A special sign was given to Bishop Stephen Lowe when he was preparing to leave Hamilton and head north to be the Twelfth Bishop of Auckland.
Bishop Lowe told people at a powhiri in the grounds of the Pompallier Diocesan Centre in Ponsonby on February 18 that he was leaving Hamilton with great sadness, but he always tried to do what the Church asked of him.
“As I was packing up my car yesterday, I was packing up my last load of clothes to put in the back of the car – there was just the vestments to go – and I heard this ‘cheep, cheep, cheep’ in the house. There was a piwakawaka (fantail) in there. For me, the piwawakaka is always significant, they always appear when something important is happening in my life, or when I am really stressed or worried about something.
“I was thinking, how am I going to get it out of the house now? But the piwakawaka had it all under control. It flew straight ahead of me and out the door – and I thought this is where I am meant to be [going].”
Bishop Lowe said that his motto is “The Lord is My Shepherd”, and that he believes Christ goes before him.
During the powhiri, speeches were made and songs were sung by tangata whenua and by those who accompanied Bishop Lowe from Hamilton. After this, Bishop Lowe was “handed over” to Auckland.
Bishop Patrick Dunn welcomed his successor to Auckland. He pointed to a Kauri tree growing in the grounds, noting that it had been planted in 1938 to mark 100 years since the arrival of Bishop Jean-Baptiste Pompallier in this country.
“So for the past 30 years or so, I have been watching it growing, and it has been growing. Now Bishop Steve, you can watch it.”
Bishop Dunn explained the historic significance of the site, which was purchased by Bishop Pompallier in the 1850s.
“And now Bishop Steve, we welcome you as the eleventh successor of Bishop Pompallier, as our bishop, as my bishop. And so I welcome you with great pleasure . . . and I assure you manuhiri (visitors) from that diocese [Hamilton], we will look after him. We will take care of him – so don’t come and pinch him!”
Bishop Lowe said it is a great privilege for him to be Bishop Dunn’s successor, which is “very humbling, because you are so loved, and you are a great father of this diocese”.
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