OSG members will remember Bishop Victoria’s talk at our July OSG meeting. Whilst our questioning tended to focus on Women in the Episcopate – after all, we had a real Woman Bishop talking to us – Bishop Victoria’s concerns were centred on the increasing burden faced by her Clergy in dealing with the aftermath of continuing earthquakes in Christchurch. I visited Bishop Victoria in August at her temporary office in Christchurch to follow up OSG’s concerns that a way should be found to help. The Government’s classification of zones into Red (no building) Orange (wait until engineers have checked) Green (repairs can go ahead) is painfully slow with large parts, including the centre and Cathedral Square, still unclassified and cordoned off in many places.
Before and after the earthquake (February and June 2011)
At a human level, all clergy have come together in an ecumenical effort to en-sure no family affected is unvisited and efforts made to alleviate, where possible, some of the suffering. This in turn has taken its toll on the clergy men and women involved and exhaustion is a major challenge, especially since many of the clergy are themselves affected.
Although Christchurch has not appeared in news headlines recently that is not to say the city is on the mend. True, ‘quake frequency is diminishing as the substrata settle but the severity of individual quakes remains a real threat.
In October for example, Christchurch and its immediate surrounds suffered only one ‘quake of more than magnitude 5.0 compared with 5 such ‘quakes in June. No ‘quake above magnitude 5.0 was reported in August and only one in July [info] however, the drip-drip effect of successive smaller tremors delays ongoing engineering surveys, as staff scramble for safety, and undermines confidence in the limited amount of rebuilding already begun. It doesn’t do wonders for morale either.
How can we help? I think we could start by offering to help with the visiting bur-den. I’m sure there are clergy, perhaps newly retired with long experience, who would be particularly suited to provide relief for a limited period of, say, three months. Bishop Victoria has said that accommodation for visiting clergy will be arranged but the Diocese of Christ-church is in no position to stump up for air fares or stipends – hence the thought of approaching retired clergy. Up to six months visitor visas are readily available and since no paid work would be undertaken, no issues would arise under NZ employment law. How then to cover the airfares of those willing to volunteer? Perhaps the Church Com-missioners could be approached?
As a footnote, the Cathedral is to be deconsecrated so that rebuilding of central Christchurch can be assessed as a whole – assuming that part of Christchurch is deemed safe enough to build on. A Project Group has been established to look at the future shape, location and indeed structure of a central Cathedral Church for the city. How (and where) that is to be achieved is a matter for deep thought and all our prayers.
Robin Back, Norwich
