Good news and strange news

Good news recently has been the announcement that our Diocesan Youth Worker, Phil Trotter, has been appointed to be Youth Advisor for the NZ Dioceses (i.e. Tikanga Pakeha). Taonga now has the story here. OK, so from a selfish diocesan viewpoint it's not good news as we are going to lose a very fine staff member (though not completely as Phil will do some part-time work for us), but for Phil, and for the wider church, this is good news.

Strange news continues to emanate re the cathedral. This morning's Press carries news (A2) that the British-based businessman who offered $4 million for the rebuilding of the cathedral is standing by that offer. Is this "timely" reminder part of the campaign for saving the present cathedral, or just coincidence that a Press reporter wrote this item up? However the offer is not conditional on the present cathedral being restored.

Today also in the Press is a new version of the letter being signed by the good and the great seeking retention of the cathedral (C10). Many more signatures have been added and I can't help feeling that the organising team are assiduous readers of ADU as we now have the signatures grouped into "England" and "New Zealand". I would like to point out to the organisers that it is very bad form when organising a petition or petitionary letter to repeat names. There are a number of repeated names in this new version ...

Incidentally, a video of damage to the cathedral incurred after the 23 December 2011 quake is posted on YouTube here.