The saving grace of churches

Wanganui has at least six brick heritage churches that need earthquake strengthening - but their owners shouldn't panic about it, Whanganui Regional Heritage Trust chairwoman Wendy Pettigrew says.

"The strengthening industry is coming up with all sorts of ideas, so you shouldn't rush into things and you also don't want to rush off in horror."

Church committees needed to systematically sort out their issues and think laterally, and the trust is open to talking to them about their options.

Miss Pettigrew listed six brick churches in Wanganui that definitely needed work. They were St Oswalds and the Westmere Memorial Church in Westmere, the Jane Winstone Chapel in Oakland Ave, St Paul's in Guyton St, St Anthony's in Alma Rd and Christ Church in Wicksteed St.

Others in the wider region, such as the Historic Places Trust Category 1-listed Catholic church in Taihape, were well ahead in the earthquake strengthening stakes.

With the help of St Anthony's trust, now owned by the Society of St Pius X, the church now has a $20,000 plan for new buttresses and ties.

An engineer and architect worked together to come up with a solution that fitted the congregation's needs, while respecting the church's architecture.

"That's what should happen in all cases. It's not a cheap process but you can get Lottery funding. In some ways, they're showing the way for the others," Miss Pettigrew said.

She had been worried about the preservation of historic churches even before earthquakes shook the matter into life.

The Historic Places Trust had more than 3000 registered buildings and about a quarter of them were churches. They were important for their age, their architecture and also the store people set by them.

They have been likened to the Pakeha version of marae.

There were now too many churches for the number of worshippers, particularly in the mainstream religions. The key to keeping the buildings was to give them other uses, Miss Pettigrew said. That was already happening in England.

"The view from there is that churches have to have a wider community use, rather than just being open for one hour on Sunday."

Church committees now needed to decide whether to keep the buildings in their ownership.

One Anglican bishop in Paekakariki took the initiative of gifting a local church and hall to a community trust.

The hall was now getting lots of community use and the church was still open for worship, with the congregation no longer paying to look after it.