February 2017 - the new year begins

A date for your diary
A group of dedicated local women have spent part of their summer in the kitchen making preserves.  It can be pretty hot in the kitchen at this time of the year but the end product is always rewarding.  Summer fruit and berries are coming on and this is the perfect time to transform them into delicious jams, relishes and sauces.
The St Anthony’s School and Parish Bazaar is aiming for 520 jars of preserves this year along with a few surprises. These products are in hot demand and there are many loyal customers who will be excited to know that their favourite preserves will be back in only a matter of weeks.  Preserves coordinator Anne Ashby says she has a great team that have been going flat out on both traditional and exotic recipes.  She says you can’t beat old favourites like raspberry jam and tomato relish but it’s amazing what you can do with something like zucchini.  “Our most prolific preserver on the team is Hazel Kingston.  Hazel has been preserving for St Anthony’s Bazaars for many years.  There is no recipe she hasn’t got or can’t get her hands on.  Preserving is a wonderfully creative activity.  It’s like capturing summer in a jar.”
St Anthony’s Seatoun, holds its Bazaar every two years as both a fundraiser and a way of building community.  Mark it on your calendar for Saturday 18 February from 11am to 3pm.  In addition to preserves there will also be our wonderful and creative cakes and crafts stalls. Not to mention raffles, food, toys, clothing, white elephant and lots of entertainment.

Where’s the property committee at? 
               
As you may be aware, the Finance Committee established a property committee to review all the buildings and property in the Holy Trinity Parish and to make recommendations on the best configuration to meet the future needs of the Parish.
 
A revitalized set of buildings that better meet the parish needs with reduced maintenance costs, is the property sub-committee’s vision for the parish.  This also supports the Holy Trinity Parish vision agreed last year.  The sub-committee’s concepts follow for your feedback.
 
As the committee has gone about talking to the parish about its needs, overriding elements appear to be for our buildings to support integration of our school families into the church and advance the mission of the church in the eastern suburbs, while still meeting sacramental needs and supporting older congregations.  At the same time, we have to be realistic about how much property we can afford to maintain.  We need to rationalize the buildings we maintain, and bring our remaining buildings up to a good standard or replace them with new structures. We have a unique opportunity to reconfigure our buildings to meet the parish’s future needs and help it grow.  The provisional concepts are:
 
St Patrick’s, Kilbirnie:

• Complete remaining maintenance work on the church

·         Demolish the presbytery at St Patrick’s

• Utilise the presbytery site in the meantime for carparking and school recreational use
• Upgrade the downstairs area of the church over the medium term
• In the future build an all purpose activity, retreat, conference, office centre connected to the Church with undercroft parking. This would provide better amenities for the colleges and children’s liturgy and could be a good source of revenue.
• Retain the hall at least for the medium term and complete remaining ​maintenance work with the possibility of upgrading it to meet pastoral needs

 
Holy Cross, Miramar:
We have received a review of the Holy Cross Church from a second engineer.  The report reveals that some parts of the structure are stronger than initially appraised, although one feature remains at 22% of code.  On the positive side, the revised report probably means that the costs of strengthening have reduced from around $1M to something in the range of $300,000 to $500,000. To this we have to add the cost of deferred maintenance such as the roof replacement.
 
The sub-committee is considering two options at Holy Cross:

• Strengthen the church and replace the hall, for a total cost likely to be in the range of $1.5M to $2M; or
• Build a multipurpose/worship centre in the range of $2.5-3M, at or alongside Holy Cross School, selling the current church site

 
The second option, would enable a smaller multipurpose sacramental, learning and social centre closely linked to the Holy Cross School.  The emphasis could be on encouraging and supporting our youth and community groups within the Parish.  If the Holy Cross Church site was sold this could be done so that the site continues to be used for general church or social good purposes, including retirement living.
 
Subject to the results of feedback, before final recommendations are made we will develop more detailed plans and funding options.
The needs of our priests
We also need to plan for the long-term needs of our priests, which means providing space for our Capuchin community.  This is partly dependent on what happens with Holy Cross Miramar.  If we remain on the current Miramar site, we will probably look to upgrade the presbytery.  Alternatively, the Seatoun presbytery building can be used.  It is a better size and shape for their future needs.
 
The Committee sees benefit in the parish office integrating with one of our school offices for better operation and liaison.  Further liaison with the parish secretary is planned.
 
Good Shepherd Hall and St Anthony’s
We have to be realistic about how much property we can afford to maintain.  The Committee is keen to consider how the Good Shepherd community could support growth of the Holy Cross community as the building programme at Miramar commences.  Our Samoan community is very important to us and there will be opportunity to have their cultural needs reflected in the design of any new/upgraded buildings in Miramar.
 
The sub-committee is considering the future of the Good Shepherd site or utilizing it for social housing, to support refugee families coming into the eastern suburbs or possibly for a Mercy Villa style community, similar to that in Upper Hutt, for older parishioners wishing to downsize and live in a faith community. Again, these options will be properly costed before a decision is made.
 
Other ideas being considered are:

• In the medium term, enlarge the Gascoigne room at St Anthony’s Church to provide more usable space for parish and school, and open up the church to the school with a larger entrance from the school side
• If the Seatoun Presbytery is not utilised by the Capuchin’s, there are options for allowing use by the school.

​Next steps
The committee will make its final recommendations to the parish later this year.  The committee does not wish to recommend anything that is not on balance in the best interests of the parish as a whole.  Your feedback is important, discussion forums will be announced in the weekly newsletter.  You can email your personal thoughts to [email protected] or written submissions can be made to the parish office.  Please make your feedback before 28 February.   

FAREWELL GOOD FRIEND

Fr Jim Sorohan, former parish priest at St Anthony’s, passed away in December last year in Ireland.  He is remembered for his deep faith and quiet encouragement of parishioners.  From St Anthony’s he went to Nelson and then home.  He is pictured here (left) with fellow priests in Ireland, mid-speech, no doubt providing a word or two of encouragement.