Plan hinges on church changes
The Anglican Church has presented an all-or-nothing plan to preserve and enhance Palmerston North’s All Saints’ Church.
Church leaders have told a resource management hearing there is no Plan B for the 105-yearold historic building if consent for its plans is denied.
The alternative would be demolition of the building, which was classified as earthquakeprone in 2011, and has been closed since Easter 2013.
Its $10 million plan would include seismic strengthening of the brick building and tower, removal of the baptistery wall at the centre front, and creation of a glazed, covered entrance foyer.
Heritage New Zealand and witnesses for the city council are opposing the plan because they believe there are options that would do less damage to the fabric of the building.
Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Sir David Moxon, who grew up in Palmerston North and was an All Saints parishioner, said the current layout of the church worked against some basic Christian values.
The church should be open and inviting, with a hospitable gathering space at the front.
He said the location of the font in a baptistery, a ‘‘tomb-like’’ outof-the-way space, was out of keeping with theology.
The font, ‘‘a great work of art’’ as well as a profound Christian symbol, should be the central feature in the church’s main aisle.
‘‘All Saints wasn’t built to become a museum,’’ Moxon said.
‘‘It was built to be a sacred, hospitable and meaningful space for the citizens of Palmerston North city.’’
Rev Sue Fordyce said to spend money strengthening a church building when its layout did not support the church’s mission would be idolatry. She is a member of the Diocesan Council of the Diocese of Wellington which owns the property.
Fordyce said the primary values of the diocese were that its
people were family, were disciples, and cared for the lost, the last and the least.
She acknowledged All Saints’ as a treasured, much-loved building, but the diocese would not allow the parish to undertake a fundraising project of such magnitude without including the enhancements.
‘‘The notion of preservation of something as a merely aesthetically-pleasing material object amounts to a violation of the church’s spiritual values of placing people and their spiritual and social needs far above any other consideration.’’
All Saints’ lawyer John Maassen said allowing the strengthening and enhancement project was ‘‘a nobrainer’’.
Any other decision would lead to demolition.
After changes to the Building Act in 2017, the church was identified as a priority for being made safe, either by strengthening or demolition, within seven years.
Maassen said with that threat hanging over many historic buildings, heritage supporters should be ‘‘loving’’ proposals such as the All Saints’ plans.
He said arguments against the church’s plans placed too much weight on the heritage values of the fabric of the building over its religious function.
‘‘Let the congregation come back to their spiritual home, and may the song of the people return to the rafters.’’
The hearing panel is chaired by commissioner David Mcmahon, with Jane Black and Heike Lutz.
The hearing continues today when submitters for and against the proposal will present their evidence, and tomorrow, when the city council will make submissions and call evidence.