A NEW BISHOP FOR DOGURA DIOCESE IN PNG

May 8, 2014

The following news item was received from the Rt Revd Peter Ramsden, Bishop of Port Moresby, in PNG. ABM warmly congratulates Fr Tennyson Bogar on his appointment as Bishop of Dogura Diocese and wishes him well in his new role. We look forward to working together in partnership.

On 3rd May 2014 the election for a new bishop for Dogura Diocese was held at Awaiama, Milne Bay Province, in the presence of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea’s Registrar Goodwin Poole. That afternoon it was announced that Fr Tennyson Bogar, currently Vicar General and Dean of St John’s Cathedral in Port Moresby Diocese, had been duly elected.

The consecration will be held on Sunday 29th June 2014 in the Cathedral Church of SS Peter & Paul, Dogura.

Fr Tennyson, 57, from Keia, Milne Bay Province, is the son of Fr John William Bogar, and grandson of James Bogar, one of a group of South Sea Islanders who the first missionaries recruited to be teacher evangelists in New Guinea.

 Fr Tennyson completed his secondary education at All Souls’ Charter Towers in Australia before going to the Philippines to study Theology at St Andrew’s Seminary in Manila. Ordained deacon in 1981, he first served at St George’s Rabaul. He was then moved to the Anglican National Office in Lae to become its Communications Officer. Ordained priest in 1983, he lectured at Newton Theological College before being appointed  Rector of St Francis’ Goroka in 1987.

In 1991 he was appointed Anglican Defence Force Chaplain at Igam Barracks in Lae, and served in this capacity until 2012. One of his most harrowing duties was in 2003 when he was part of the Defence Force contingent who went to the Solomon Islands to identify and bring home the bodies of the 7 murdered Melanesian Brothers for burial.

In 2012 Fr Tennyson left the Defence Force and accepted the position of Dean of St John’s Cathedral, Port Moresby. At the end of that year he also took on the responsibilities of Vicar General.

He is married to Eren, who comes from Megiar in Madang Province. They have 8 children, 6 of whom are pictured below.