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Last Sunday Dunedin’s Anglicans celebrated their Confirmation Eucharist in St Joseph’s Catholic cathedral after a fire damaged St Paul’s Anglican cathedral earlier in the week.
Almost immediately after the fire, two Anglican inner-city churches – All Saints’ Dunedin North and St Matthew’s – reached out with offers for St Paul’s to join them for worship last Sunday morning.
But the new Level 2 restrictions on gatherings of no more than 100 meant the Cathedral congregation couldn’t take up either offer.
So a new offer from Monsignor John Harrison and Bishop Michael Dooley was accepted.
The St Joseph’s congregation had space free for St Paul’s to use the downtown St Joseph’s Cathedral building on Sunday afternoon.
“We were overjoyed that St Joseph’s reached out to us with such generosity,” said the Very Rev Dr Tony Curtis of St Paul’s.
He said the Anglicans and Catholics like to work together closely anyway, “we’re all good friends, and it’s a really lovely gesture.”
The blaze broke out in the newly restored apse – the rounded section at the rear of the Octagon-based church – about 3.30 am on Tuesday 11 August.
The ceiling and roof of the building were fire-damaged, the crypt and part of the church were extensively water damaged.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand fire risk management officer Scott Lanauze has confirmed the cause was an unspecified electrical event.
The cost of the damage was still being assessed by insurers; however, Curtis said the crypt had suffered extensive water damage, and the roof above the altar would likely need replacing.
“What the fire hasn’t got, water has.”
“We’ll probably try to close off the far end and put a tent over it, then gradually deconstruct the roof and put a new one on.”
The organ was also partly water damaged and much of the building’s electrics were no longer usable.
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