The situation in Hamilton raises an issue that is becoming a problem for church communities throughout New Zealand - the custodianship of heritage buildings from another era that are no longer fit for use by faith communities living in the present era.

Cathedral administrator Father Richard Laurenson said the presbytery is in a poor state and no longer appropriate for today's use.

"There are cracks all over the building and the mortar is falling out from between the bricks," he said.

"I was talking last Wednesday to some of our priests who have lived in the presbytery," Laurenson said in his recent newsletter.

"No one told me that they loved living in the house."

"It was designed by religious priests of the Benedictine variety to live in according to their ways, incorporating room for stables, wharepaku and copper at the back of the property."

"Since then much has changed in Hamilton, but the house firmly remained unchangeable, in spite of a myriad of attempts to improve it."

Laurenson said an historic photographic record has been taken of the house.

Plans are in place to salvage items like woodwork, flooring, fireplaces, stairs and they will be incorporated into the new home.

The presbytery is the oldest surviving building within the city's Catholic precinct in Hamilton East.

It was opened in 1912, the same year as the old St Mary's Church.

The Church was demolished in 1974.

The Hamilton diocese has already gained approval to demolish the nearby Euphrasie House which was built in 1939.

The request to demolish the brick and cement building was made by the Parish Council and approved by Bishop Stephen Lowe.

An architectural historian, Dr Ann McEwan, said the presbytery was a significant heritage building and had retained a high level of authenticity.

"If it goes, it's just another building in Hamilton East to disappear and the loss of it will erode that character people go to a great deal of length to protect," McEwan said.

McEwan said the presbytery wasn't on the schedule of heritage buildings in the council's District Plan and therefore wasn't afforded any formal protection.

"If the Hamilton City Council had added new items to its District Plan heritage schedule, instead of just rolling it over, then the presbytery could have been added."

"Ultimately the council can take credit for not funding the District Plan review to a level that new items could have been added," she said.

Source

• saintmatthews.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz

Michael Meredith, 41, was named as the city's outstanding chef by the Auckland hospitality industry earlier this year, the second time he was been given this accolade.

That is one of many awards over the years for the man who was the founder chef at The Grove, near St Patrick's Cathedral.

Now he runs the celebrated Meredith's restaurant in Mt Eden.

It is a long way from coming to New Zealand as a teenager from Samoa and being reunited with family members and living in the Catholic presbytery in Mt Albert.

At the time, he and his brother were among the poor of the parish.

"As a kid you don't want to be called out in front of the church and [be seen to have] needed helped. I look back now and I laugh about it.

"But back then it was quite embarrassing, as a 13-year-old.

"And like any ethnic kid that comes into a European society, you're not immediately accepted."

Mr Meredith is a minor shareholder and a culinary advisor for "Eat My Lunch", an enterprise aiming to feed as many underprivileged Auckland kids lunch a day as it can.

A New Zealand Herald feature article spelled out how it works.

Its formula is simple: it sells and delivers lunches to those who can afford them so that it can make and deliver lunches to some of the poorest kids in Auckland.

In its first 12 weeks, Eat My Lunch (EML) delivered more than 25,000 lunches to 16 schools, and was praised by Lorde on social media (she bought a 1000 lunches for others, spurring EML to launch its "Give Two" option).

Mr Meredith said the giving was a big drawcard for him.

He has kids himself, so he understands that being hungry at school is bad for learning.

Sources

• New Zealand Herald
• Image: New Zealand Herald

The self-styled "Black Hermits" say they have been told they have until July 20 to leave the presbytery at St Patrick's, Millais Road, Corby, in Northampton diocese.

One of the members, Br Damon Kelly, has been arrested 10 times, had a bucket of water thrown over him and has been pushed over in the street.

He has travelled throughout the United Kingdom giving out leaflets condemning homosexuality and abortion.

Despite his arrests he has refused to stop putting leaflets through people's letterboxes, which, in some cases, may involve entering private property.

He told the Church Militant website: "At first I agreed to do no more leafleting."

"But I've wrestled with it, I've sought spiritual counsel. And I've decided I have to obey God's law and not the state's law."

Br Damon has been charged with harassment over two pamphlets.

He is reported to be due in Leicester Magistrates court on May 18.

If convicted he could receive a prison sentence.

The hermits - two brothers and one sister - claim the Bishop of Northampton, Peter Doyle, says they have brought him and the diocese into disrepute.

Bishop Doyle told The Tablet he understood that any communication between him and the hermits "would remain private".

The bishop reportedly invited the hermits to live in the presbytery four years ago, said the group's founder, former Capuchin novice master, Fr Stephen Joseph de Kerdrel.

Fr de Kerdrel said: "[The bishop] invited us into the diocese which was very kind of him.

"It's all very sad because it started off so well . . . The last thing we want to do is make the bishop's life difficult."

Members of the Black Hermits reportedly make personal vows to their bishop.

One of the hermits, Sr Collette Farrell-Roberts, wrote on their website last week: "We do not have anywhere to go . . . we just need somewhere for our cats!"

Sources

• The Tablet
• Catholic Herald
• Church Militant
• Image: Free Republic