For the last year we have been dominated, in the Diocese of Dunedin by the fallout from the Canterbury earthquakes and the consequent need to seismically strengthen our buildings. We are the smallest diocese in the country, the least resourced and we have the largest number of unreinforced masonry churches. Small parishes from one end of our diocese to the other have struggled with an impossible dilemma. Small congregations are faced with having to get their church, parish hall, and in some instances vicarage assessed by a structural engineer at a cost of, usually, $2-3000 per building. Then, once inspections have been made, there is the prospect that the buildings will have to be brought up to an acceptable level of strength, that is, 33.333% of the current building code. This is likely to cost a large sum of money, probably several hundred thousand dollars. The alternatives to fixing the buildings are 1) sell them; but this is problematic because obviously any new owner would...