WELLINGTON SHOULD BE ON ITS KNEES

First published in NZ Catholic, August 25, as

SHOULD QUAKE-PROOFING CHURCHES BE A PRIORITY?

Is anyone else feeling queasy about the millions of dollars the Church proposes to spend  ‘earthquake-proofing’ its places of worship?

Of course, no one’s chuffed about it, except maybe engineers and construction companies and chippies, and a certain identity facetiously depicted with horns, a tail and a pitchfork - but this is no laughing matter.

Let’s consider the chances of churchgoers being crushed by crucifixes or statues or lacerated by shattered stained glass. In Christchurch, three men died in a church classified as too dangerous to occupy; in the Anglican cathedral one person was injured; in the Catholic cathedral, none. In Napier 256 died, but only one in a church.

Yet St Mary of the Angels in Wellington’s CBD has closed for up to 18 months while $5 million to $8m is spent preventing a putative fourth death. Couples planning weddings, the Guardians of SMOA who committed an hour every week outside Mass to keep the church open, and the people who came there to pray, may feel the heart of the city has stopped beating, and wonder how the cost of resuscitation can be met.

Doomsayers are suggesting SMOA may never reopen; administrators say funds must be found for another 50 buildings in the archdiocese considered ‘earthquake-prone’. Meanwhile, the Presbyterian St John’s in the City, similarly assessed, is ‘in a better position’ to offer services and will take SMOA’s faithful under its roof for one Mass a week, on Sundays; weekday Masses will be held in SMOA’s  gloomy parish hall. At a time when prayer for Wellington, especially the celebration of the Eucharist, is needed more than ever before, I predict there will be many fewer bums on pews - or on seats in the hall.

After the bad press the Church has suffered, it’s only natural for administrators to want to demonstrate attitudes that look good in the media, but even natural logic proves that Massgoers are far less likely to be harmed by an earthquake in church than at work or in the street.

Are we snared in a secular mindset, a fear of physical harm which says ‘safety of parishioners is paramount’? What is Christ’s perspective?

‘Do not fear those who kill the body,’ he says, ‘but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell’ (Mt 10,28).

And St Paul says ‘Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect’(Rom 12, 2). We acquire that divine perspective by the power of the Spirit, in contemplative prayer.

 The first Christchurch earthquake happened at dead of night, and the city that didn’t live up to its name carried on as usual until the second struck, at midday. The first jolt in Wellington, where Parliament recently enacted profane legislation, occurred in the quiet of a Sunday evening.

God will not be mocked. Wellington should be on its knees.