipline as there was no reason to misbehave. “We loved him, we loved what he was doing and he loved us.”

It was always thought that Peter would go to Christchurch Boys’ High, where his father and uncles had been educated, but he’d sat a scholarship exam for Christ’s College and been successful in obtaining a place there.

I ask Peter if he thinks he would have come out a different person if he’d attended Boys’ High and he says he had good friends who went to that school and judging from their experience, he doesn’t think he would have come out a different person.

At Christ’s College he did pursue his love of cricket, but his highest achievement was only getting into the third XI. Off the sports field, Peter says there was a wonderful broadening and opening of his mind. Although music was not one of Peter’s strengths he learnt the piano and later the viola, and he remembers the impact of the legendary director of music, Robert Field-Dodgson, who not only taught music but also the wider cultural milieu of the development of music.

I ask Peter if when he finished school he’d any inkling of what he was going to do with his life? Peter replies: “No! I was uncertain whether to embark on engineering studies, medicine or something else. I ended up with ‘something else’ and that was a maths degree at Canterbury university. I’d been really good at school maths but it turned out I wasn’t very good at university maths, but I thought I might end up teaching mathematics.

“I also studied philosophy and found I was so much more passionate about this subject although I still wasn’t a particularly good philosopher.”

When Peter graduated from University of Canterbury he decided to go to Egypt to explore a missionary calling. Before he could do that Peter had to earn some money, so he took a job at a market garden in Harewood where he had previously worked every holiday.

Once he’d saved enough, Peter set off on his calling to Egypt and then in time onto England returning via America. During this time he decided he would like to return to university and try to do better the second time around. He asked himself what subject would really motivate him to study and he settled on theology. Peter was now thinking he would follow in his father’s footsteps and in due course become ordained as a minister.

To achieve this, in 1984 Peter enrolled in Otago University and moved to Dunedin to study theology. Most of his classes were at the Knox Theological Hall and a large percentage of his classes were with Presbyterian students training for the ministry. He loved the teachers and his fellow students and now he was doing so well he began to think he might embark on some postgraduate study overseas.

Upon graduation, Peter’s ordination was fast-tracked and just before he started his duties in the Shirley Parish he met Teresa Kundycki at a Scripture Union holiday programme in Waikanae.

Teresa and Peter married in 1988 and by this stage Peter was seriously focused on postgraduate study overseas. Soon after their first child was born they set off for England and Peter enrolled to study for a PhD at Durham University. Teresa and Peter loved their time in Durham. They made some wonderful friends, and this is where their second daughter was born.

When it was time to return to New Zealand with their two young children, Teresa and Peter wanted to be close to either set of parents. By this stage Peter’s dad had been appointed an assistant bishop in Wellington and Peter could see on balance it would be better not to be in the same diocese as his father. Instead, they settled in Nelson to be close to Teresa’s parents.

Peter was appointed the assistant priest in the Parish of Stoke and soon their third child was born. From there, Peter became the vicar of Blenheim South. He says it was an incredible learning experience to find himself in sole charge of a church. While there, their fourth child was born.

The Carrells later moved back to Stoke as Peter had a new position as ministry educator of the diocese. For the Carrells, the nine years they had in the Nelson area was a wonderful family time as their four children grew and flourished.

In 2010, with their eldest child now at university and another one boarding at Peter’s old school back in Christchurch, it was time to move back south.

In Peter’s new role back in his home town, he shared his time between being the ministry educator of the Christchurch diocese and the director of Theology House.

Like everyone, Peter didn’t know what was in store for Christchurch with the shattering surprise the earthquakes unleashed. Living through these devastating times made Peter and Teresa resolved to be part of the new Christchurch as it slowly emerged from the rubble. Peter continued with both his dual church roles for the next eight years but when Bishop Victoria Matthews resigned in 2018, Peter stood for the election of the new bishop and was successful.

Peter was ordained bishop in February 2019 and just five weeks later, the horrific Christchurch mosque shootings took place. Peter was surprised the media here and abroad were interested in talking to him about this tragedy that broke the world’s heart.

I ask Peter if they were interested in talking to him as he was a voice of calm amongst the horror? Peter replies that he thought the overseas journalists were probably unable to make contact with the grieving Muslim community, who of course were in total shock. Peter thinks they were just reaching out for a neighbouring faith.

I’m curious if Peter knew what the role of bishop really entailed before he was appointed and he replies “yes, as I had worked closely with two bishops in Nelson - my father had been a bishop and of course I’d worked closely with the previous bishop here in Christchurch”.

Peter then says it was a pretty steep learning curve on what it means to chair the Church Property Trustees.

