Wellington Archives - Society of Mary

Capital City acknowledges priest’s outstanding contribution

Absolutely Positively Wellingtonian Award Barry Scannell — Mayor, Justin Lester, Keith Quinn (substituting for Barry Scannell), Councillor Nicola Young

Wellington Mayor, Justin Lester, 8 June, presented St Mary of the Angels Parish Parish Priest, Fr Barry Scannell SM with an Absolutely Positively Wellingtonian award.

The Absolutely Positively Wellingtonian Awards are a way for the Wellington City Council to acknowledge members of the community who have made outstanding contributions, to the Capital and its people.

Mayor Lester set the scene for presenting the awards.

“It’s our city’s people that make this such a special place to live”.

“The Absolutely Positively Wellingtonian Awards are about recognising the people who selflessly give so much to our communities”, he said.

Wellington City Councillor, Nicola Young introduced Fr Scannell to the other recipients and invited guests.

She described him as a “tireless worker” who is “deeply involved in many areas of Wellington life”.

Councillor Young lauded Fr Scannell for making the big decision to prudently close the church in the interests of public safety, saying the decision was vindicated by scientific tests showing the church was only 20% of the building code.

Labelling both the fundraising campaign and Fr Scannell’s lead role as “ambitious”, Councillor Young praised the St Mary’s Parish Priest for continuing to lead his congregation throughout the challenging process.

Called out of Wellington for a funeral, Fr Scannell asked Keith Quinn to represent him.

“In accepting this award I have to say I think this is a classic example of a Wellington friendship which goes across diverse and different interests and beliefs – which can lead to firm friendships,” Mr Quinn said in reply to Councillor Young.

“I am not a churchgoer at all (and Barry obviously is!) but our friendship is real – I have always noted his total commitment to his faith and his church – and in particular the hard work he put in to the recent re-build of the Wellington icon which is St Mary’s of the Angels”.

Mr Quinn said he was very proud to be present representing ‘Fr Barry’.

He also comment of Fr Scannell’s Wellington involvement not being limited to the central city church.

In particular he recalled the recent occasion, that as chaplain of the Marist-St Pats rugby club, ‘Fr Barry’ contacted him when a young member of the Wellington Axemen, Mr Quinn’s club, lost his life on the field.

“Fr Barry immediately offered his thoughts and prayers to us, which we deeply appreciated,” he said.

With a sparkle in his eye Mr Quinn recalled another occasion of Barry also offering his prayers.

“He showed further concern last weekend when Marist-St Pats were having a reunion and they played my club in two games at Hataitai Park.

“In the first game MSP beat our ‘B’ team 89-0 and that was followed by MSP’s top team beating ours by 50-3!

“I wasn’t able to be at the games but I received a lovely message from Fr Barry that night, saying our club had been mentioned at the reunion as a long-standing friendly rival – but that regarding the results of that day he and MSP would be ‘praying for us!’

“Seriously, I appreciated that too – it’s all part of his commitment to all Wellington people,” he said.

Other recipients of Absolutely Positively Wellington Awards

Fr Scannell is one of twelve award recipients. Others are:

Laurie Foon: Tireless worker to advocate and educate the business sector on how to be more sustainable. Currently a member of the Sustainable Business Network and a champion of Wellington as a Fair Trade City.
Esther Fung: Furthering the understanding of ethnic communities in Wellington, particularly the Chinese Association, Wellington.
Adrienne Girling: One of Canada’s gifts to Wellington, Adrienne has chaired Out Wellington and produced the Wellington Pride Festival.
June Te Raumange Jackson: Helped the Wellington community and Government understand her mana whenua Māori tribal traditions.
Jeff Khan: For three decades, the voice of Wellington’s Hindi Radio programme; passing on important national and community news to the Hindi communities in Wellington, Auckland and his native Fiji.
Geraldine Murphy: Determined advocate for Inner-City Wellington, focussing on issues such as: seismic strengthening, EYES ON for retailers, inner-city begging and anti-social behaviour.
Don Neely: A servant to all areas of cricket during a lifetime of devotion to the game. Cricket is fortunate Don decided cricket was his game, and during his long life, Don’s love for cricket has never wavered.
Ashley Peters: US born Wellingtonian with a love of mountain biking and a sense of belonging, fun and friendship has spent years passing on that joy to others. Established Revolve Cycling, WORD and JoyRide.
Lucy Revill: Passion for Wellington as expressed through her blog, The Residents.
Alistair Smith: Bone cancer battler and cycling enthusiast who has advocated for Wellington cycling since the 1970’s.
Paula Warren: Dedicated to conservation Paula helps the Wellington region through the Growing Places Charitable Trust delivering ecological benefits to Wellington, helping to solve problems such as rubbish dumping, tagging and management costs.

