Church closures reflect changing religious habits
St Anthony’s Church on the main road into Martinborough has been an integral piece of Yvonne Riddiford’s family’s life for generations.
The 95-year-old was ‘‘desperately sad’’ to find out her church would likely be sold and not used for its original spiritual purpose.
‘‘They [her family] would be devastated, as am I, by what is happening now,’’ Riddiford said. ‘‘To have it closed, what does it say? Total defeatism.’’
Riddiford acknowledged the wider church faced challenges such as shrinking congregations, lack of priests and repair costs.
‘‘But just to close it on those grounds, you will never open it again.’’
The imposing building on State Highway 53 was deemed earthquake-prone in 2018 and is one of three Catholic churches in Wairarapa set for closure and sale.
The closure of Carterton’s St Mary’s, which is also earthquakeprone, and Greytown’s Sacred Heart in Main St leaves two Catholic churches in Wairarapa – St Patrick’s in Masterton and Featherston’s St Teresa of Avila.
It is an all too common story in the rural areas of New Zealand.
Victoria University of Wellington senior lecturer in religious studies Dr Philip Fountain said the Wairarapa closures reflected broader trends of decline in some traditionally prominent denominations. ‘‘One of the big stories of religious change in New Zealand has been a fairly steady decline of Christian affiliation across census data since the 1980s.’’
Catholic affiliation in the past
three censuses has declined. In the 2006 census, 508,812 indicated they were Catholic. In the 2013 census that had dropped to 492,324 and by the last census in 2018 there were fewer than 470,000 New Zealanders who identified as Catholic.
In the metropolitan centres parishes were also consolidating heavily.
Fountain said the counterbalance to this trend was growth in new religious communities popping up.
‘‘Some churches, however, are facing a significant influx of migrants, which are spurring new growth.
‘‘These dynamics are reshaping rural communities in important ways.
‘‘Indeed, while the urban stereotype of rural areas is that they are the ‘conservative rump’ of New Zealand society, they are better considered as spaces of vibrant and dynamic religious vation,’’ Fountain said.
It tended to be the older Pa¯keha¯ congregations experiencing the biggest declines and Martinborough’s situation reflected this.
The average age of the active parish members of the predominantly Pa¯keha¯ congregation was around 75.
Riddiford wished the local diocese could have given them more time, because the reality was that in another 10 years many of the flock would have passed on.
Cardinal John Dew, of the Wellington Catholic Archdiocese, said at least one Sunday Mass or Vigil Mass would be celebrated in both remaining Wairarapa churches.
He said with only one priest covering the whole of the district, ‘‘providing masses in all five churches is not an option for the future’’.
Wairarapa MP Kieran McAnulty, himself a Catholic, said several people had contacted him to lobby to keep the churches open, but there were realities that the church authorities had to tackle.
‘‘At a sentimental level, I totally agree it is a shame that the church that I was baptised in and had my first holy communion and was confirmed in, in Carterton is no longer going to remain operational.
‘‘At the same time, we have to face up to the fact that a lot of these buildings are earthquake-prone ... it is very much a case of use it or lose it.
‘‘The church is faced with significant costs to keep up buildings that a relatively small number of people are attending. They can’t keep these buildings going for large congregations twice a year at Christmas and Easter.’’ inno