The workload was very heavy and only in the last year have they completed all major church repairs in the diocese other than St John’s, Hororata, and of course the Christ Church Cathedral. He adds there are, however, many churches across the diocese that still have earthquake strengthening repairs to be done.

He also adds that he knew that he would be incredibly busy and have the stress of dealing with complex issues on a daily basis. Peter says in some ways there has been nothing surprising in what he has encountered so far, but he’s always aware of the weight of the whole diocese on his shoulders.

Just as with the chain of earthquakes, no-one saw Covid coming.

“At the beginning it was kind of fine because everyone was in exactly the same situation. We all had to stay at home and cope with the same restrictions. Anything we wanted to do by the way of church, had to be done in some online way, or communicating by church emails. Like all churches around the world we made it up as we went along,” he says.

“The harder challenges of Covid for the church were when we were in [lockdown] levels 3 and 2 as that was a difficult place to be in for churches. There was a time when you could hold a service for up to 100 people, but that was providing they all had a vaccination certificate. You had to have a lower number if they weren’t vaccinated. It was quite a fine line to walk and of course, there were some Christians seeking us to make a stand against the government but we thought that it was important to actually follow the government’s lead and advice.

From a theological perspective, there’s a chapter in the book of Romans that says ‘follow what your government says’. We appreciated that the government was taking medical advice and was seeking the welfare of as many citizens as possible.”

Peter reflects that because they did work on maximising the numbers they were legally allowed to have at their services, and encouraged vaccination, they haven’t thankfully had too much downturn in their congregation numbers. However, there are some people who got out of the habit of getting in their cars on a Sunday morning and driving to church.

I ask Peter if there’s a routine to being a bishop and he says there is, but it does get mucked around with. On a Sunday, he travels with Teresa to visit one of the churches in the diocese and normally would preach a sermon and preside at communion. Sometimes there are two different services, morning and evening, and the travel might be an hour or two hours out of Christchurch. If it’s more than that they will go the day before.

Monday is either a work from home day or a catch-up day off, if he’s not been able to take a Saturday off. Peter says the demands on his role, combined with the need to see people with a degree of urgency, means he frequently has important meetings with people on Monday.

Every day at the office starts with prayer at 8.30am and is followed by a succession of meetings. On Wednesday, Peter is focused on writing his message for e-Life, the weekly diocesan publication. On certain weeks of the month, Peter has major board meetings: Standing Committee, the Church Property Trustees, and Anglican Care Trust Board. Every two months or so he is on the plane to Auckland or Wellington for a national church meeting. Saturdays are ideally a day off and Peter likes to start it with a walk around Hagley Park with Robert, a friend from his Christian Union University days.

Peter explains that most weeks, there are several hours set aside for the Christ Church Cathedral project in the form of meetings, media communications or just simply replying to emails.

In setting up this interview I made it clear to Peter that I was one of those rare people who wasn’t going to ask him about the state of the cathedral, so although we only skated around this topic I did come away thinking that Peter is consumed with long hours trying to find solutions to this mesmerisingly complex issue.

I ask Peter what was his favourite part of the job and he says he really enjoys the Sunday visits as it’s always great to connect with people across the diocese and to share in the life of people.

He really appreciates their spontaneous conversations and when people tell him how great things are going in their church. He loves hearing good news about what others are doing.

Peter adds: “It’s amazing to think that by being in this role I am meeting with people that I wouldn’t normally get to meet or interact with. I’ve enjoyed meeting with our city council, successive mayors and our local MPs, and they’re all lovely and great people. I love meeting with other church leaders from different faiths and it’s such an honour participating in the Anzac Day civic service. There is a great deal of privilege in what I’m asked to participate in.”

I do, however, cheekily ask Peter when he retires in the very distant future if he thinks it will be an easy transition? Peter replies: “I’m aware that some weeks there is such an adrenalin rush due to being involved in so many interesting things and meeting so many fascinating people that I think I will most definitely need to work on that transition. I envisage that the next stage of my life will be a quieter life where I can attend to my garden in a more relaxed way and have the time to connect better with my family. I’m looking forward to that time whenever it’s the right time for me.”

In answer to my opening question I think Peter’s job description is infinitely more challenging and richly more rewarding than you will ever encounter on the rigid confines of a chess board.

Once we finished this very enjoyable interview I produce my newly acquired copy of Ian Lochhead’s book, A Dream of Spires, which is the definitive history of the work of one of the leading architects of the Christ Church Cathedral. I ask Peter if he would be kind enough to sign it for me.

He simply writes in the inside cover “Peter Carrell”. Peter then looks up and asks “shall I write Bishop of Christchurch?” This simple question demonstrates all the humility one could ever hope for from a bishop.