Gielen announced in 2024<\/a> the cathedral would return to the diocese’s traditional home on Barbadoes Street and that it would retain the name Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4JKW12A_CATHEDRAL_DESIGN_Photo2_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
A design rendering for Christchurch’s new Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.<\/p>\n
Supplied \/ Catholic Diocese of Christchurch<\/p>\n
He said that in the two years since significant work had been undertaken to develop the design in partnership with the architecture firm Warren and Mahoney.<\/p>\n
“When I arrived in the diocese four years ago, one of the questions I was most often asked was: ‘What is happening with the cathedral?’. That question revealed something profound, the deep love our people have for their Mother Church,” Gielen said.<\/p>\n
“Over these past four years, through listening, prayer and discernment, that shared vision has taken shape.”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4JKW12A_CATHEDRAL_DESIGN_Photo3_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
A design rendering for Christchurch’s new Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.<\/p>\n
Supplied \/ Catholic Diocese of Christchurch<\/p>\n
Gielen believed people would see in the design: “a cathedral that glorifies God, that serves as a beacon of faith in our city, that responds to the realities of the present day”.<\/p>\n
The diocese’s cathedral campaign manager, Tony Brazier, said the project had an $80m budget that would cover the 800-seat cathedral, the attached perpetual adoration chapel and the Te Rangimarie community centre.<\/p>\n
Brazier said about $45m of the funds needed to build the cathedral would come from insurance proceeds and the sale of diocesan assets.<\/p>\n
Of the $35m required through fundraising, more than $19m had already been found, he said.<\/p>\n
![\"Site](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4JKZEK7_Cathedral_of_the_Blessed_Sacrament_02_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
The proposed site of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.<\/p>\n
RNZ \/ Nate McKinnon<\/p>\n
“Bishop Michael is emulating what Bishop Grimes did, inviting every Catholic family to make a sacrificial offering to build our new cathedral,” he said<\/p>\n
Gielen said he had heard from many people who had a sense of pride that their grandparents or great-grandparents helped fund the construction of the original Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.<\/p>\n
“It’s now our turn to answer the ancient call to build something that will last for generations,” he said.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4KRD972_ChristchurchBasilica_gobeirne_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch, as it looked in 2005.<\/p>\n
Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n
“I have been struck by the generosity of people who recognise what a sign of hope our cathedral will be for Christchurch and our region. That generosity has been seen around New Zealand and from people of other faith traditions.”<\/p>\n
The diocese said that when half of the remaining $16m had been raised, the project would move towards final preparations for construction.<\/p>\n
The cathedral will be the first new Catholic cathedral in New Zealand in 120 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The design of Christchurch’s new $80 million Catholic cathedral has been unveiled. The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-544242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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