US cardinal urges support for Christchurch cathedral

The Archbishop Emeritus of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, recently shared a special video message of support for Christchurch Diocese. Introducing Cardinal Dolan in the video, Christchurch Bishop Michael Gielen said he had been assisted in his own journey by the cardinal’s love for the Church and clarity in supporting it, as well as his courage. Bishop Gielen described the cardinal as “an inspiration”.

“So I reached out to him recently around our new cathedral and asked for his support.”

Cardinal Dolan described the planned cathedral in Christchurch as a “promising project”.

“I’m a bit of an expert in rebuilding and restoring cathedrals, because we had to do it here in New York at our magnificent St Patrick’s Cathedral, and I’ll tell you this, you can’t do it by yourself,” the cardinal said. “You need the buy-in of the entire community because the cathedral arises from the entire community and it’s a sign of Christ the light to the world there in Christchurch.”

Cardinal Dolan said his prayer is that “your people are going to come through, because you need them and the Church needs them and they need this restored cathedral”.

The cardinal said he hoped to see the future cathedral one day.

The cardinal is one of the latest figures to give international support for the cathedral project.

During a recent visit to the United States for a retreat, Bishop Gielen visited his alma mater, the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and its president Fr Dave Pivonka TOR. The two recorded a video together.

In an earlier message, Bishop Gielen shared that many Christchurch diocesan priests agreed to give $50 a week each towards the project, and over five years this would amount to $400,000.

The bishop said that an overseas donor heard about that and wanted to support them. That donor said he would match the priests’ generosity if the bishop could find someone in Christchurch to match him.

Bishop Gielen acknowledged that “ . . . $400,000 is a significant sacrifice for those generous and faithful donors, but for some families, $20 a week will be a sacrifice. All gifts are welcomed, all are valued and all are a prompting of the Holy Spirit”.

FULL STORY

Bishop Gielen and Cardinal Dolan cathedral support message (Catholic Diocese of Christchurch/Facebook)

Priests’ generosity inspires big donor for New Zealand project (Aleteia)