Anglicans from across Aotearoa are gathering this Saturday at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul to celebrate the ordination and installation of the Reverend Anashuya (Ana) Fletcher as the new Assistant Bishop of Wellington.

Ana is the second woman, and the youngest to date at 40, to hold the position of Bishop within the Diocese of Wellington, after the Right Reverend Eleanor Sanderson, who became Bishop of Hull, UK, in 2022.

As Assistant Bishop, she will support Bishop of Wellington, Justin Duckworth in leading the Diocese as a transformative movement of local faith communities.

Bishop Justin says, “Ana is gifted in ministry and is well placed to meet the challenges facing the church,” he said. “I’ve always admired her commitment to the task Jesus has for the church – to be his hands and feet and witness to his work of reconciliation. “Ana’s faith and love for Jesus is clear in the way she lives. She has put everything on the line to follow the call of God,” he said.

This service will see several hundred people gather from faith communities across the lower North Island, the wider church in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific, along with representatives from other denominations, faiths, and civic life.

Ana is currently Co-Priest in Charge of St Peter’s in Gonville, Whanganui, alongside her husband Paul. They have two primary-school aged children.

Ana came to Aotearoa New Zealand from Sri Lanka as a one-year old with her family, escaping the unrest there at that time. She has a background in law and management, and is a cofounder and executive assistant of Common Good Coffee, a social enterprise that sparks good in places of extreme poverty and modern slavery.

Her particular passions are around reconciliation, the ministry of the church in places of extreme hardship, and advocacy for those caught in modern day slavery and human trafficking.

Service details:

The service begins at 10:30 am on Saturday 13 April at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul (Cnr Hill and Molesworth Streets in Wellington City).

Members of the public are welcome to attend.

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