Rode Bicycle To Interviews

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31081, 9 June 1966, Page 1

Rode Bicycle To Interviews

When Dean Pyatt went to Church House for interviews after the announcement of his appointment as Bishop yesterday, he rode his bicycle.

Why? “I live within the city limits, I can get in faster than you can in a car and I have no parking problems,” he replied.

means for the clergy to work most effectively,” he said “We’ve got the manpower and we’ve got to get it organised to the best advantage.” Apart from relinquishing the duties of dean, what would the change involve?— “Giving up the chairmanship of a lot of committees and collecting the chairmanship of a lot of others.” To a question on his hobbies, Dean Pyatt replied promptly: “Church union and Rugby football.”

This approach is typical of the man who will lead the Diocese of Christchurch.

“Will you continue to ride your bicycle?” he was asked. “Why not?” was the reply.

Asked what he considered the immediate and most important tasks facing him, as Bishop, Dean Pyatt replied:

As chief recreation he would list “Sleeping on sandhills,” which meant that he and his family loved the seaside for holidays. Dean Pyatt said that since his nomination had gone forward from the Electoral Synod he had had time to get used to the idea of assuming the office of Bishop of Christchurch, but he still approached it with deep humility. “In a way it will be easier than coming as a stranger to be Dean,” he said. “We have been here just four years, we have loved every moment of it, we have had the greatest encouragement and kindness from Bishop Warren and Mrs Warren and everyone else. We have been taken into the diocese and into Christchurch. Now we must reach out into the diocese and into Christchurch.”

“The Christchurch Diocese has always had first-class administration. I would think that if things continued normally we would do very well. “Simple pastoral care will be my chief job. A vicar must visit and care for all in his parish. A bishop must visit and care for all parishes in his diocese.”

In this Dean Pyatt has more than a head start. He has visited all but two of the parishes and has met many of them in formal services, missions, and informal occasions. He aims to call again as soon as possible but said that, for a start, these visits would have to coincide in many cases with confirmation services arranged for the third term.

Dean Pyatt is well aware of the problems facing churches in new housing areas. He rattled off half a dozen problem parishes in Christchurch alone.

“We are not now so much concerned • with providing buildings as with providing