Pope Francis has appointed the Bishop of Christchurch, Paul Martin SM, as the Coadjutor Archbishop of Wellington. The appointment was announced in Rome overnight and comes into effect immediately. Archbishop of Wellington, Cardinal John Dew says he is delighted with the appointment, which comes at a time of a heavy workload in the Wellington Diocese. Read more
The Catholic Bishop of Christchurch, Paul Martin is reconsidering restoration of the earthquake-damaged Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. The diocese has about $30m from insurance but the total cost of a complete restoration is estimated to be in the region of $100 million. That leaves about $70m to be obtained from fund-raising. Martin has questioned the Read more
An optimistic crowd on Saturday packed a very hot Christchurch Boys’ High School auditorium for the ordination of Bishop Paul Martin SM. Martin, ordained the tenth Bishop of Christchurch on 3 March 2018, by Cardinal John Dew, succeeds Bishop Barry Jones, who died in February 2016. In a ceremony involving Latin, Māori and English, Pope Francis’ Read more
Christchurch Bishop-elect says re-siting Marian College is his number one priority. Students from Marion College have, for six years, operated from a temporary building. Currently, Marian College is sited at the southern end of the earthquake-damaged cathedral. “They have had a whole generation of students go through since the earthquakes”, he told The Press. A Read more
A new Catholic bishop of Christchurch has been appointed nearly two years after the death of his predecessor bishop Barry Jones. Father Paul Martin will be 10th Catholic Bishop of Christchurch. His ordination is expected to be next year, possibly in February. One of the important issues he will need to address is the restoration of the Read more
The Catholic diocese of Christchurch is waiting for the appointment of a new Bishop to get approval for the restoration of the earthquake damaged Cathedral. “We are ready to go in a sense, but we can’t do anything that compromises the bishop’s decision,” said the administrator of the Christchurch Diocese Fr Rick Loughnan. He said Read more
Requiem Mass for The Bishop of Christchurch, Barry Jones, who died on Saturday, will be held at 1pm on Friday. Burial will take place after the Mass at Bromley Cemetery. He will be taken to the Carmelite Monastery on Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday afternoon the Bishop will rest at Te Rangimarie Centre. He will then lie Read more