The Bishop of Te Hui Amorangi o Te Waipounamu, the Rt Rev John Gray, has died in Christchurch after a long illness.

Bishop Gray is lying at Te Hepara Pai, Philipstown, this weekend. He will then be taken to Tokomaru Bay, on the East Coast,. for the tangi.

Te Ohanga o Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa , the Most Rev Brown Turei, has issued the following statement:

E te Whānau a te Karaiti, 

Kua tae noa mai te karere pōuri mō te matenga a Pīhopa John Robert Kuru Gray i tē ata nei o Paraire 13 Noema 2015.

Nō reira e te rangatira e John, haere, haere, haere. Kia tapu hoki koe nā Te Karaiti. Whakatūria tō tira hei Ngāpunarua. Tahuri ō mata ngā kohu tapui kei runga o te Kautuku. Haere koe i runga i te reo karanga o Te Wairua Tapu e pōwhiri nei ki a koe.

Haere koe ki tua i te arai, piki atu i ngā uru karaka o te Ariuru. Mau atu i ngā taonga a Wharawhara, te Paekura ki tō taringa, te Waikanae ki tō ringa, hei tohu mōu. Haere ki te okiokinga o Te Karaiti, moe mai rā i runga i te rangimārie.

It is with great sorrow that I write to inform you all that Bishop John Gray, the Bishop of Te Hui Amorangi o Te Waipounamu, passed away this morning. He passed peacefully and surrounded by his loved ones. 

Bishop John was born in 1947, ordained as a Deacon in 1982, as a Priest in 1983, and as a Bishop in 1996.

He served as Vicar General to Te Pīhopa o Aotearoa for 10 years, and his ministry and courageous leadership within Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa and the wider Three-Tikanga Church will be sorely missed. 

Bishop John leaves behind his beloved wife Helen, his son Robert, daughters Raquel and Rawinia, his mokopuna and extended family.

I humbly ask that each of you would uphold his family, and Te Hui Amorangi o Te Waipounamu, in prayer at this sad time. 

At this time we are awaiting confirmation of the funeral arrangements from the whānau. This will be circulated once it is received. 

Again, I ask that at this time our focus, as Bishop John's family in Christ, be on our prayer for him and for his immediate family.

Ngā Manaakitanga ki a tātou.

++Brown

May Bishop John Gray rest in peace and rise in glory