Our Whakapapa

The Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki stretches from the iron sands of South Taranaki to the beau­ti­ful beaches of south­ern Coro­man­del; some of the most spec­tac­u­lar and abund­ant land of the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand.
find out more
"

Our Whakapapa

“Perhaps more than any­where else in Aotearoa New Zealand, the land on which the Diocese of Waikato & Taranaki sits has a deeply con­flic­ted history”

Philip Richard­son

Bishop of the diocese of Waikato & Taranaki

Waikato

Taranaki

Anglicans

Taking its name from the mighty Waikato river and the majestic Mt Taranaki, the Diocese honours its shared her­it­age with the people of Te Manawa o te Wheke and Te Upoko o te Ika.

The Diocese of Waikato was con­sti­tuted in 1926. In 2010, and hon­our­ing the dream of Bishop Selwyn 165 years ago, the Diocese was renamed as the Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki.

This Diocese has held a unique place in the Anglican Com­mu­nion, having had two Bish­op­rics; the Bish­op­ric of Waikato and the Bish­op­ric of Taranaki.  This also means that there were two co-equal Dio­cesan Bishops; The Bishop of Waikato and the Bishop of Taranaki, and two Cathed­rals; the Waikato Cathed­ral Church of St Peter and the Taranaki Cathed­ral Church of St Mary. At this time however, we share one Bishop who holds epis­copal author­ity for the whole Diocese.