Old Catholic church in Marlborough to be demolished

A church perched in the same spot above Picton for the last 158 years will soon disappear.

The building that used to be St Joseph’s Catholic Church hasn’t held a Sunday mass for three-and-a-half years, the altar and pews since removed. It was the second incarnation of the original church built on the site in 1865.

St Joseph’s had been deemed an earthquake risk after being given a new building standard (NBS) rating of 10%. Options were considered by the region’s Catholic parish, Star of the Sea Marlborough, but it was decided the cost of making the building safe to use again wasn’t viable.

A final service was held in the church on January 13, 2019, and its doors were closed for good after the parish conducted a review of its properties that year.

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“Today, with fewer priests, rising costs and parishioners more likely to drive to mass, parishes have been asked to reorganise how they engage with their communities,” said Greg Stretch, Star of the Sea Steering Committee chair.

A decision was made to demolish the building on May 22 this year, and Stretch said the committee was in the process of obtaining quotes to get the job done.

“It was a tough decision to make, but in the end when you look at what the NBS rating was, we needed to make sure we’re looking after our clergy as well as our parishioners,” he said.

A wall between two classrooms was knocked down next door at St Joseph’s School, which closed in 2017, to convert the building into the Picton Catholic community’s new place of worship.

“The decision was made that when we had the old school available, to actually refurbish that, which would basically better meet our needs,” Stretch said.

“If we could have saved [the old church], we would’ve,” said Carolyn Strongman, part of a “strong core” of parishioners that ensured St Joseph’s would survive in their new home.

Strongman said they took everything they could from inside the old church to their new home, and hoped the central stained-glass window could be salvaged before the building was levelled.

“It’s going to be very sad, we’re all very, very sad that it is coming down,” she said.

The refurbished church attracted around 30 regulars on a Sunday and was “chocka” at Easter and Christmas, despite some Picton locals thinking the closing of the old church meant St Joseph’s was gone for good, Strongman said.

“We’re alive and well … the building is not the community, we are the church.”

Two other Catholic churches in the region were closed for good after the 2019 review; Havelock’s Sacred Heart held its final service last year and was set to be sold, and St Francis de Sales in Renwick would have its final mass on June 18.

St Francis de Sales had served Renwick for the last 115 years. Stretch said the church and land would likely be donated to a non-denominational trust after it was deconsecrated.

Litty Newman, St Francis de Sales Catholic Church Management Committee spokesperson, said they had fought hard to maintain the church’s place within the parish.

“But, ultimately, the desire from the greater Catholic Church has won out. The fact the beautiful little building will remain in place and become an asset to the wider Renwick community now is some comfort though,” she said.

Marlborough only had one Catholic priest in a parish that stretched from Picton to Kaikōura, which Stretch said came into consideration when decisions were made to close church doors.

“There’s only so many places that they can say mass over a weekend, so that was all part of the review,” he said.

“There’s still services in Blenheim, Picton, Seddon and Kaikōura every weekend, so we’re still trying to make sure that we’re meeting the needs of our parishioners.”