Bishop Victoria Looks to Memorial Service

Prince William will attend the national memorial service for victims of the Christchurch earthquake in North Hagley Park on Friday, March 18. Prime Minister John Key said Prince William would attend on behalf of the Queen. He also will visit Greymouth to speak to families involved in the Pike River Mine disaster. Fiancee Kate Middleton is unlikely to accompany the prince. ''This is a heart-warming gesture that will mean a lot to the thousands of people whose lives have been forever changed by these events,'' Mr Key said. ''I would like to personally thank the Queen for thinking of New Zealand in its darkest hours and very much look forward to seeing Prince William again, even though it is in very sad circumstances.'' The Prince will arrive in New Zealand on March 17 and fly to Australia on March 19 to visit areas affected by Queensland's cyclone and flooding. 

The Royal Family have already paid their respects to the victims of the New Zealand earthquake. Senior members of the Royal Family, including Prince William and Miss Middleton, signed a book of condolence at the country's High Commission in London. Mayor Bob Parker said Prince William's visit would send "a strong message of family." "It also sends a message of real optimism about our city because his royal highness has a very important engagement just four weeks later (his marriage)." March 18 will also be a one-off provincial holiday for the Canterbury region so that as many Cantabrians as possible can attend the memorial service. The service will begin at 12.45pm to coincide with the time the February 22 earthquake struck – 12.51pm.
More than 100,000 people are expected to attend the service, including a large overseas contingent.

'Time to say goodbye' The Anglican Bishop of Christchurch, The Rt Rev Victoria Matthews, told Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report that the service “will be a time of saying goodbye." “That will be poignant," she said, "and it is incredibly important, if there is to be a bright future." She said one of the greater challenges in organising such a memorial service is to give appropriate recognition to the faiths of those from other traditions who had died. “But we’ve been doing this for decades,” she said. “It’s a matter of allowing appropriate space for the other faiths to speak their prayers in the context of the larger service. “I’m aware that there’ll be a large international attendance – but those visitors will be here because this is New Zealand, and because people have died in New Zealand. And so it needs to be a Kiwi service.” Bishop Matthews said the Governor General, the Prime Minister and the Mayor of Christchurch will all have prominent parts to play in the service, as well as Christian leaders and other faith representatives. The service would also be bicultural, she said. Bishop Matthews is unclear what role she will herself play. “I think I will be one of the crafters of the service, helping pull it together. Whether I actually have a speaking role, or preach, has yet to be decided.” She told Radio New Zealand that one of her chief hopes is that regardless of whether people are present, or whether they view the service on television, they will experience “something of exquisite beauty.” “That may be in the music, that may be in a reading, or it may be the sermon.“Because in beauty, the human being is able both to experience sorrow, and to anticipate the future. “In beauty, we begin to rise above our own pain, and we begin to think something else is possible. “I hope that in that experience of beauty – and the beauty of holiness, the presence of God … people will be able to move ahead in their mourning, and in their bereavement.”
Mr Key said Cabinet decided against a nationwide holiday. The death toll from the 6.3 magnitude quake stands at 166.