Wednesday 10 September 2025
As we draw close to the end of the term, there is still a lot that continues to occur. I am in the thick of meeting with Year 12 students who are expressing interest in the House and Senior Sacristan roles here in the life of the Chapel for 2026. Whether we represent our Houses as Sacristan or are appointed as Senior Sacristans, we run our Chaplaincy as a ‘team’ – for as the acronym tells us ‘Together Everyone Achieves More’.
But many may be quietly asking - what’s the difference between the two roles?
House Sacristans tend to be the conduit of communication between the Chapel and the Houses and provide encouragement to students to get involved in various Chapel initiatives. They also guide students towards Community Service opportunities, as well as being a caring presence in the House. Along with this, House Sacristans are involved in Chapel services at the College, reading and praying in front of their peers, and supporting the services in various ways.
Senior Sacristans are part of the senior prefect body here at the College, and along with fulfilling a myriad of similar duties around the Chapel, they also work closely with the Chaplaincy leadership, holding differing portfolios. These portfolios include roles such as organising one-off Community Service projects like the Ōtāhuhu Fun Day and Runathon, providing leadership to The Chapel Band and assisting with Chapel life.
Next year, we’re looking to add more opportunities to hear ‘student voice’, including a Chapel Arts group, digital communications, Music in the Close lunchtime events, and a student-led ‘Gathering’ for people interested in faith. It promises to be a very exciting year indeed.
But what of ‘Community Service…’?
Writes Mr Horacek-Glading…
It has been another wonderful term of Community Service at King’s with students continuing with the weekly trips to various locations and organisations in Ōtāhuhu.
We finished the term with our last visit to the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre for 2025 and with a book drive for the local Ōtāhuhu Library. We were blessed to be able to deliver over a thousand books of very good quality and content to the library, where some will be kept for the shelves and the rest will be made available to members of the local community to take home. Thanks to all the families that got behind this amazing initiative.
Meanwhile…
It was a privilege to accompany seven of our sacristans (pictured above), along with Assistant Lay Chaplain Max Masters, to the annual Ōtāhuhu Rotary Luncheon, last Tuesday. Hosted at the Ōtāhuhu Town Hall it was good to gather with other senior students from around the Ōtāhuhu area, including McAuley High School School and Ōtāhuhu College. This annual event provides not only a chance to get together over lunch and mix with our neighbouring schools, but to learn of the important work of Rotary International.
Rotary began way back in 1905, in Chicago when a lawyer by the name of Paul Harris collaborated with professionals from diverse backgrounds to create some public facilities for the good of the community. Since then, Rotary’s work particularly in the field of polio reduction has been prolific, reducing the countries where it is endemic from 125 countries in 1988 to just 2 in 2025. Students learn about this work with the opportunity to think about getting involved as they move into community life, just like last year’s Head Boy Samar Singh (Averill, 2020-24 ) has done.
And finally, for those of you who’ve been following this story, last Sunday afternoon it was privilege to be able to attend the Consecration of St Paul’s-in-the-Park, on behalf of King’s. Over the last eight years, former King’s College Chaplain, The Rev’d Warner Wilder has been hard at work leading - on a half-time basis (though working very much fulltime!), a congregation as well as helping to spearhead the fundraising for a new church build to complement the historical St Paul’s in the Park Anglican Church in Ormiston. What a joy it was to see the new church building and community centre at St Paul’s-in-the-Park finally consecrated by Bishop Ross Bay, and to see a number of Old Collegians there too.
A sincere congratulations to Rev’d Warner on such an incredible achievement. I know he would love to see you there, if you fancy popping along to a service, as the community seeks to help build a corner of God’s Kingdom amongst that burgeoning population of Auckland and attend to people’s needs with faith, hope and love.
In the meantime, enjoy the run-in to the holidays and do pray for those senior students especially who are preparing for their end of year exams.
Virtus Pollet.
Rev Gareth Walters, Mr Antony Horacek-Glading and Mr Max Masters