Published May 23, 2022 1:18PM
A former Gisborne priest and Poverty Bay cricketer has been promoted up the batting order by the Pope to a new position in the Catholic Church.
Pope Francis appointed Bishop Michael Gielen as the new Bishop of Christchurch, in Rome at 10pm New Zealand time on Saturday.
Bishop Gielen has been the Auxiliary Bishop of Auckland since March 2020. He was 48 at that time, making him New Zealand’s youngest Bishop.
He will be installed in his new Christchurch role by July to replace the former Bishop of Christchurch, Paul Martin SM, who was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Wellington in January 2021.
Bishop Gielen said he was “humbled and honoured” by the appointment.
“I have a deep respect for the people of Christchurch, borne from their displays of resilience and generosity in the face of great adversity,” he says. “I am grateful for Archbishop Paul Martin’s leadership and vision. He leaves behind a courageous legacy.
“I am also very indebted to the people of Auckland and Hamilton, for all they have given me over my 25 years of ministry.
“I look forward to the new challenge that my appointment brings and meeting the people of Christchurch over the coming months.”
Born in Cambridge, Waikato, Bishop Gielen (50) is the son of Henk and Maureen Gielen of Mount Maunganui and is the eldest of six children. He is a keen sportsman.
He was ordained as a priest in 1997 and his first role out of seminary college was to serve as a priest in Gisborne between 1997 and 2002. He is also a former chair of the Gisborne Ministers Association.
A keen cricketer, he also represented Poverty Bay during his time in Gisborne.
He served parishes in Gisborne, Hamilton and the western Bay of Plenty before becoming Director of Formation at the Holy Cross Seminary in Auckland in 2014, helping to train new priests until becoming Auxiliary Bishop to Bishop Patrick Dunn. Bishop Dunn retired recently and was replaced by Bishop Stephen Lowe, formerly Bishop of Hamilton.
Bishops of the Catholic Church are appointed by the Pope. Bishop Gielen’s Christchurch appointment means two dioceses — Hamilton and Palmerston North — are without bishops pending Pope Francis making appointments there.
The Diocese of Christchurch has 18 parishes, 35 primary and secondary schools and 65,646 of New Zealand’s 470,000 Catholics, or 14 percent.
AT THE CREASE: Michael Gielen playing for Poverty Bay. The keen cricketer was ordained as a priest in 1997 and that year took up his first appointment as a parish priest in Gisborne, where he stayed until 2002. He has been appointed as the new Bishop of Christchurch. File picture
Bishop of Christchurch: Bishop Michael Gielen. Picture supplied
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