New bishop behind restoration
The new Anglican bishop for Canterbury is ‘‘completely behind’’ restoration of the earthquakedamaged Christ Church Cathedral.
Anglican Archdeacon Peter Carrell was officially made bishop-elect yesterday. He will be installed in February.
Carrell said he supported restoration of the cathedral because it was a ‘‘particularly iconic building in the life of Christchurch, Canterbury and New Zealand’’.
The new bishop will help oversee restoration, a complex and expensive project using $35 million of public money in the centre of the city.
The project is being partly funded by a $10m Christchurch City Council grant, a $10m Crown cash contribution, and a $15m government loan that would not have to be paid back if certain conditions were met.
‘‘We had an immensely important heritage building and, if the money was there to reinstate, our obligation under heritage law, as I understood it, was to reinstate,’’ he said.
‘‘I felt that the principal monetary objection was dealt with by the government’s offer and we should accept it.
‘‘As the owners of that iconic building, there would be a lot of benefits to reinstating the icon. I look forward to us being able to resume worshipping God in this great cathedral in the heart of our city, but also the cathedral will be a drawcard for visitors to the centre of our city.’’
Carrell’s predecessor, Bishop Victoria Matthews, resigned in March after 10 years in the role. Her time as bishop of Christchurch was dominated by the long-running debate over the future of the city’s cathedral.
Matthews favoured demolition of the cathedral, but resigned after the synod voted in September to restore the building.
Carrell said he wanted to help the city reunite behind the restoration.
‘‘It has been a bruising seven years and that has been very tough on people and particularly tough on my predecessor,’’ he said. ‘‘I am glad that we seem to have moved beyond the sharpest edges of that debate, but I am aware that not everyone in Christchurch and Canterbury is keen on the reinstatement. I acknowledge that there is work to be done in uniting behind the project as a city.’’
Carrell was born in Christchurch, but lived in Hororata and Dunedin as a child, before returning to the city at the age of 11.
He has been an Anglican priest since 1987 and is a board member at Christ’s College. He was director of education for the Anglican diocese before being appointed bishop.
The new bishop was nominated by the Canterbury synod in mid August. The General Synod, which is the national Anglican ruling body, and the House of Bishops then voted on the nomination.