Anglican leaders vote for modern cathedral

The Press reports:

The “overwhelming majority” of Anglican leaders are in favour of a new, modern Christ Church Cathedral with not a single person voting for restoration.

The church held its synod on Saturday, when more than 220 Anglican representatives across the diocese expressed their views on the design options for the-damaged cathedral.

Last week the church revealed three designs for the Christchurch icon – restoration, a reinterpretation of the original cathedral in modern materials, or a completely new building with a sculptural spire.

Anglican diocese spokesman Jayson Rhodes said Bishop Victoria Matthews asked for a “show of hands” from the synod about the three designs.

“No-one wanted the restoration option, about six or seven people put their hands up for the traditional option and the vast, overwhelming majority put their hands up for the contemporary design.

I’m not surprised that basically none of the Anglican leaders voted for the options that would cost $200 million and take up to 22 years to build.

An unscientific Press online poll showed the contemporary design won just under 40 per cent support, or about 4700 votes.

Restoration attracted about 29 per cent of votes and the traditional design received about 27 per cent. Five per cent of the voters wanted something else, rather than the three schemes presented. Nearly 12,000 votes were cast online.

But the public are not the people who pay for it.