Whanganui’s St Anne’s church leased to preschool as church faces financial pressure

Whanganui Montessori Preschool children (from left) Etta Feary, Oliver Carter and Taylor Crick with centre manager Julie Hobson. Photo / Eva de Jong

A Whanganui priest says it was “a difficult choice” to lease out St Anne’s Catholic Church in Whanganui East to Montessori Preschool.

Fr Craig Butler, who has been at the Whanganui parish for 18 months, said sustaining all of the parish buildings came at a high cost and they wanted to be honest about their current financial situation.

“Our situation has changed financially and we don’t have the resources we once had, and the cost of maintaining property is expensive and we’re doing everything we can to minimise our costs.

“It’s not what we want to do, no one wants to close a church. But we’re in a difficult situation where we can’t keep doing the same thing.

“We’ve had to make a difficult choice.”

Whanganui Montessori Preschool centre manager Julie Hudson said the preschool had been in its current location in Otamatea for 20 years but the lease had run out.

“We’ve been actively seeking somewhere to go for about the last year so we are really excited.

“As you can imagine it’s not easy to find a building for 50 preschoolers that’s big enough for all the activities we require.”

Hudson said they were still working through the planning and leasing process but it was looking positive.

The preschool community was looking forward to moving into Whanganui East, she said.

“It’s such a lovely location which will be great for our preschool.”

A closing service was held at the church last Sunday. Photo / Eva de Jong

Butler said the church would continue without the current building and masses would instead be held at St Mary’s Church on Guyton St.

“The way we’ve tried to do this is to lease it rather than sell the property, because a lot of churches are simply being sold.

“We see this as being a much better option to lease it out for a term rather than sell it outright, so that still gives hope for the future.”

Sue Seconi, who spoke at the final service on Sunday, said the closing service was sad but also offered a chance to take a trip down memory lane.

She said in 1966 Whanganui was the largest parish in the country and was separated into four distinct parishes: St Mary’s, St Vincent’s in Castlecliff, St Anthony’s in Gonville and St Anne’s.

“It was sad but there was also an element of it that was about picking up the reality, and everyone has to live within their budgets.”

Butler said there was a vibrant community of deeply faithful church members who would continue to support and maintain St Anne’s existence.

“We rely on the generosity of people to sustain the life of the church ... but we live in a time when the cost of living is very expensive and people don’t have the kind of money they once did.

“Our situation is we have a number of churches and it’s a challenge just to maintain them; at the moment we’re just covering emergencies when it comes to repairs.”

He said he hoped that the church being used by the preschool would benefit the community in a different way.

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering general news stories. She began as a reporter in 2023.