100 years of worship for church on the edge

St Matthews: Still a popular marriage venue. Picture / Richard Robinson

An image of a stained glass window hangs on the rear wall of the Reverend Glynn Cardy's office at St Matthew-in-the-City church.

"It's really three photographs pasted together," the Auckland-based Anglican minister said, as he looked at the abstract swirl of colour and shape. "You don't get the feel of the colour here. It's quite radical."

The new window should be installed by September.

It's only part of the commemorative package planned for the 100th anniversary of the church's neo-gothic stone structure. The church commissioned an equally radical parish history from local newsman and columnist Jack Leigh.

The result, A Place on the Edge: The Story of St Matthew-in-the-City, is to be launched this week.

"You're not going to read about parish annual meetings or anything. Jack's a journo, and he writes it like a journo," Mr Cardy said.

"The readership we hope for this book is not just people who go to church here, but Auckland in general."

Mr Leigh spent 18 months researching the church's history, but he has known the building for most of his life. He grew up in Ponsonby and thought the grey facade and gaping interior of St Matthew to be "remote and cold".

"A stone church was different from the wood warmth of a traditional New Zealand church," he said.

But he has come around. He now lists behind-the-scenes access as one of the biggest perks of writing the book.

His book paints a picture of a church that has flourished through its business alliances and retained a place in the community even as its parishioners left the city for the suburbs.

"It's a fantasy place which people now like to go to," Mr Leigh said.

"It's another dimension of their life in Auckland." Only about 100 people now attend Sunday services at the church, Mr Cardy said, but 72 couples got married there last year.

The 100-year old building may be eclipsed by the Sky Tower, but it owes its restored exterior to the Auckland businesses that footed the bill, including the casino itself.

"Living downtown you live with all sorts of neighbours," Mr Cardy said.

Now the church is focused on raising $500,000, a sum he hoped businesses would match. The money is needed so the church can elevate the 19th-century organ that sits in the south transept and replace it with a chapel from an English mission ship.

The church has embraced gay and lesbian worshippers. "That's quite controversial with Anglicans in certain parts of the world."

The church also played a role in the bloody, anti-apartheid protests of the 1981 Springbok rugby tour.

Curate Andrew Beyer led Mobilisation to Stop the Tour, or Most, with the church's permission.

That action earned a visit from South African President Nelson Mandela in 1995.

All of the controversy inspired the title of the book, said Mr Leigh. The author will sign copies of the book at the church on Wednesday at 6 pm.