Willie Pwaisiho

{{Short description|Melanesian Anglican bishop}} {{Infobox Christian leader | honorific_prefix = The Right Reverend | name = Willie Pwaisiho | title = Bishop of Malaita | image = Priest with Bishop Willie Pwaisiho (53795748769) (cropped).jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Bishop Pwaisiho in 2024 | diocese = Diocese of Malaita | term = 1981–1989 | other_post = General Secretary, Melanesian Board of Mission (1990–1995)<br />Honorary assistant bishop, Diocese of Chester (1997–2019)<br />Rector of Gawsworth (1999–2019)  | ordination = 1974 (deacon); 1975 (priest) | ordained_by = | consecration = 28 June 1981 | consecrated_by =  | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1948|5|14|df=y}} | birth_place =  | death_date =  | death_place =  | buried = | nationality = Melanesian | religion = Anglican | residence = | parents = Stephen Honiuhi & Esther Makatoro<ref name="WW" /> | spouse = Kate Kome Oikada<ref name="WW" /> | children = 2 sons; 3 daughters<ref name="WW" /> | occupation = | profession = | education = | alma_mater = Bishop Patteson Theological College, Kohimarama }} '''William Alaha Pwaisiho''', {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|OBE}} (called Willie;<ref name="CTel">{{Church Times | title = In brief: Two new bishops | archive = 1981_05_15_004 | issue = 6170 | date = 15 May 1981 | page = 4 | accessed = 24 August 2016 }}</ref> born 14 May 1948)<ref name="WW">{{Who's Who | title=Pwaisiho, William Alaha | id = U44415 | volume = 2016 | edition = November 2015 online | access-date = 24 August 2016 }}</ref> is a retired Anglican bishop who served as a bishop of the Anglican Church of Melanesia and then a priest in the Church of England.<ref>{{Crockford | forenames = William Alaha | surname = Pwaisiho | id = 22719 | accessed = 24 August 2016 }}</ref><ref name="b519">{{cite book | title=Pacific Islands Monthly: PIM. | publisher=Pacific Publications | series=P.M.B. document | issue=第 48 卷 | year=1977 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Ag0AAAAIAAJ | access-date=2024-05-11 | page=25}}</ref>

==Early ministry== Pwaisiho was ordained a deacon in 1974 and a priest in 1975; he was Chaplain to Norman Palmer, Archbishop of Melanesia and to the Police in Honiara, both in 1976. He then became curate (the first missionary priest from Melanesia), at Mission Bay, New Zealand (1977–1978) then Chaplain and Tutor, Bishop Patteson Theological College in Kohimarama (1979–1980) where he himself had trained. His final post before appointment to the episcopate was as Dean of St Barnabas Provincial Cathedral, Honiara (1980–1981).<ref name="WW" />

==Bishop of Malaita== His election to become the second Bishop of Malaita was reported in May 1981<ref name="CTel" /> and he was duly consecrated on 28 June 1981 at Malaita Cathedral.<ref>[http://anglicanhistory.org/oceania/COM_archives.pdf List of small publications in the Archives of the Anglican Church of Melanesia (in the National Archives of Solomon Islands)] (Accessed 24 August 2016)</ref> He resigned as Bishop of Malaita in 1989, becoming a tutor at the Melanesian Brotherhood HQ in Tabalia for a year, then the first General Secretary of the Melanesian Board of Mission, Honiara until 1995.<ref name="WW" />

==Parish ministry== Pwaisiho returned to parish ministry, first in the east of Honiara, 1995–1997, then in the UK as assistant curate at St Anne and St Francis, Sale<ref>{{Church Times | title = Appointments | archive = 1997_09_26_006 | issue = 7024 | date = 26 September 1997 | page = 6 | accessed = 24 August 2016 }}</ref> until 1999. With his arrival in Sale he was licensed as an honorary assistant bishop of the Diocese of Chester, and following his curacy in Sale, he was appointed Rector of Gawsworth, Cheshire in 1999.<ref>{{Church Times | title = Appointments | archive = 1999_03_05_004 | issue = 7099 | date = 5 March 1999 | page = 4 | accessed = 24 August 2016 }}</ref> In Cheshire, he has served as Chaplain to John Richards, High Sheriff (2002–2003); as Honorary Chaplain to the national charity CrimeBeat (2004–present); and a Member of the Ethnic Minority Independent Advisory Group for Cheshire Constabulary. He became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2004 and is also a member of Melanesian Mission UK and of the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland Pacific Forum.<ref name="WW" /> He retired from Gawsworth in January 2019.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.ilovemacc.com/2018/03/09/bishop-william-announces-retirement/ | title=Bishop William announces his retirement | date=9 March 2018 }}</ref>

==References== <references /> {{s-start}} {{S-rel|ac}} {{S-bef|before=Leonard Alufurai}} {{S-ttl|title=Bishop of Malaita|years=1981–1989}} {{S-aft|after=Raymond Aumae}} {{S-end}} {{Bishops of Malaita}} {{ACOM dioceses}} {{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pwaisiho, William Alaha}} Category:1948 births Category:20th-century Anglican bishops in Oceania Category:Living people Category:Anglican bishops of Malaita Category:Academic staff of Bishop Patteson Theological College