I remember years ago when the Anglican Church was being bullied by every Tom, Dick and Harry about fixing up the Cathedral in Cathedral Square after the earthquakes, and I was having a conversation with a person who was involved in the campaign with Jim Anderton and all those guys.

And he was telling me how imperative it was that the cathedral be rebuilt or restored, how it was part of the fabric of Canterbury society blah blah blah. And I remember asking him about his memories of going to the Cathedral and he told me was an atheist!

He didn’t believe in God but he was demanding that God’s house be fixed, come hell or high water.

And I think that exchange coloured my whole attitude towards the Anglican cathedral. I’m not an advocate - put it that way.

Because what really hit home when I was being lectured at by the atheist, was that his misguided passion for the Anglican cathedral was all about architecture - and nothing more. A monument. It wasn’t about the people. It was all about architecture and a physical presence.

Which is the same tension that the Catholic Church in Christchurch is dealing with, with some members of the church very unhappy that it’s pouring a truckload of money into a new cathedral development in the central city.

About $100 million by the time you take the land and the construction costs into account. And what these 300 are saying, is that if the church is going to spend that sort of money, it should be spent in the community and around parishes.

So instead of building an edifice in the centre of town - which, if it goes ahead, will only be a few blocks away from the Anglican Cathedral - these parishioners are saying the Catholic Church should be focusing its attention on where the people actually go to church.

Which is all the Catholic churches and parishes around Canterbury. And I think they have a very good point. That’s because I think that, when it comes down to it, churches are actually all about people - not buildings.

And I come at this with a bit of knowledge and experience. I grew up going to Mass on Sundays. I did the altar boy thing, first communion, confirmation - the whole nine yards.

Actually, last night, I was having a conversation with a couple of people about the last time they went to Mass.

It was a while ago for me. So I’m not exactly a card-carrying member of the Catholic Church these days but, you know, you can take the boy out of St Mary’s Kaikorai in Dunedin but you can’t necessarily take the St Mary’s Kaikorai out of the boy.

And I’m with these parishioners who have gone to the Vatican saying the church is about the people and the parishes, not a cathedral in the centre of town.

That’s because, as a Catholic - however lapsed I might be - it’s not the church buildings I remember. It’s what happened inside them and how it seemed that whenever something happened in the community, the church people were the ones who rallied to help out or share the celebration.

It was all about the people. It was me and my mates turning up to be altar boys and me getting told off by the priest for asking when we were going to put the dresses on. “They’re not dresses boy!”

Or all of us kids traipsing into the church to learn how to do the confession thing and bouncing up and down on the kneeling pad to make the light outside the confessional flash on-and-off. And the ill-fated altar boys picnic up Flagstaff hill in Dunedin - and the Deacon thinking he knew a shortcut, and all of us getting lost and the army having to come and search for us.

Also my vivid memories of the time a kid at school was killed in a road accident and all us kids going to the Rosary and the funeral. Everyone coming together. Don’t ask me about the architecture at the church. It was all about the people.

And it’s no different today. And it’s why these Catholic parishioners in Christchurch have looked up and said ‘hold on a minute. Why are we pouring money into a brand new Cathedral?' They’re saying ‘isn’t our church about people and parishes?’.

And they’ve gone to the Vatican with a legal challenge against the new Catholic Cathedral going ahead, and the Vatican has sat-up and taken notice - and the Catholic cathedral development is on hold until the case is considered.

Like I say, I’m with the parishioners on this one. That’s because I think that, when it comes down to it, churches are actually about people - not buildings.

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