Christchurch’s Catholic cathedral will return to old site

Sunday, 21 April 2024

Bishop Michael Gielen on the the Barbadoes St property where the new Catholic cathedral will be built.

Christchurch’s new Catholic cathedral will be rebuilt on the Barbadoes St site of the former cathedral, abandoning plans for a central city riverfront location.

Bishop Michael Gielen told mass-goers in a letter read from pulpits on Sunday that his decision was based partly on the wishes of local Catholics.

“For the last 160 years this (Barbadoes St) site has been the focal point of our diocese,” he said.

“We hope to connect with the inner city revitalisation.”

He said experts had also been consulted, and the land was suitable for reconstruction. Financial prudence and space for growth were also considered, he said.

A new name will be chosen for the new building.

The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament before the earthquakes. Its replacement will be built at the same location.

Of the 1600 people who took part in a survey run by the Christchurch diocese, 85% wanted the Barbadoes St site - where the earthquake-damaged 1905 Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament was demolished in 2020. Catholic Cathedral College land and unused church-owned sites adjoin the property.

Another 10% of those surveyed wanted the $50 million riverfront block, which the diocese bought to rebuild by the corner of Armagh and Colombo streets, opposite Victoria Square. Another 4% opted to expand at St Mary’s, now the pro-Cathedral, on Manchester St.

The survey results were released on Sunday.

A new $40m cathedral was already being designed for the cleared riverfront land by Christchurch’s Warren and Mahoney Architects and American firm Franck & Lohsen Architects. A new campus for St Mary’s primary school was also proposed, and chancery offices, gardens, and a parking building.

An adjacent site owned by private developer Philip Carter was to hold some aspects of the Catholic precinct.

The $500m precinct, covering the entire block, was announced in 2019 and the new cathedral was to have been ready by 2026.

Former bishop Paul Martin, left, and developer Philip Carter pictured in 2019 on land bought for a new catholic cathedral and precinct.

Gielen called a temporary halt on the riverfront project last year following a legal challenge lodged with the Vatican by a group of Christchurch Catholics to the sell-off of some suburban church property.

He later announced that while the Vatican challenge did not prevent the project continuing, he wished to take time to prayerfully consider other options.

Construction is to be funded from the sale of the Armagh St land, and perhaps other properties around the city as the diocese consolidates parishes.

The riverfront land bought for a new cathedral is to be sold. It is now used for car parking.

Gielen said construction would be “a years long journey” and they would proceed with “urgency and care”.

“This will be the first new Catholic cathedral built from scratch in New Zealand for more than 120 years, so it will be a complex undertaking.

“Our new cathedral will take time, but the wait will be worth it.”