Church must put faith in the facts

If it's smart, the Anglican Church will heed the Government's call to release its documents relating to the demolition of the historic Christ Church Cathedral.

For its part, the Government has already taken the initiative around this issue by pledging to release all documents held by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) about the cathedral.

The information was to go online this morning.

Amid the maelstroms of shock and grief in the wake of last year's devastating earthquake, the damage to the city's iconic cathedral stood out.

As a symbol of all that Christchurch had been through, it stood alone, badly damaged but not entirely broken - much like the city and its people.

When the decision to "deconstruct" the cathedral was announced in March, it was met with predictable cries of outrage. Since then, all manner of opposition to the move has sprung up, led by Christchurch's famous Wizard.

The Government is working on the seemingly sound theory that if people can see the advice on which the church has based its decision, there will be greater understanding around the deconstruction decision.

Central to this is acknowledging the significance of the cathedral, not only to the people of Canterbury but also the rest of New Zealand.

What the Anglican Church needs to recognise is that while it may hold the relevant paperwork, the cathedral really belongs to the people of Christchurch and, arguably, this country.

For that reason, and to quell spurious speculation about the so-called "real" motives behind the decision to largely demolish the cathedral, the Anglican Church needs to be as open as possible and make its documentation public.

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