Stewart Harvey, Chairman of the New Zealand Historic Cemeteries Conservation Trust, has described the fate of historic churches as a quietly unfolding New Zealand tragedy. Harvey expressed his view in an article, Saving Grace that appeared in the Autumn 2012 edition of Heritage, In the article Matt Philp described the fate of a number of Read more
Susie Scott, whose family has an association with the Teschemakers Catholic girls’ boarding school going back to its establishment in 1911, has now had a High Court decision which confirms the altar cannot be removed from the College chapel without a resource consent. The dispute dates from August, 2010 when contractors Naylor Love arrived to remove Read more
The historic importance of two Auckland Catholic buildings has been recognised. The NZ Historic Places Trust recently registered Bishop’s House in Ponsonby, and St Benedict’s Church and presbytery, as Category 1 historic places, identifying them as places of outstanding heritage significance. Continue reading
A late bid to save landmark Hamilton East building Euphrasie House has been rejected by the Catholic Church, which bought the building in 2012. The Hamilton East Community Trust (HECT) is still fighting to keep the pre-World War II Spanish mission-style convent standing, despite the church diocese gaining consent to demolish the 74-year-old building. The Read more
Pilgrimages have greatly advanced in popularity in recent years throughout the world. Who would have thought that thousands of people, young and old, would queue to walk the 800+ km of the Pilgrimage to Compostela in Spain, recently popularized by the film “The Way”, at present screening in New Zealand cinemas! The film is well Read more
Expected increased insurance premiums for historic Dunedin churches have been likened to a “tsunami about to hit”. Dunedin diocese’s general manager Stuart Young said parishioners were ultimately the ones who would bear the costs of increased insurance premiums, brought about by the Christchurch earthquakes. “It is a tsunami about to hit us. We face a Read more