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The 165-year-old St Mary's Church in New Plymouth was afforded the honour of becoming the Anglican Church's first new cathedral in more than 80 years - Source: ONE News -
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The first new Anglican cathedral in the world for more than 80 years has been consecrated in Taranaki.
The 165-year-old St Mary's Church in New Plymouth was afforded the honour on Saturday.
The site of St Mary's was chosen for a cathedral by Bishop Selwyn in the early 1840s but it never happened as St Mary's became embroiled in the land wars.
Maori subsequently shunned the church because of its link to the British garrison and the land wars.
Bishop Sir Paul Reeves hopes the consecration of the church as a cathedral will re-unite them.
"My Maori relatives would remind me that St Mary's was the place where they stored the ammunition and cannonballs that we used to fire on the Maori people," says Reeves.
But on Saturday, Sir Paul and Britain's Archbishop of York Dr John Sentanu joined to celebrate the new cathedral and install the new bishop of Taranaki, Phillip Richardson.
Richardson says with St Mary's becoming a cathedral, it becomes a church for all the people of Taranaki and not just the Anglican community.
The Archbishop of York was also full of praise for the new cathedral, saying it has got a great future as a centre for the local community.
The church still displays the banners and symbols of the early colonial soldiers, something the cathedral is now likely to put away in its quest for a new future with Maori.
Cathedral Kaumatua, Tiki Tuterangi Raumati, sees a wonderful future for the cathedral and for the children and grandchildren of the people of Taranaki.
The new cathedral has been consecrated just in time to play a part in the 150th anniversary of the Taranaki Land Wars next week.
