Ian Nield

This article forms part of the series Orthodoxy in New Zealand

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Life

Ian James Nield was born in Oldham, England in 1961. He was baptized in October 1961 at St. Margaret's Church, Hollinwood and was brought up as a High Church Anglican. With his parents he moved to New Zealand in 1970.

He was educated at various schools in New Zealand and England in the 1970s before commencing his studies at the University of Waikato in 1980. There was no Anglican chaplaincy at university so he sought the pastoral oversight of the Roman Catholic chaplains on campus, Fr. Gerald Quin and Fr. Graham Alexander. It was at university he met his future wife Joanne, to whom he was married in 1986, by Canon Stuart Anderson (+March 2009, Hastings, NZ) at St. James Anglican Church, Lower Hutt, NZ.

In 1987 Ian and his wife moved to England so that he could pursue his doctoral studies. He completed his PhD in physics in 1990 and returned to New Zealand in 1994, settling in Auckland. In 1998 the Nield family moved back to Lower Hutt.

By 1998 it had become painfully obvious that Ian could no longer call the Anglican Church his ecclesial home. After a period of instruction the whole family was received into the Orthodox Church on Palm Sunday (April 4), 1999. Beginning in September 2000, Ian served on the Archdiocesan board of trustees.

Ian has full time secular employment as a senior official at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. He holds degrees in Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics and has professional qualifications in Finance.

Ian and Joanne have four children who are all of school age.