The Chapel of St Peter the Apostle at St Peter’s College in Auckland was blessed and dedicated on March 13.

Many people — staff, students, benefactors, supporters, old boys, Christian Brothers, clergy, principals of other colleges, and many others processed to the doors of the new chapel as a resounding haka was performed by the college’s kapa haka group.

College chaplain, Msgr Paul Farmer, began his welcome by quoting from Psalm 118: “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice”.

Msgr Farmer handed the keys of the chapel to headmaster James Bentley and board of trustees chair Mark McLauchlan, who unlocked the doors. The outside walls of the chapel were blessed.

During the service inside the building, the baptismal font, the table of the Word, the reconciliation chapel, a statue of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, the chapel of reservation and the cross were blessed. The altar was consecrated and relics of St Peter Chanel and Blessed Edmund Rice were placed in it. The walls of the chapel were also anointed.

The service was relayed by live-feed to some 1000 students gathered in the school’s gymnasium. Among the clergy present were three former students of the college, Msgr Farmer, Msgr David Tonks and Fr Leonard Danvers, who had been at the college at the same time in the 1960s.

In a homily, Msgr Farmer said that for many years, it has been said that “it is a great scandal that the biggest Catholic college in New Zealand does not have a chapel that is fit for purpose. Today, we do”.

The chapel had been a long time in “incubation”, Msgr Farmer said, but the vision of former headmaster Kieran Fouhy had become the vision of many.

Msgr Farmer encouraged every one of the 1250 boys at the college to visit the chapel. “This place belongs to each and every one of you.”

He said this chapel is a place of difference, a place of stillness, a place of quiet, a place of prayer, a place to listen and a place to reflect, for current and future students.

Later in the service, Mr Fouhy, now the headmaster of St Paul’s College in Ponsonby, referred to five previous, much smaller chapels, that had been elsewhere on the site.

“I congratulate everyone who has made this place possible,” Mr Fouhy said.

He hoped that students would use this chapel as students had previous ones, in that they would keep up a tradition of dropping in to the chapel to pray before classes started each day.

Mr Fouhy said he liked the symbolism of the chapel being in the middle of three large crosses visible from major Auckland roads. But he also noted the flag outside being at half-mast, in remembrance of the mosque massacres a year ago.

The cross was an apt symbol, he said.

“I suppose every boy will experience failure, somewhere in his life. Every person does. In fact, in educational things, I think maybe it is a good thing. It proves that character can be built. It proves that we have to strive. The good times we know now won’t always be the good times.”

Mr McLauchlan said the chapel “is a defining symbol of who we are as a Catholic college”.

“We are immensely proud of this chapel, and we believe it has been worth the wait.”

He said people might ask, why did it take so long?

“I think it does pay to remember, for a good part of its history, the college has faced many challenges and financial struggles. There are, I know, staff still working for the college today who remember the days when bills to be paid went into the bottom drawer, waiting for funds to come in.”

But the opening is a “transformation”, he said.

Headmaster James Bentley welcomed and thanked many people associated with the project. He also welcomed the headmaster and associate headmaster of Auckland Grammar School and the headmaster of Mt Albert Grammar School, as well as principals of Catholic colleges.

Mr Bentley described the chapel, which cost an estimated $3million, as “a magnificent building which makes a statement for all to see about what we believe in and what we stand for. This chapel will be a place of worship, not just for our students and staff, but for our wider community”.

Gary Lawson, of Stevens Lawson Architects, said it was an emotional day for him.

“To design a place of worship, as a Catholic, has involved a deep personal journey and a spiritual growth that I don’t think I quite expected. It is a rare privilege when one’s vocation can grow your faith and . . . truly merge with your life,” he said.

“Our aspiration for the Chapel of St Peter has been to create a building which inspires, encourages worship and helps establish in each boy a life-lasting relationship with Our Lord.

“We are all very proud of the project.”

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Associate headmaster Hayden Kingdon said the school is “getting pretty close” to finishing the construction, with the floor installed in the first week of November.

“It’s been pretty smooth sailing,” he said of the on going construction. “We foresee being able to celebrate the first Mass early next year in the school term.”

Mr Kingdon said they are seeking to raise an additional $250,000 for the fit-out.

“We are selling personalised congregational chairs. Families who buy one can put their name on it. We’re calling out to our past and present St Peter’s community to have a share in the history of our chapel,” he said.

The chapel is in the centre of the school grounds and overlooks Khyber Pass Road.

“It’s a wonderful advertisement of our Catholic character to the city. It is certainly going to be a wonderful sacred space for our students to celebrate the sacraments,” Mr Kingdon said.

The congregational chairs cost $1000 each. The school is also seeking sponsors for — sanctuary cross and corpus ($40,000), altar ($10,000), three icons of St Peter ($8000 each), a statue of St Peter ($17,000) and a statue of Mary ($20,000).

The chapel was designed by Stevens Lawson Architects,which also designed the 11.5 metre, 7.5 tonne cross at the entrance of the school. It is being built by Aspec construction.

The main chapel will be able to accommodate 220 people. It will house two smaller chapels within the building that will serve as spaces for reflection.

The chapel had been funded solely through the efforts of the college community, which started raising funds for the project more than a decade ago.

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by ANGELA LITTLE

On April 29, Sacred Heart College staff and students and invited guests witnessed a moving pōwhiri to welcome the school’s new principal Stephen Dooley.

The pōwhiri was led by the school’s senior Kapa Haka boys, who laid down the challenge to Mr Dooley.

A rousing haka was followed by speeches from SHC board chair Kelsen Butler, Mātua Wiremu Ngatipa and the headmaster of St Peter’s College, James Bentley, Stephen Dooley, Sacred Heart acting principal Rob Pepping, Br Richard Dunleavy, FMS, and, lastly, head prefect Millar Rewi read a closing prayer.

What made this pōwhiri so stirring was the heart-felt farewell song and haka to Mr Dooley by members of the St Peter’s Kapa Haka group.

Sacred Heart College extends a very warm welcome to Mr Dooley and his family and looks forward to them becoming
part of the school community.

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Guests included Nick Kumarich (chair of the St Peter’s College Board of Trustees), Craig Nicholson (chair of the board of trustees chapel sub-committee), St Peter’s College old boy Pat Coll (overall project manager for the chapel construction), Gary Lawson (architect from Stevens Lawson Architects and chapel designer), and Matthew Donaghy (building project manager from ASPEC Construction, which is building the chapel).

The day presented the community with an opportunity to pause and ask for God’s blessing on the project, as well as being an occasion to reflect with gratitude upon those who have worked to bring the project to its current state. St Peter’s now looks forward to the completion of the project and the opening blessing in late 2019 or early 2020.

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