Archbishop of Canterbury pays tribute to Bishop Sir Paul Reeves of New Zealand
Monday 15th August 2011
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has paid tribute to the former Archbishop of New Zealand who died in Auckland on Sunday 14th August.
"Sir Paul was one of the great statesmen of the Anglican Communion, and someone whom I was most happy to count as a personal friend. My heart goes out to his family as they mourn his passing, and we give thanks to God for the life and work of Sir Paul. "
The Archbishop of York will attend the state funeral in Auckland on Thursday 18th August.
Sir Paul's contributions to his native New Zealand include his years as Bishop, Archbishop, and then Governor-General of the country. He continued to serve in a wider context by becoming the first Anglican Observer at the United Nations in New York; and at the request of the Commonwealth Secretary General took on a range of international roles in Ghana, South Africa, Fiji and Guyana.
In 2007, upon receiving New Zealand's highest honour, the Order of New Zealand, he summed up his life’s work by saying “fundamentally, I’m a priest of the Anglican Church… I’ve helped good people do good things.”