St Joseph's Catholic Church in Picton had been deemed an earthquake risk after getting a new building standard (NBS) rating of 10 percent. In May, plans to deconstruct it were mooted. The task of taking the building apart began in July.

The last service at St Joseph's was held in January 2019. After that, the church's operations moved next door, to a new worship space at the now-closed St Joseph's School.

Greg Stretch, Star of the Sea Steering Committee chair, says many of the church's "precious items" had already been saved. Others will be salvaged as the building is deconstructed.

These include the foundation stone, the stained-glass window and some timber, he says.

"Other features, such as art work and pews, have already been incorporated into the new worship space."

The deconstruction plan has programmed the work to be complete by late August or early September.

"The main reason to complete the demolition of the church was health and safety-related, due to its poor condition," Stretch says.

The land the church stood on was likely to go on the market after the deconstruction work is complete.

However, Stretch says "no progress has been made on the sale of the land as of yet."

St Joseph's history at the site spans 158 years. The original church opened in 1865, but the foundation stone for the building currently being deconstructed was laid in 1917.

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Its long history of Sunday masses ended on January 13, 2019 and its doors were closed for good after a parish property review later that year.

The soon-to-be-razed Catholic church building was the second church built on the site . The first had its first Mass in 1865.

The current building has been deemed an earthquake risk after being given a new building standard (NBS) rating of just 10 percent.

Options were considered by the region's Catholic parish, Star of the Sea Marlborough. The parish eventually decided the cost of making the building safe to use again wasn't viable.

"Today, with fewer priests, rising costs and parishioners more likely to drive to Mass, parishes have been asked to reorganise how they engage with their communities," said Greg Stretch, Star of the Sea Steering Committee chair.

A decision was made to demolish the building in May this year. Stretch said the committee is currently seeking quotes to get the job done.

"It was a tough decision to make, but in the end when you look at what the NBS rating was, we needed to make sure we're looking after our clergy as well as our parishioners," he said.

Parishioners don't have to go far to their new church, though.

A wall between two classrooms was knocked down next door at St Joseph's School, which closed in 2017. This enabled the parish to convert the building into the Picton community's new place of worship.

"The decision was made that when we had the old school available, to actually refurbish that, which would basically better meet our needs," Stretch said.

"If we could have saved it [the old St Joseph's Catholic Church], we would've," parishioner Carolyn Strongman said.

She said they took everything they could from inside the old church to their new home. The parish hopes the central stained-glass window could be salvaged before the building was levelled.

"It's going to be very sad, we're all very, very sad that it is coming down," she said.

The refurbished church attracted about 30 regulars on a Sunday and was "chocka" at Easter and Christmas. Despite some Picton locals thinking closing the old church meant St Joseph's was gone for good, the greater Catholic Church's wishes won out, Strongman said.

"The fact the beautiful little building will remain in place and become an asset to the wider Renwick community now is some comfort though," she said.

Marlborough has just one Catholic priest. The parish stretches from Picton to Kaikoura. These facts came into consideration when closing St Joseph's was mooted.

"There's only so many places that they can say mass over a weekend, so that was all part of the review," Stretch said.

"There's still services in Blenheim, Picton, Seddon and Kaikoura every weekend, so we're still trying to make sure that we're meeting the needs of our parishioners."

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• Stuff