Holy Trinity Cathedral reopens Sunday

Workmen stood on man lifts yesterday removing the Holy Trinity Cathedral’s 22 pinnacles. The removal of the pinnacles are the last of emergency works being done in the aftermath of the August 21 6.8 magnitude earthquake. There was extensive damage to the church following the earthquake.

The church remained closed after the earthquake with its services taking place in its garden. But Shelley-Ann Tenia, the church’s dean and rector, has the confidence that the building will be opened for its harvest next Sunday.

Tenia spoke to Newsday at the Trinity All Generations Steel (TAGS) and the School of the Arts annual Sunday morning brunch. The brunch, now in its 25th year, hosted 400 to 500 children from homes and charitable organisations.

She told Newsday “repair work has been going on from the month after the earthquake. First, the assessments and then we began to do the repair work.

“So what you are seeing is actually the tail end of the emergency repair that is happening because we are actually preparing to get back into the building on Sunday.”

The church’s harvest will be held next Sunday and is part of its fundraising for its repair and restoration. The removal of the 22 pinnacles, she said, was to ensure there is no injury to anyone in the event of another seismic event.

Repair work also happened inside. “What is happening on the inside... there is scaffolding everywhere because we have taken off all of the cement render off the walls.

“Right now they are doing the dilapidation survey (which is checking all of the members all throughout the church. Then we will continue with leak repair, we have some roof leaks all around the cathedral. Those will be taken care of in the new week as well and then by Thursday we are going to start washing, out clearing out, putting out chairs, putting up all of the electrical and all of that.”

She said everything was done to ensure the safety of its parishioners. All of the things the engineers asked the church to do; it has sought to attend to to ensure safety. “All of the things the engineers said to us are risky, we have sought to attend to. Which is why also we are actually fixing the leaks because if we don’t fix them, they will cause water to come into the walls which will also make them more porous and problematic.” Tenia said fundraising for emergency repair and restoration has been steady.

“We have had just a lot of good community support. We have gotten donations from the business sector and we are still waiting on some donations. And people just have given. We have had nuts vendors, corn soup vendors and the average person around town, give.

She said the church challenged parishioners for each person to contribute $1,000 and “by and large people have been faithful to that...”

The church expects to get some support from its diocese as well as its other parishes. Some parishes, she said, have designated a second collection every Sunday in aid of the cathedral repair.

She said the church does not know actual figure for restoration but had initially estimated it at $70 to $75 million. The actual restoration figure will be determined when the dilapidation survey comes to an end in January.

However, emergency repair works immediately following the earthquake cost $1.4 million.

“That $1.4 million was to get us back in the building safely,” she said. The $1.4 million, she added, was “spread out” between the cost for the technical support, equipment rental and the cost for contractors to do the various pieces of work.

“I want people to hear and understand that the cathedral is a living archive...it is our history as a people and really to encourage people to contribute and participate,” she said.