David Penman

Who was David Penman?

David John Penman was the 10th Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne.

Born on 8 August 1936, Penman received his secondary education at Hutt Valley High School, and studied Physical Education as part of teacher training at Wellington Teachers College. He was accepted as a candidate for ordination by Archbishop Reginald Herbert Owen, and entered theological training at College House, the University of New Zealand and the University of Karachi. He was ordained deacon in 1961 and priest in 1962. His first post was as a curate at Wanganui from 1961 to 1964, followed by a decade of missionary work in Pakistan and the Middle East. In 1975 he was appointed Principal of St Andrew's Hall a CMS missionary training college in Melbourne. He returned to New Zealand in 1979, where he was Vicar of All Saints' Church in Palmerston North. In 1982 he became Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Melbourne before becoming the archbishop two years later. Though remaining strongly Evangelical, he was passionately committed to dialogue between religious traditions.