Alternative liturgies for Wellington city centre church

A change in city centre ministry could be on the cards for Wellington’s St Mary of the Angels parish.

The possible additions to the current outreach at the newly earthquake strengthened Church, are the result of an Alpha Leadership Course and meeting of Marist centre city ministers held recently in London.

The changes are floated by a member of the St Mary of the Angels staff, Fr Kevin Conroy, who attended the early May leadership conference, along with 6,000 people from all denominations.

“Could St Mary of the Angels Parish, through Alpha Catholic courses, alternative liturgy styles, and focussed intercessory prayer by a core group of the parish, reach out to more people in Wellington?” asks Fr Conroy by way of reflection.

Energy and hope

Fr Conroy described being with thousands of mainly young and passionate about being christian, as giving him “energy and hope”.

Labelling the conference input as “high quality”, Fr Conroy said for him Cardinal Tagle and Jean Vanier were the standout speakers

“They moved me by their simplicity, joy and wisdom”, he reflected.

Fr Conroy said Cardinal Tagle described a church leader ‘as someone needing a compelling vision,’ and who, on a practical level, has the opportunity to ‘model their vision when they meet people.’

Developing the Cardinal’s observation, Fr Conroy quotes him: “Often people come with dilemmas rather than problems to be solved, and a good leader helps a person find meaning rather than give a solution”.

Fr Conroy summed up Jean Vanier’s definition of leadership as simply, “helping people to grow in their humanity by listening well to them”.

Among a wide range of input British TV star Miranda Hart was also interviewed and spoke about facing her ‘inner critic”.

Other speakers addressed a range of topics including

creativity
shame
reformation in the church
releasing exceptional leaders
culture
social transformation and
leaders on balance.

Marist City Centre Churches Network

20 Marist participants in the Marist City Centre Churches Network came from Wellington, Sydney, San Francisco, London, Passau, Rome and Mexico City to the Alpha Leadership Conference and afterwards to work together and process their findings.

This meeting followed on from the inaugural San Francisco Marist meeting in August 2015.

Alpha endorsed

The Alpha conference was endorsed by several high profile Catholics including Cardinal Christoph Schonburn and Preacher to the Papal Household, Fr Raniero Cantalamessa.

In an interview Cardinal Schonburn says Alpha helps us to be less afraid in bringing people to Jesus; it brings us joy.

From a parish perspective a user of the programme, Franciscan priest Don Francesco Bonucci, says “the Alpha programme has the ability to transform the parish.”

Wellington city church St Mary of the Angels re-opens

“We’ve saved the Church” was the jubilant reaction of Parish Priest, Barry Scannell SM, at the blessing and re-opening of St Mary of the Angels on Wednesday night.

Fr Scannell was speaking in the central Wellington church, to invited guests who had helped fund the seismic strengthening of the Category 1 heritage building.

“One of the saddest aspects for me was not being able to hold weddings, baptisms, funerals for parishioners whose families had been coming to the church for generations.

“I’ll never forget having to ring 25 brides to tell them they could no longer host their wedding in the church.”

“Then there was the ‘small’ matter of where to get $9.5m”, Fr Scannell told the donors.

“You are some of the over 800 individuals who have made donations. I have written to all of you and today I want to once again thank you,” he said.

Same but different

Closed following the 2013 Seddon 6.5 earthquake, visitors could be forgiven for asking where the $9.5 million was spent; it all looks the same.

However, those involved in the project are proud St Mary of the Angels looks like it was, but they know it is very different; it is much stronger.

“If I knew an earthquake was going to strike tomorrow I would bring my whole family here to this building because I know how safe it is”, said Nic Tupilatea a worker on the site.

No disagreement from Fr Scannell.

“People are looking for safe places to worship, and St Mary’s is certainly that.”

St Mary of the Angels is packed for Easter Sunday — Easter crowds fill the seismically strengthened St Mary of the Angels

Close to 100% of the New Building Standard

Prior to its strengthening, engineering consultants assessed the Church to meet only 15 to 20 per cent of the New Building Standards.

The Church is now close to 100% of the New Building Standard.

Brian McGuiness, managing director of construction company LT McGuinness, described the strengthening as a “challenging but epic journey”.

His employees disassembled large parts of the church and rebuilt them using techniques that were not even dreamt of when it was originally designed by Frederick de Jersey Clere.

“I hope he would approve”, he said.

