The new Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament project in Christchurch will have many phases, but no timeframe has yet been set. Source: CathNews NZ.
The previous Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament was completed in 1905, damaged in the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, and demolished in 2020.
Christchurch Bishop Michael Gielen said in a wide-ranging interview with The Press that the new cathedral’s master planning phase was underway, to be followed by concept design, detailed design and then the build.
In June, Warren and Mahoney was appointed as architect of the new Catholic cathedral and surrounding precinct. In a media release at the time, Bishop Gielen said: “We are confident that Warren and Mahoney will walk with us in building a worthy house of worship to glorify God and to welcome his people” and “it will be a place where heaven and earth meet”.
No budget for the new cathedral has been released.
“We’ve given them our brief and then we’ll find out what we can afford,” Bishop Gielen said.
A previous plan for a new cathedral alongside offices, a school and a car park on a new site was reviewed by Bishop Gielen. The decision was made to rebuild on the site of the former cathedral.
“Part of the reason to come back here is prudence around our finances. We want to make sure we can afford to build it, so that we do build it,” Bishop Gielen said.
Asked about the possible timeframe for the project, the bishop said: “I have dreams but I’m trusting the process”.
“Warren and Mahoney are pretty strong about trusting their process. I’ve never done this before. This is the first cathedral [in New Zealand] in 120 years and no other living bishop has done it.”
FULL STORY
Bishop will ‘trust the process’ for new Christchurch cathedral (CathNews NZ)
Moving heaven and earth: Christchurch’s Catholic bishop builds a new cathedral (The Press)
