Talk of a “property empire” in “Anglicans Sit on Half-Billion Property Empire” (Saturday 2 May 2026) implies the Anglican Diocese is free to sell properties as it sees fit. In reality, this is not true.
Since 1850, generous Anglicans have made specific gifts, including land and funds to build churches, as well as for purposes such as education or welfare. Today our parishes steward those historic gifts. Typically, each has one or more churches, a church hall and one or more clergy houses which incur costs of maintenance, repairs and insurance. Total value of these properties is circa $250m, not $500m which is an insurance estimate for replacement of all buildings. All are held in trust by Church Property Trustees (CPT) which ensures parishes comply with civic regulations and trust deeds. These are legal obligations, not optional preferences.
No property may be sold, leased or rented without the express decision of the parish community. Effective authority sits with each parish and not with the Diocese or CPT. When parish property is sold, use of those funds is usually constrained by trust terms to remain for use in that locality. For example, The Press mentioned an infrequently used church, St. Kentigern’s, in Kaituna Valley. When that property was gifted in 1928, for use within the Mt. Herbert Parish, the terms of the gift stated that the land was to be held “in Trust for a Church, School and Cemetery”. That makes selling it to fund the Cathedral impossible.
The Press also mentioned Sister Eveleen Retreat House, gifted by a nun in 1939 for the purpose of spiritual refreshment. That remains its purpose. If that purpose ceased and we sold this property, we are bound to the terms of the bequest to train people for ordained ministry. We cannot legally use that asset to fund the Cathedral.
Could the terms of such trusts be varied? Possibly, but the reality of changing trusts is that changes are only approved by the courts or the Attorney General that are close to the original trust terms, and not approved where a significant change of direction is applied for.
Let us please put the division behind us and understand the facts.
Every year the Diocese meets in Synod, our annual general meeting. In 2017, after years of public dispute, our Synod voted narrowly, 52%-48%, to reinstate the Cathedral.
It is easy to forget how fraught that period was.
Those making the decisions were urged by external speakers to support reinstatement, which came with funding offers from the Minister for Earthquake Recovery and Mayor. The Synod’s decision, to reinstate the Cathedral, was intended to resolve divisions within the city.
That decision came with a deliberate limit on the Diocese’s responsibility to fund the reinstatement. The motion approved read:
“… the financial contribution of CPT and the Diocese will be limited to the Cathedral material damage insurance proceeds plus investment returns on hand.”
Synod understood no extra Diocesan funds beyond insurance proceeds would be used. That was important because parishes were already stretched maintaining their own quake-damaged buildings. Had Synod been asked to fund reinstatement from parish resources, the motion would have failed. Synod would then have voted for a new Cathedral, funded by insurance funds.
The Anglican Church is, as it should be, contributing the largest share of funding to the Cathedral’s reinstatement.
We have, so far, committed all of our insurance proceeds received ($43.9m) to the reinstatement project. We have also committed additional funds resulting from the dissolution of two parishes which has occurred since 2017, including $3.8 million after the sale of St. Luke’s Church.
We are committed to providing another $20 million. Most of this will come from the future sale of the Transitional Cathedral site. We will also commit surplus funds from assets we can sell to make up the remainder.
That means we are committing $23.8m above what was agreed to at the 2017 Synod. We are keen to see our 2017 decision fulfilled and are doing all we can to support the reinstatement.
I long to see construction underway again, so that we can reopen the nave, tower and West Porch. Restoring the heritage of Christchurch by reopening Christ Church Cathedral is not something we can achieve without public funds. Reinstating nationally important heritage comes with a high price tag that is beyond our funding capability alone.
We are grateful for the public’s help and look forward to seeing the project continue. We want private investors to have the confidence to invest in the area around the Square.
To those who understand our position, thank you. Your support has been amazing and it’s clear many of us are keen to move on from the arguments and controversy over the Cathedral. I look forward to welcoming the city back through those doors and seeing the steeple rise again.
Bishop Peter Carrell
Anglican Bishop of Christchurch