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A decision to lease St Anne’s church in Whanganui to a Montessori Preschool has gone ahead amid rising building management and maintenance costs.
Whanganui’s parish priest Fr Craig Butler says it was “a difficult choice” to lease out the Catholic church.
He says sustaining all the Whanganui parish buildings is costly and being honest about their current financial situation is necessary.
“Our situation has changed financially and we don’t have the resources we once had, and the cost of maintaining property is expensive and we’re doing everything we can to minimise our costs.
“It’s not what we want to do, no one wants to close a church. But we’re in a difficult situation where we can’t keep doing the same thing.
“It was a deliberate choice to lease rather than sell St Anne’s” Butler says.
Leasing better than selling
A lot of churches are being sold, but it wasn’t an option St Anne’s wanted Butler explained.
“We see this as being a much better option to lease it out for a term rather than sell it outright, so that still gives hope for the future.”
Butler told the NZ Herald there was a vibrant community of “deeply faithful church members who will continue to support and maintain St Anne’s existence.
“We rely on the generosity of people to sustain the life of the church … but we live in a time when the cost of living is very expensive and people don’t have the kind of money they once did.
“Our situation is we have a number of churches and it’s a challenge just to maintain them. At the moment we’re just covering emergencies when it comes to repairs.”
Butler hopes the church will benefit the community in a different way while it’s being used as a preschool.
Final Mass – a packed Church
The Church with its tiered seating and distinctive sparkling stained-glass steeple was packed for a Mass of Thanksgiving on Sunday evening.
Celebrated by Parish Priest Fr Craig Butler and assisted by Fr John Roberts, the Mass was one of sadness.
Especially touching were parishioners in silence clearing the sanctuary, removing the liturgical items, lectionary, candle sticks, hand bells and finally the altar cloth.
“All this talk of synodality is fine, but it doesn’t get a look-in when it comes to a finance committee.
“They are going to look at the balance statements being in the black” a parishioner told CathNews.
Decisions they make have huge pastoral consequences that aren’t considered and the impact will be felt beyond the parish community the parishioner said.
Reflection on a separate event, the parishioner recalled a conversation with a non-church-going person who cried at the sight of a church on a Brittons house movers truck and the suggestion that their small section of the community had lost its soul.
Now St Anne’s church is closed, former members of congregation will need to go to Mass at St Mary’s in Whanganui, Holy Family in Gonville or Te Rongo o Te Poi at Kaiwhaiki Marae.
Source
- NZ Herald
- Supplied
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