Monday, April 4, 2011

Keep praying for Christchurch

Thank you for your prayers to date. And keep praying for Japan.

Here in Christchurch in the past few days we have been learning that:

- the city's sewerage system is on the verge of collapse

- the Roman Catholic cathedral is two months away from having any kind of report on its future (because its dome needs removing by a special crane or two in order for the building to be safe enough for engineers to enter the building)

- the Roman Catholic bishop, Barry Jones has had a slight stroke

Otherwise we remain in a period of constant change mixed with (seemingly) nothing happening. Changes include new traffic lay outs at newly congested intersections. 'Nothing happening' is the appearance for a number of our churches which await what is - I am sure! - slowly happening: conversations between engineers, insurance assessors, and diocesan property authorities.

'New normal' is an emerging description among Christchurch inhabitants about life at the moment. But in this 'new normal' quite a few things change so much from day to day that confusion is part of the new normal. To make matters worse, some information we receive is confusing too, like a building I noticed on a recently issued list of damaged buildings: it appears twice, once requiring 'demolition' and once requiring 'partial demolition.'

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