After all the public land records show Diocese has $320 million "empire" of cash and properties.

Why not, for example sell the Church of the Good Shepherd in Tekapo to help fund the rebuild?

But a diocese, Anglican or Catholic, is not the monolith it may appear to be from the outside. Parishes are not just local branches of a diocese.

Each parish owns its own property. The Bishop does not exercise CEO-like authority in these matters.

A spokesperson for Anglican Diocese of Christchurch has pointed that the land and investments are the property of individual parishes and are held "on trust" for those parishes.

A parish's assets cannot be spent outside each individual parish.

"The CPT (Church Property Trust) is the holding body for all the [parish] trusts," said the spokesperson.

"You can't take money from Papanui, for example, to pay central."

In a letter sent to all Anglicans in the diocese Bishop Victoria Matthews reminded them the CPT has no equity of its own.

"This week a senior reporter of The Press has made it his business to investigate CPT investments."

"There is the suggestion that on Saturday The Press newspaper will have a story about the Church Property Trustees and how we could use our funds to reinstate the Cathedral in the Square."

"I write to you at this time to simply remind you that we do hold land and Investments but that these are for parish and diocesan ministry and mission. CPT has no equity of its own."

The Christchurch Anglican diocese's finances have come under scrutiny as it negotiates with the Government over how to fund the $100m Christ Church Cathedral restoration.

The CPT has a $42m insurance payout on the cathedral to spend on the restoration, while campaign group Great Christchurch Buildings Trust (GCBT) has pledged to raise $15m from donors and about $10m has been offered by the Government.

Matthews is concerned it may prove difficult to raise money for the $30m funding shortfall on the project

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz

On Friday Brownlee said he was disappointed an offer to help with the restoration of the Anglican Cathedral in Christchurch was turned down by the Church Property Trustees (CPT).

He said the offer was made up of $10m in cash and a $15m loan.

The Bishop says Brownlee's claims of a $25 million offer of Government help are incorrect.

"CPT reached an agreement with mandated Crown negotiators including the Christchurch working group chairman Geoff Dangerfield . . . before Christmas," Matthews said on Sunday.

"That agreement, to CPT's surprise, proved not acceptable to the minister and at the last minute a two page, non-binding, principles document was sent through to the negotiating table."

"This two page statement of principles significantly changed the terms in ways that were not acceptable to CPT as prudent trustees, with $42 million to put towards an over $100 million project."

On Friday Brownlee had said a second government had made a offer with different terms.

He understood the CPT would be meeting this week to discuss the second offer.

However Matthews said there had been very limited informal discussion.

"A revised two page statement of principles, which is non-binding and which I believe has not been seen by Cabinet, arrived this week."

"But it was not presented by the Minister, nor did we have assurance he was in favour of every aspect of it," Matthews said.

On Friday the church said CPT has no scheduled meeting this week.

The church says a decision over the Cathedral's fate will be out in the next six months.

The cathedral has been derelict for almost six years since the February 2011 quake, with parties at an impasse on whether to demolish or to attempt restoration.

The government set up a working group to look at options for restoration, but no deal has so far been reached.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• radionz.c0.nz
• Image: resources.stuff.co.nz

A High Court judgment released on Wednesday said it was sufficient for the Church Property Trustees (CPT) to repay the $4 million it used from the quake-damaged Christ Church Cathedral insurance payout to construct the Transitional Cathedral near Latimer Square.

The CPT holds property on various trusts for the diocese.

The Great Christchurch Buildings Trust (GCBT)- a pressure group led by former MPs Jim Anderton and Philip Burdon took the CPT to court over the use of insurance money to build he Transitional Cathedral.

The CPT repaid the money with funds diverted from a trust account after an interim High Court judgment in 2012 said the $39m payout for the Christ Church Cathedral could only be used for work on the existing structure or its successor in the Square.

The Great Christchurch Buildings Trust believied the CPT should be penalised for its breach.

The CPT's lawyer Jeremy Johnson asked the court to rule on whether it was still an issue still an issue.

Source

• anglicantaonga.org.nz
• newstalkzb.co.nz
• Image: anglicantaonga.org.nz

On Wednesday evening, Gavin Holley, of the Church Property Trustees, told a Press-hosted public forum on the proposals that he hoped to have the information up on its website by late Friday afternoon.

This was in response to restoration campaigners challenging church officials on their figures at the first forum, on April 10, with some claiming the restoration cost had been overblown to make it appear less viable.

Restoration is estimated to cost between $104 million and $221m. It would take the longest and would involve the demolished spire being rebuilt.

Holley said the diocese was under-insured and most of the fundraising - for any option - would involve seeking funds from abroad.

Source

• The Press
• TVNZ
• Image: Gismodo.com