A new chapel has been opened at Parata rest-home by the Anglican Bishop of Dunedin Steven Benford.
The service was held last Tuesday at the rest-home’s daycare centre where the chapel has been re-sited.
Te Whanau o Hokonui Marae members welcomed visitors to the powhiri (welcoming) and blessing of the chapel.
They also presented a korowai (cloak) to the rest-home which the bishop wore for the occasion.
Rest-home lay chaplain Lois Shallard said the rest-home had a chapel in the lounge but it was very small.
‘‘We outgrew the chapel where it was.’’
Now it was in the daycare centre it was more accessible to residents and had more seats, Mrs Shallard said.
Ceiling-to-floor glass doors could be opened to make a bigger space.
The room contained an altar, kneelers and a credence table.
A fortnightly communion service would be held in the chapel.
Two stained-glass windows from St Marks Anglican Church in Riversdale which had recently been sold, were mounted on the wall in a recess and backlit.
The rest-home was named after the Canon Hoani Parata, who was the vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Gore in the 1920s.
Mr Parata’s granddaughter Penny Hutchins, of Queenstown, was at the blessing.
She attended the opening of the resthome in 1971 with her father who was also called Hoani Parata.
She thought her grandfather would be impressed with the new chapel, Mrs Hutchins said.
‘‘I think it’s wonderful.’’
