John MacDonald: Christchurch's cathedral will never be finished. Here's why

Remember Bishop Victoria Matthews? Who wanted to pull down the Christchurch cathedral after the earthquakes? Reckon she’s thinking “told you so” now that the reinstatement is officially on ice? 

Bet she is. And if she isn’t, she should be. 

Because let’s be realistic. On ice, whatever you want to call it, the cathedral will never be finished. Never. For the simple reason that, as time goes on, the cost of fixing it will go up and public support will go down. They are two certainties. In fact, they are the only certainties.  

If you’re a supporter of the reinstatement, you will probably think ‘oh that will never happen’. That the people of Christchurch will always have the cathedral in their hearts. That it’s, you know, ‘the symbol of Christchurch’. 

Well, not so, actually. Whatever support there is for spending tens of millions of dollars reinstating the cathedral will never be stronger than it is right now.  

Because, as younger generations come through, they won’t have the same connection to it. They’ll probably have no connection to it. And what that will mean is the cathedral’s restoration or reinstatement will lose its social licence. 

In its simplest form, social licence is public acceptance or support of an activity - especially when there’s big money involved. 

And the cathedral has had enough social licence —or public or community support— up until now, because it’s relevant to people of a particular age. Or particular generations. And as time goes on, that will diminish. There is nothing more certain. 

When I watched the news on TV last night, there was an image of what the church itself wanted to build in place of the cathedral after the earthquakes, and I actually felt quite angry. 

I surprised myself, sitting in front of the TV watching it. Because, even though I’d washed my hands of the cathedral before yesterday —when the company running the reinstatement and the church announced that they were pulling the plug, for now— I was reminded of what could have been, if people hadn’t poked their noses into it. 

There were images of the demolition work actually starting. And there was one of those architectural animations showing what a new, replacement cathedral would have looked like. 

If only the church had been allowed to do what it wanted to do in the first place, we would probably have a cathedral by now and we would definitely know what was happening with the Square which, at the moment —let’s face it— is the dead centre of town in more ways than one. 

If only all these heritage people realised that heritage isn’t just about buildings. It’s about history. 

And a new, replacement cathedral would have been just as historically significant as the old one. Because, whether we like to think it or not, the earthquakes are just a blip in our city’s history. Or they will be as time goes on. 

An awful blip, but just a blip. And a new cathedral wouldn’t have trampled all over the city’s heritage, it would have been part of our heritage. Part of our history. 

If you want to get all fancy on it, it would have told Christchurch’s earthquake "story" just as much as a reinstated cathedral would have.  

But now, we’ve got a broken-down cathedral that I don’t see ever being finished. Because we’ve got generations coming through that will have no connection at all to it, and who will think that the idea of spending tens of millions of dollars fixing it up is just nuts. 

Some people have thought that all along. And a lot more will in the years to come, while the reinstatement people and the church blindly press-on, holding out their hand for money. 

When will they learn?  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John mc
donald from News Talk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Remember Bishop Victoria Matthews, Remember her who wanted to pull
down the christ Church Cathedral after the earthquakes. Reckon, she's thinking,
told you so, now that the reinstatement is officially a
nice bit she is. If she isn't, she should be.
She's fully entitled to because let's be realistic, oh nice,

(00:37):
whatever you want to call it. The cathedral will never
be finished, never, for the simple reason that as time
goes on, the cost of fixing it will go up
and public sport will go down. They are the two certainties.
You can almost visualize it like chart, can't you. In fact,

(01:00):
they are the only certainties. If there's a third certainty,
it would be that no one has any idea what's
going to happen next. That's certainty as well. Now, if
you're a supporter of the reinstatement, you'll probably think, oh,
that'll never happen. You probably think, oh, the people of
christ Church will always have the cathedral in their hearts,

(01:24):
you know, it's a symbol of christ Church. Well you
might think that, but it's not the case. Actually, whatever
support there is for spending tens of millions of dollars
reinstating the cathedral will never be stronger than it is
right now, because as younger generations come through, they won't

(01:45):
have the same connection to it. I'll probably have no
connection to it. And what that will mean is the
cathedral's restoration or reinstatement will lose what they call its
social license in its simplest form. What social licenses is
its public acceptance or support of an activity, especially with

(02:06):
this big money involved, especially when this public money involved,
and the cathedrals had enough social license or enough public
or community support up until now, largely because it's relevant
to people of a particular age or particular generations that

(02:26):
the majority of people. But as time goes on, that
will diminish. There is nothing more certain than that, nothing
more certain. So the cast will go up, the public
support or the social license will go down, and the
outcome of that is that it will never get fixed.
Some people, of course have been saying, oh, the church
should pay for it. Well, here's what Bishop Peter Carroll

(02:47):
has to say about that.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
The summer of eighty five million is beyond our church.
We don't have that kind of funds available for building cathedrals.
We have money spread across our parishes. They all have
their own building needs, including ever increasing insurance costs. We

(03:09):
of course primarily focused on people ministry. Planning back a
decade ago was to demolish and build a much cheaper cathedral,
which we could have afforded. We went afforded that luxury
because of the challenge in the court.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
So eighty five million bucks. That's the gap. And when
I watched the news on TV last night and there
was an image of what the church itself wanted to
build in place of the cathedral after the earthquakes, before
all the court action that the bishop was talking about, there,
I saw that I actually felt quite angry. I surprised
myself actually sitting in front of the TV watching it,

(03:43):
because even though I'd washed my hands at the cathedral
before yesterday, when the company running the reinstatement and the
church announced that they were putting the plug for now,
even though I'd moved on, being reminded of what could
have been if people hadn't poked their noses into it
actually really brassed me off. There were images on the

(04:04):
news last night you might have seen it of the
dem lession work actually starting, and there was one of
those architectural animation things showing what a new replacement cathedral
would have looked like. If only the church had been
allowed to do what it wanted to do in the
first place, we would probably have a cathedral by now,
wouldn't we And we would definitely know what was happening

(04:25):
with the square, which at the moment, let's face it,
it's the square is the dead center of town in
more ways than one. And if only these heritage people
one of which I'm going to talk too shortly, if
only these heritage people had realized that heritage isn't just
about buildings, it's about history. And you know, a new

(04:46):
replacement cathedral would have been just as historically significant as
the old one, because, whether we like to think it
or not, the earthquakes are just a blip in our
city's history, or they will be as time goes on.
I mean, a bloody awful blip, but just a blip,
and a new cathedral wouldn't have trampled all over the
city's heritage. It would have been part of our heritage,

(05:09):
part of our history. If you want to if you
want to get all I'll get Okay, I'll get all
fancy on it. A replacement cathedral would have told christ
Church's earthquake story just as much as a reinstated one
would have. But now we've got a broken down cathedral
that I don't see ever being finished, because we've got

(05:31):
generations coming through that will have no connection at all
to it. And who will think that the idea of
spending tens of millions of dollars fixing it up as
just nuts? I mean, some people have thought that all along,
haven't they? But a lot more will and the years
to come. While the reinstatement people and the church blindly
press on holding out their hand for money, when will they.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Learn for more From Canterbory Mornings with John McDonald. Listen
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