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The Anglican vicar of Warkworth, who rode into town on her black Suzuki motorcycle “Sabbath”, has left her post after serving for just one year.
Rev. Ellen Bernstein declined to give her reasons for leaving when approached by Mahurangi Matters.
However, writing in the parish newsletter Link, she wrote, “I am not the priest to lead this parish through the changes that will be necessary for the future of the Anglican ministry in the Mahurangi region.”
She went on to say that some disappointment and sadness was inevitable at such a time and she sensed a “little lingering bewilderment”.
“I come with my own understanding of what I think it means to be a vicar, just as every single person worshipping in an Anglican church will have their own idea of what a vicar is and does,” she wrote.
“This is tricky for everyone.”
Rev. Bernstein went on to spell out areas of tension in the church, saying she held back from supporting development plans at Christ Church.
“While there is no doubt at all that the entrance to Christ Church needs urgently to be remodelled, I believe the interregnum will be a time for the parish to engage seriously with the wider project as it has been conceived.”
Rev. Bernstein also highlighted conflict over service times.
“Perhaps if I had been willing to take much longer to establish myself as your leader before asking for changes to service times, we might have found ourselves more able to adapt,” she wrote.
Despite the differences, Rev. Bernstein said her time at Warkworth had not been an unhappy one, saying parishioners had been very kind to her and husband Noel.
She said they would be moving to their home in the far north. She would not be taking up a role with a new parish, but could continue to minister as a priest should she be called upon to do so.
In the same issue of Link, the Right Reverend Jim White, assistant Bishop of Auckland, said he had begun conversations about the church’s future ministry with parishioners following the departure of Rev. Bernstein.
He said he would be the priest-in-charge of the parish until at least December.
“I will lead some services in the parish myself as my diary allows, but we will be heavily reliant on the ministry of the team of retired clergy,” he wrote.
Bishop White said in the light of this, he had decided to roster a single Sunday service at Christ Church at 9am, instead of two services. He anticipated this arrangement would continue until the end of January 2019.
