FEILDING Hundreds of people gathered in Feilding on a beautiful winter morning as Bishop Peter Cullinance opened and dedicated the new St Brigids Church. Following the karanga, or call to welcome, parishioners Mary Sanson and her granddaughter Gabrielle Cribb-Burrow were the first to pass through the doorway, symbolising the birth of the new church.

Bishop Cullinane, who was supported at the August 9 opening Mass by Bishop Owen Dolan and 13 other priests with ties to the parish, said the church is a holy place that calls people in and sends them out, nurtured with the life of Christ.

He said the parishioners are justified in taking pride and pleasure in what has been achieved in the church we have gathered to dedicate.

We are part of the building by reason of our relationship with the apostles and Christ, the bishop said.

The new complex is built on the site of the previous church, which opened in 1925. It was demolished last year. The parish centre was sold and removed to make way for the new building.

The church includes a large gathering place or foyer that opens into an auditorium on one side and to offices, a meeting room, kitchen and toilets on the other. The use of sliding doors allows all public areas to open into each other, or to be closed as separate spaces.

One of the most not-iceable features of the church is the baptismal font. It is a walk-in cruciform pool for the initiation of adults, so will mainly be used at Easter.

The design uses jarrah timber from the beams, and marble from the altar, of the old church.
Some stained-glass windows from the old church have also been used in the new building, including two that now hang in the Blessed Sacrament chapel.

The sanctuary of the church features an octagonal, polished kauri altar table.

The new church allows for the modern concepts of worship, with slightly tiered seating on three sides around the altar, overhead data projectors, and sound equipment to cater for modern musical instruments, said pastoral assistant Kathleen Sheridan.

Another feature of the new church is its external Stations of the Cross, depicted in large moulded concrete panels.

The stories in stone designed by Robert Jahnke of Massey University incorporate the Maori motif of takitoru, consisting of three parallel lines a common pattern in Maori meeting houses.