Prayers for return of church’s brass cross

The Rev Tony Kippax is praying for the person or people who pilfered a large brass cross from the historic Church of the Holy Innocents at Mt Peel Station.

‘‘We are praying for the safe return of the cross and praying for the people or persons responsible for its relocation,’’ Kippax, the Anglican vicar of Geraldine in South Canterbury, told Stuff.

‘‘It’s a sizeable cross and quite heavy,’’ he said.

Kippax said the theft came to light after he called at the church early in February and noticed a door open.

‘‘I didn’t take much notice of it but later I got a call from Rose Acland saying it was missing.

‘‘We have people visiting the church every day, people who are passing on their way to Mesopotamia and who are down around the Peel Forest area.’’

Acland, of Mt Peel Station, said the church, named in remembrance of the first four children who were buried there, was always open and welcomed visitors.

‘‘Lots of people love the specialness of the place. We’re devastated. We’d love [to think] whoever took it will put it back on the altar for us.

‘‘The church is 150 years old and the cross is part of it.’’

Built in 1868 by one of Canterbury’s early notable stonemasons and craftsmen, William Brassington, the category 2 Church of the Holy Innocents sits on Mt Peel Station, a 5500-hectare farm about

‘‘We’re devastated. We’d love [to think] whoever took it will put it back on the altar for us.’’

Rose Acland

30 kilometres north of Geraldine. ‘‘That piece of worship space was first occupied by John Acland and closed after the earthquake damage.’’

The church was badly damaged in the 2011 earthquake with the east gable partially collapsing. It reopened in 2017 after $1.6 million was spent on restoration and strengthening work.

Just before the church reopened, Kippax said, they had a difficult decision to make.

‘‘We had to walk the tension between keeping beautiful things secure and keeping God’s home open to those who need it.

‘‘We struggle with having a locked church.’’

Kippax said services were usually held in the church three times a year in addition to weddings, baptisms and funerals, and a monastery group visited from Christchurch several times annually.

The man instrumental in having the church built, John Barton Arundel Acland, gifted it to the community.

Among those buried near the church is acclaimed fiction crime writer and theatre director Dame Ngaio Marsh, who died in 1982.

BEJON HASWELL/STUFF Rose Acland of Mt Peel Station sits in front of the Church of the Holy Innocents’ altar, where a large, heavy brass cross would usually be displayed. The 150-year-old church, pictured below, was restored after the 2011 Canterbury earthquake.