Quake rating forces church to close
St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Te Puke has had to close its doors.
An initial earthquake assessment has seen the building rated category E, the worst possible ranking.
The church has decided to stop using the building in the interests of safety until further assessment work is done.
However, worshippers will still be able to attend mass, with Anglican vicar Rev Ruth Dewdney stepping in to offer St John the Baptist Church in Jocelyn St as a venue for mass at 5pm on a Saturday and 9am on a Thursday.
Ruth says that as the respective congregations hold their services on different days and at different times it was an easy decision and one that made sense.
She says the town’s Catholic community is extremely grateful to the Anglican community for its warm welcome.
The two churches already have some combined services, so the two congregations’ members do know each other.
“The two churches will continue to hold onto their respective traditions. This is a sharing of one space.
“We will still be Anglicans and they will still be Catholics, but we do expect it to bring us closer and we don’t know where this could lead.
“The future for relationships between our two churches is exciting. We look forward to welcoming the St Patrick’s community to their new worship space. For the foreseeable future, our space is their space.”
A closing liturgy was held at St Patrick’s last Saturday as part of the weekly mass. Ruth attended and assured parishioners of a warm welcome at St John the Baptist for as long as the St Patrick’s community needed a venue.
The results of further assessments on the church and options to strengthen the building will not be known for some time.