100 years of struggle lie behind Cathedral

Press, 31 October 1981, Page 15

100 years of struggle lie behind Cathedral

By

KAREN MANGNALL

Christchurch Cathedral turns 100 years old tomorrow and can settle into its restored stonework and roof with a thankful sigh to have made it this far.

This graceful building which epitomises Christchurch to outsiders and provides a familiar landmark to locals has suffered almost every setback imaginable, short of bombing during the war. But its serene chapels echo with history of Canterbury and shimmer with the memories of great men and women, and events.

When the Four Ships came to the shores of Canterbury more than a century ago their passengers wanted to create a completely Anglican province with all the best from English church towns transplanted to the new land. But for 14 years the chief town of the Anglican settlement was without even the foundation for a cathedral. Eventually, on December 16, 1864, the foundations were started and the corner stone laid by Bishop Harper, the first Bishop of Christchurch.

The foundations were finished in 1865 at a cost of almost £7OOO. But immediately the province dipped into a commercial depression and for the next seven years the embryo cathedral fought for its life. Three years after the foundations were . finished, the City Council approved a proposal to buy the cathedral site and usd the foundations for a post office or town hall. That heralded years of close calls within the Anglican diocesan synod as Bishop Harper and other cathedralites held out against calls to sell the site and build a less ostentatious and cheaper church elsewhere.

The English novelist and self-appointed pain in the neck to new colonists,

Anthony Trollope, visited Christchurch in 1872. He patronisingly poked fun at the people who could do no more than lay foundations for their cathedral. »

But by 1873 the depression lifted and the mood of the diocesan synod swung wholeheartedly back in favour of the cathedral. Work continued apace as various individuals and families donated money for different parts of the building. Even before the Cathedral was consecrated several services were held in the unfinished building and drew unbelievable crowds of 1500.

On December 16, 1875, just 11 years after he laid the foundation stone, Bishop Harper received the primatial cross and staff in the Cathedral as he succeeded Bishop Selwyn as Anglican head of New' Zealand. At last, on All Saints Day, 1881, the Cathedral was officially consecrated — that is the anniversary being celebrated tomorrow. The Cathedral’s first ordination service was held on December 18, and then the first service with carols on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day was also the day of the first baptism.

The Cathedral tower had been finished in stone and this had unfortunate repercussions less than a month after the consecration. On December 5 an earthquake dislodged a stone from the spire about 14 feet below the cross, and it hurtled to the asphalt pathway in front of the cathedral. Fortunately it was early morning and only a few people were about; no-one was hit. But that was not to be the last time the Cathedral hurled insults down upon its

citizenry. In 1888 a much more severe earthquake brought down the top of the spire. The cross remained hanging from the remains of the spire, which looked rather like a broken icecream cone upside down. In 1891 the recently consecrated Bishop of Christchurch, Churchill Julius, was winched tp the top of the repaired tower to lay the coping stone. After he had proved that the tackle was up to the trip, the contractors winched sightseers up to the top and down again in the Bishop’s chair for a shilling a head. The spire’s death knell came with yet another earthquake in< 1901 when the top five feet of stonework shifted bodily several inches to the south east. This time the defective stone top was removed and replaced with metal. The cross at the top of the spire today is actually the third generation, what with earthquakes and restorations. In October 1926 a howling nor’wester ' blew down the large cross on the gable of the Cathedral’s north transept. It was midday on a Friday and three people evaded the bombardment.

In the pioneer days of the province, the Cathedral was the most dominant landmark for miles around. The two pioneer bishops, Harper and Julius, were just as dominant in the province’s society.

Both undertook horse journeys into the remote parts of their diocese. Stories abound of one bishop disappearing into a swirling river as his horse stumbled and a despairing companion watching the episcopal hat twirling away downstream until the

drenched bishop surfaced, on the other side.

