The Vaughan Park Sir Paul Reeves Memorial Lecture 2013

In my mind the life of Archbishop Sir Paul Reeves is, metaphorically speaking, a kōauau, the Māori term for a melodious flute.
I once asked Archbishop Paul how I should address him, as Archbishop or as Sir Paul the Governor-General.  He responded with a question, what do you see? My reply was, I see a Māori priest. That is a great title he said.  From that day I greeted him in Māori as Pa Paul Reeves.

The evocative expression, “Melodies Eternally New” is from Gitanjali: Song Offerings, which are a collection of devotional songs to the supreme one by Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet, educator, philosopher and 1913 Nobel Literature Prize laureate. Tagore translated his Bengali epic to English language and from one poem, Little Flute, is found “melodies eternally new.” The flute played by the Lord, says Tagore, is a frail vessel that is emptied time and time again and yet paradoxically is filled over and over 'with fresh life'.
It has been, he says, “carried over hills and dales, and hast breathed through it melodies eternally new.”
A theme of this kōauau is Pa Paul's sense of the priesthood, particularly his self-awareness of the social role as a priest committed to the common good.   

In my mind whatever his choice of social activism for justice and peace he took his priesthood with him or put another way his sense of priesthood underpinned his social philosophy and activism, which in turn informed his priesthood and spirituality. 
A very significant part of his world-view was his concern for the Church's voice and role in the public square.
While being acutely critical of the Church, which he clearly loved, he did much to work out and reflect his faith, his humanism in local, national and international interests.

Pa Paul's melodies and song offerings are many indeed.