Describing St Mary’s as a “gem”, he praised Fr Scannell for his unwavering commitment under trying conditions.

“It was a tough decision for him to close the church and a challenge to raise funds and keep the church together.

“We owe him a great deal of thanks”.

Cardinal Dew at St Mary of the Angels — Cardinal John Dew blesses the plaque re-opening St Mary of the Angels

Cardinal John Dew agreed with Mr McGuinness’ comments.

Speaking at the re-opening and blessing Cardinal Dew said it was Fr Barry’s energy and drive that got St Mary’s to where it is today.

“No-one else had the determination, vision, courage and cheek to enable this to happen”, he said, smiling.

Popular civic venue and church

Built with a mix of church and civic money, it was “standing room only” all weekend as crowds flocked to church services on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and again on Easter Sunday.

However the building will be used for other purposes too.

In the past the church’s world-class acoustics made it a popular venue for Wellington’s vibrant arts sector and re-opened, St Mary of the Angels is already booked as a venue for the 2018 New Zealand Festival of the Arts.

A large green space in the middle of the city, the St Mary’s lawn is also a particularly popular lunch venue.

St Mary of the Angels was blessed and re-opened by Cardinal Dew in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Martin Krebs, the Mayor of Wellington, Mr Justin Lester and Lambton Ward Councillor, Nicola Young, who has been a strong supporter of the project.

Project patrons, Sir David Carruthers, Jim Bolger, Dame Beverley Wakem along with around 250 donors attended the opening.

Around $1m still needs to be raised to restore the garden, reinstate the crypt, choir room, and replace the carpets.

Re-opening and Easter services in picture

Rule change benefits St Mary of the Angels

Inner-city Marist church, St Mary of the Angels is the first to benefit from a City Council rule change.

On Thursday, the earthquake strengthening project got a windfall $100,000 from the Building Heritage Incentive Fund’s $1.2m 2016 budget.

The City Council changed its rules to help heritage building owners to get on with urgent strengthening work.

The move came after the recent 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake.

Until Thursday, building owners could not start a project until they secured money from the fund. Now they can begin the work and apply for funding retrospectively.

Retrospective funding will last for the rest of the Council’s financial year.

The new money will go towards the $150,000 reinstatement of the heritage cork-tile floor and Maxwell Fernie organ.

Inner-city Lambton Ward and Greens councillor Iona Pannett raised objections to the retrospective funding.

However another Inner-city Lambton Ward councillor, Nicola Young supported the move and also proposed the $30,000 increase from the originally budgeted $70,000.

Accused of a conflict of interest, Young said there wasn’t any as she didn’t believe in God and so she’s not going to heaven anyway.

Grateful for the funding, St Mary of the Angel’s parish priest Fr Barry Scannell SM, said that if strengthening work had not been undertaken, St Mary’s would have gone the same way a Christ Church Cathedral – “damaged and abandoned”.

Source: Stuff

Earthquakes close St Mary of the Angels for 18 months

The iconic central-city Wellington Church, St Mary of the Angels Church is closed for up to 18 months.

The closure is as a result of a series of recent Wellington earthquakes, the largest registering a magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter Scale.

St Mary of the Angels is closed for up to 18 months — Fr Barry Scannell outside St Mary of the Angels Church

“The safety of our parishioners and Church users is paramount, and therefore we have made the decision to close the Church so that the design and strengthening work can be fast-tracked”, said Parish Priest, Fr Barry Scannell.

During the closure, weekday Mass will be celebrated in the church hall, and Sunday Masses will be celebrated at St Joseph’s Mount Victoria and Sacred Heart Cathedral in Thorndon.

The St Mary of the Angels Restoration Committee was planning to begin restoration of the Historic Places Category one building later this year, however the recent earthquakes highlighted the urgency to complete the work sooner.

With the church now closed, Fr Scannell said priority is now given to fund-raising.

Calling St Mary of the Angels a “Wellington landmark”, Fr Scannell says there will be an all out effort to raise the necessary money in order to secure the future of this Wellington icon.

As well as a central-city parish church, St Mary’s is used for many other significant musical and cultural events, and Fr Scannell is calling on all Wellingtonians and people throughout New Zealand to get behind the project and make this beautiful setting safe for people to use.

Marists accept responsibility for combined Otaki – Levin parish

The Archbishop of Wellington, John Dew announced recently a reduction in the number of parishes in the Archdiocese and after consultation with Archbishop Dew, the Society of Mary has offered to take on pastoral care of the new Parish and Archbishop John has gladly accepted that offer. [Read more…] about Marists accept responsibility for combined Otaki – Levin parish