Nestled behind Nukutere College, the country’s 126-year-old first Catholic Church cathedral has been restored, renamed, and blessed. The ‘sacred building’ will now serve as a library, an art centre and a place of gathering for Nukutere College student and the diocese.

It first opened as the St Joseph’s Chapel on Christmas Day 1896.

On Thursday, the restored church building was blessed by Bishop Paul Donoghue, renamed and repurposed as The Castanie Centre, in tribute to Monsignor Bernadin Castanie sscc, the founding father of the Catholic faith in the Cook Islands.

Monsignor Castanie served for 45 years and died aged 70 on May 14, 1939, and is buried behind the building. The words on his headstone state: “Though he is dead, he still speaks by faith.”

At the special blessing of The Castanie Centre, Bishop Donoghue said Monsignor Castanie may have passed away, but through his faith he still speaks.

Bishop Donoghue also emphasised that the Catholic Church’s aim was to provide education in the country. He stated that this was evident from the arrival of the Sisters, who opened schools at St Mary’s in Arorangi, Aitutaki, Atiu, and Mauke.

“Through the history of the church it has always been involved in education,” said Bishop Donoghue.

Bishop Paul Donoghue blesses the library inside the restored first Catholic cathedral which has been renamed The Castanie Centre. MELINA ETCHES/23120837

He added that history books recount the arrival of the Catholic Church and the hostility they faced from the London Missionary Society (LMS).

Monsignor Castanie was the son of Antoni Castania and Rosa Solignac and was born in Spain on May 12, 1889. He was ordained a priest on October 18, 1892.

At the age of 25, Monsignor Castanie arrived to Rarotonga from Tahiti, French Polynesia on October 29, 1894 with Father George Eich, who returned to Tahiti four months later.

Less than a year later, on July 14, 1895, at the invitation of Fr Castanie, the first two Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny arrived from Tahiti.

The Sisters were, Sr. Lydia Berger, Superior, originally from France, and Sr Marie of the Holy Relics Hearn, who was Irish. A third member of the community, newly professed Sr Cecilia O’Donnell, arrived from Ireland a little later in the year.

The church building was constructed under the direction of Monsignor Castanie, and those who worked alongside Castanie include the sisters of St Joseph of Cluny, Peteo Winchester, a builder from Tahiti who also built the Catholic church in Mauke, and family and the members of the congregation of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

The building incorporated imported cedar in the roof and trusses, local timber in the framing, with coral rubble and limestone mortar in the walls.

In 1925 it was extended by Petero Winchester, and again in 1953-54 by his son, Jean-Marie Winchester.

The ceiling and roof were repaired in 1961.

It was later renamed St Joseph’s Cathedral.

This cathedral ceased being used as a church in 1977, when a new cathedral opened on the Ara Tapu of Avarua. The present cathedral is the second one built on that site.

From 2021-22 major renovations were carried out including new floor tiling, a new roof, new trusses, new ceiling and additional buttressing. The recent restoration project started in January 2022 and finished in July.

Jean Mason, a member of the Nukutere Holdings Ltd board which is effectively the landlord of Catholic Church properties on Rarotonga, oversaw this restoration.

The roof had to be lifted off to put in new trusses, as well as installation of a new ceiling and concrete poles and posts to hold up the roof (as the 100 plus year wooden posts/poles had completely rotted away inside the coral rubble and concrete walls).

Other major renovations included the removal of the false floor covering the altar area which had been put in to make it level for use as a classroom in the late 1980s. New tiles were put in throughout the assembly hall and the original (partial) aisle tiling removed.

Security has been improved by the new windows installed in the empty window frames and holes in the concrete walls sealed.

Three new rooms were created from alcoves of the building for use as offices and storerooms.

Mason said the 100 years-plus building which was once derelict, is now looking good and is certainly more functional now than it was in the past decades.

The restoration of the main hall included the removal of the roof. SUPPLIED/23120841

The library, well-appointed and used occasionally as a spare classroom since arson destroyed several classrooms at the college some years ago (the case remains unsolved), is one of the best-equipped in the Cook Islands. Sister Elizabeth Browne-Russell, Christine Newnham, Debbie Tamaiva, Teresa Arneric, Jean Mason, Becky Frey and Sally Voss dedicated several weeks to setting up the library.

Bishop Donoghue acknowledged the inspiration of Mason, for her drive and passion to restore the first cathedral together with Sister Elizabeth, Cook Islands Tourism, Deon Rossouw and the builders and benefactors.

He affirmed that the former house of God remains a sacred building and will continue to serve as a library, an art centre, and a gathering place for Nukutere College and the diocese.

The church holds many special memories for Catholics, including 89-year-old Elizabeth Bailey, better known as Betty.

Bailey was christened in the church on the 29^th of April, 1934, by the Monsignor Castanie, just six days after she was born.

Her parents Marie nee Peyroux and William Watson were married in the church.

Bailey was also married in the same church to the late Leslie Lawrence Bailey on 16th May, 1957, by the first bishop of the Cook Islands, John David Hubaldus Lehman (1939-1959), whom the locals had fondly called Bishop Upa.