Bishop Julius acquired a reputation as a preacher, and word of his magnetic personality attracted 1000 people to welcome him at the railway station when he took up his appointment. Bishop Julius told the welcoming dinner guests that there was a time when the diocese thought that if he ever came to Christchurch he would arrive with a couple of sticks of dynamite in his pocket.

The reason was that Bishop Julius was a supporter of the dockers in the maritime strike. He said he was not a Socialist (with capitals) but a Christian socialist who found socialism in every word of the New Testament.

Whatever shade of pink he might have been, Bishop Julius set the trend of participation in public affairs which has marked out the church in Christchurch ever since. In 1891, he gave the first service for trade unionists.

In 1932, Bishop West-Wat-son tried unsuccessfully but valiantly to mediate in the tramway strike by calling all parties to a conference at Bishopscourt.

That was the year that a special service for Boy Scouts and Girl Guides was juxtaposed on the same day with the thousands of unemployed who marched down Manchester Street . demonstrating against the conditions for men on relief work. The Cathedral has welcomed and listened to many famous people — the Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Rev. Dr Wordsworth, the grandnephew of the poet; most of the country’s Governors General; overseas bishops, archbishops, visiting dignatories and of course the Royals.

The Cathedral has celebrated many special occasions — the Jubilee in 1897, the end of both wars, Armistice Day.

The friendly competition which has existed between Catholics and Anglicans over their respective cathedrals surfaced in 1901 on Coronation Day. The Anglicans had planned a united service at the Cathedral, big guns to be fired, and a king oak to be planted by the Mayoress. But the Catholics served up a counter-attraction by advertising that one of the largest and most handsome of the fluted columns (called Coronation Column, of course) would be placed at their new Cathedral by the Mayor. The imported machinery used to put up the huge building was also on working display all day. Recently the Cathedral has become the preserve of the deans — none more so than the outgoing dean, the Very Rev. Michael Underhill. He has raised the Cathedral’s tradition of staging spectacular services to a fine art.

Who else would get Ronnie Corbet to preach in the Cathedral? Or organise a full-scale rescue during a service for national Red Cross week in 1971? A staged rescue of a “wounded” girl from the pulpit was accompanied by the rescue jeep roaring up the aisle lights flashing and siren wailing. Practically every group in Christchurch, and quite a few elsewhere, have some form of connection with the Cathedral. They hold an annual service there or make straight for the Cathedral if their society is holding a national conference in town. The Cathedral is the focus of Christchurch life; it attracts colourful personalities inside and out. It also shelters the Mission caravan which is a haven for young unemployed.

The Cathedral has different attractions for different people. An Australian who was looking through the Cathedral seemed very unimpressed by its architec-

ture. In desperation his guide asked him his occupation. A bookie, he replied. Oh well, the guide said, the son of Bishop Julius, Sir George Julius, invented the tote. The Australian let out a great shout, shook his head in amazement, plunged his hand into his pocket, scooped out all his change and emptied it into the donation box. Cantabrians were not slow either to put their hands in their pockets when $400,000 was needed in the late 1970 s to restore the Cathedral. Donations poured in even before the official appeal began. But the Cathedral is more than a tourist attraction or an addition to conference facilities — it is a tribute to the determination and foresight of the men and women who founded this city and province. The foresight is epitomised by Bishop Harper who got the Provincial Council to redirect Colombo Street in 1864 so that we now have an uncluttered ' view of the tower and Cathedral from nea'r and far 1 . The Cathedral cuts across religious and political barriers. Catholics participate in services there, and both the National and Labour parties have held services there.

When the Iranian meat inspectors, were making their rounds of our export meat works several years ago, they turned up from Noahs one day quite unexpectedly to deliver a message of peace at the Cathedral. Although some people take the Cathedral for granted I always enjoy seeing it as I come out of the front doors of “The Press.” When I first came to Christchurch I got lost in all the flat land and straight roads. After two hours of panic, there was that greenish spire in the distance — not the most beautiful beacon but, well, just there.