A small group of Martinborough Catholics has forced the Church to cancel plans to deconsecrate the local church after taking its grievance to The Vatican in Rome.
The appeal for Vatican help against the Wellington Archbishop’s decision follows several years of effort by the Martinborough group to stop the church closing and selling off the iconic St Anthony of Padua church building on Princess Street _ using lack of money for earthquake strengthening as a pretext.
Cardinal John Dew withdrew the formal decree of deconsecration after the legal challenge to the church’s action by locals.
But in a letter from Archbishop Paul Martin, standing in for Dew, the Wellington hierarchy made clear the church should not be strengthened aand should be permanently closed.
It says local Catholics should attend services in Featherston and Masterton and suggests a mission centre be established in Martinborough instead.
The move follows the Martinborough parishioners lodging a legal challenge opposing Dew’s “Decree of Deconsecration and Reduction to Profane but not Sordid Use” notice issued in February.
The challenge cites Catholic Church Canon Law and also notes the church likely does not hold title to the land and building – which was financed and built by local families without church input after the original church burnt down in the 1920s.
Parishioners have consistently complained of a complete lack of communication from the Wairarapa priest and Wellington hierarchy.
As recently as February a leading local Catholic noted about the deconsecration decision:
“No discussion with the Martinborough people. Just done.”
Last November parish priest Father Bruce England told the Martinborough congregation in a note that local mass and other services had ended and key local people should “discuss the items within the church and hall for removal and storage for future use within the remaining churches in our parish.
“We will also need to prepare the property for de-Consecration and sale in the near future.”
As one parishioner noted next day: “Hi all, I had to sit down last evening when I read this and have a gin !! But the sun shone today!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Another replied: “Unbelievable! And they wonder why Catholicism is becoming a thing of the past. I’m beyond sad and angry.”
In late February, a parish group newsletter spelled out local concerns.
“Our spiritual needs are not being met. Leaving us with no meeting place and out on a limb, no public transport to get to Featherston/ Masterton on Sundays really amounts to elderly abuse.
“Nobody cares. The Church does not care. The faithful have had their Church/ meeting place taken from them. The church has abandoned us.
“It is not as though the Church has put money into Martinborough – the people have for over 100 years. So we need to be looked after.”
Parishioner Dan Riddiford wrote their legal challenge to His Eminence, Luis Cardinal Tagle, at The Vatican:
“The earthquake risk of the Church in Martinborough can be affordably fixed, but we in Martinborough were never given the opportunity to organize and pay for that. After 5 years of official excuses we ask for that opportunity.
“We submit that the real reason was the (Wairarapa Church) Finance Committee had a simplistic pre-determination that the material presence of the Catholic Church in Martinborough should be removed (expropriated) to fund reconstruction of a new Church in Masterton and a new Church in Featherston, since Masterton a much larger town of over 20,000 persons was unable to do for themselves.”
Riddiford told New Zealand “CathNews” that “rural parishes should not be forced to adopt a model of church that fits a city where churches are 5-10 minutes away and there is a public transport system.”
Under the current earthquake strengethening requirements, St Athony’s could continue holding Mass and other services until 2033 without remedial work.
The Catholic Church has only a single priest in Wairarapa.
