BEHOLD, HERE GOD LIVES AMONG HIS PEOPLE – the journey from concept to design
by Sr Clare - Community of the Beatitudes
“For everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven…a time to tear down and a time to build up…a time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones together.”
These words from the book of Ecclesiastes are very pertinent for us as a diocese, as we undertake to build a new temple for the Lord. We had become all too familiar with the tearing down of stones. To rebuild takes somewhat longer. The empty space in Barbadoes Street bids us now look to the raising of new stones, to erect a Cathedral, the Mother Church of the diocese, where we, the living stones making a spiritual temple in the Lord, may gather around our bishop.
Prior to the work of elaborating a design brief, Bishop Michael undertook an extensive consultation in 2023 to discern both the location and the name for the new cathedral. The College of Consultors, the Diocesan Finance Council, the clergy, parish leadership, religious orders, technical and project specialists, Catholic Māori, as well as the wider community, had the opportunity to speak of their hopes, preferences, concerns, aspirations, and to prayerfully listen to what the Spirit is saying to the Church in this place.
In April 2024 it was announced that the Cathedral Precinct would be built on
the Barbadoes Street site, and in March 2025, after almost a year of consultations, listening and prayerful discernment, Bishop Michael announced that the name, the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, had been chosen, continuing the legacy of churches and cathedrals of that name on the Barbadoes Street site, where Catholics have worshipped since 1864.
Since September 2024 an advisory group of clergy, religious, laity and representatives from mana whenua and cultural communities had been meeting regularly with Bishop Michael to assist him in this work of discernment, and to elaborate the design brief that would guide the architects. Every effort was made to work within the proposed budget, while remaining open to the surprises of divine Providence.
Experts in church architecture, liturgy, sacred art and design were consulted to inform the group in their work. A Sacred Art sub-committee was formed to create a brief for the interior of the new cathedral and a Sacred Art Coordinator was appointed to oversee the overall interior space and the sacred fixtures and artworks, to achieve the timelessness and nobility conducive to worship, around the central mystery of the Eucharist. In June 2025 after a robust architect selection process, Bishop Michael announced that Warren & Mahoney had been chosen to design the new Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and the surrounding precinct.
The advisory group met regularly with the architects to accompany the evolution of the design, based on the comprehensive fifteen-page brief that had been presented to them. This was where purpose, finality, inspiration, engineering, budget, prudence and a work of unity came together in a marvellous way.
A cathedral has a special role as Mother Church of the diocese and evangelises by its very presence. It proclaims that God is here dwelling among his people. It is
a visible sign of the unity of the faith and links the local church with the universal church throughout the world.
As we saw the emerging images of the concept design there was the sense
that it truly reflected and embodied the aspirations identified throughout the consultation and in the brief. The softer, romanesque forms inviting us into a maternal embrace where all are welcomed are combined with the more dynamic, vertical lines of gothic-style pointed arches, elevating our gaze upwards, where organic, palm-like forms, remind us of the entry into the heavenly Jerusalem. We are being drawn into the mystery, into transcendence, a sense of amplitude, of spaciousness and intimacy. The central mystery, where all eyes will immediately be drawn, is the Eucharist. The ‘Holy of Holies’ from where all graces and the mission of the Church flow forth.
I have been privileged to follow the evolution of the design brief and to see the architectural imagery taking form. I believe the beauty of this cathedral will give us a new sense of belonging and of continuity. It will proclaim the Good News to the men and women of our time, in this place and be a great consolation to the people of this city and to our diocesan family.
