PARTNERS
Dr. Jenny Plane Te Paa
Dr. Jenny Plane Te Paa is Ahorangi or Principal of Te Rau Kahikatea, constituent of The College of St. John the Evangelist in Auckland New Zealand. She was appointed to this position in 1995. At just 41 years of age at the time, her appointment broke with Anglican ecclesial and seminary 'tradition' on many fronts. Jenny is still the first and only lay, indigenous woman ever to be appointed as head of an Anglican Theological College throughout the Anglican Communion. Her qualifications for the position are exemplary. Jenny has maintained a lifelong faith commitment to the Anglican Church. She has a record of extensive service to local parishes and vestries, she is a serving member of General Synod (since 1994), and is an experienced teacher and academic theologian. She has been the leader of many women's and community social service projects and a member of numerous Church based research projects nationally and internationally.
Jenny was the first Maori person to complete an academic degree in theology from the University of Auckland and in 1994 she completed a Master’s degree with Honors in Educational Administration. Her Master’s thesis traced the historical experience of theological education for Maori students at St. John’s College from 1843 to 1990. Revealed in her research work is clear evidence of embedded structural injustice, which militated powerfully against indigenous success in theological education. The transformative project she seeks to engage in her current position is to provide and sustain a teaching and learning environment in which all students (especially but not exclusively indigenous or other minority students) may flourish and succeed in ways which give due honor to their cultural contexts and yet which in turn, enables all graduates to be empowered and effective agents for God’s mission and ministry, regardless of any ‘differences.’
Jenny completed her Ph.D. in 2001 at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California writing on Race, Politics and Theological Education. In 2003 in recognition of her international contribution ‘to justice and peace through theological education,’ she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In her spare time, she also serves the New Zealand Church as; a Trustee for Te Whareruruhau o Meri, (an indigenous partner Social Services Agency to the Anglican Trust for Women and Children in Auckland); as a member of the Social Justice Commission for the Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia, as a member of Te Hui Amorangi ki te Tai Tokerau, as Convenor for the National Women’s Studies Centre Project and as a member of General Synod. She serves the international Church as Convenor of the Steering Committee for the International Anglican Peace and Justice Network; as member of the World Council of Churches Commission on Ecumenical Theological Education and Ministry Formation and Moderator of the Working Group, responsible for funding faculty development and Ecumenical Theological Educational projects on an international basis.
In 2001 Jenny was appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury to serve on the Inter-Anglican Theological Doctrinal Commission for a 7-year term and in 2003 she was also appointed to serve on both the Commission on Theological Education for the Anglican Communion and the Lambeth Commission. She belongs to the International Anglican Indigenous Network and the International Anglican Women’s Network.
Jenny has written many articles for publication in various Theological Journals and secular publications throughout the world and she has regularly taught courses in theological studies in New Zealand, Australia, throughout the South Pacific, Canada, the United States and in various parts of Asia. She is sought after as a speaker, lecturer, facilitator, media commentator, guest preacher and panelist, nationally and internationally, on a wide range of political and theological issues particularly those concerning social justice, indigenous rights, race politics, feminist politics and theological education. In August 2005 she was appointed to the Auckland’s Holy Trinity Cathedral Chapter as Lay Canon in recognition of her contribution to the life and public work of the Cathedral. In June 2006 she was appointed by the Prime Minister of New Zealand as a member of the National Arts Council in recognition of her commitment to the arts.
Te Rarawa ki Ahipara, the indigenous tribal people from whom Jenny is descended, have always very proudly claimed and acknowledged her as one of their very own and very special, daughters of the land.