News Archive 2015

Utter Nonsense

"What Father Ron Smith writes about „the new Kreuzberg Cathedral in Berlin, built to replace the ruined Kaiser Wilhelm Cathedral“, is utter nonsense.

For a start, there is no Kreuzberg Cathedral in Berlin. There is only the Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche in the suburb of Kreuzberg, and this is clearly not a replacement of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche which was bombed in WW2.

Heilig-Kreuz Church was inaugurated in 1888, destroyed in WW2 and rebuilt from 1951 to 1959 in a simplified form, and later substantially restored and extended.

It is a replacement of itself by reconstruction, and was a much bigger job than what many people in Christchurch want of their Cathedral – which is the restoration of a perfectly repairable building that has been left to die for four years now.

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche is a different story altogether. The nave of the church has been replaced by a modern building because there was not much left to restore.

The spire, nick-named ”The Hollow Tooth”, and the old foyer with its breathtakingly beautiful mosaics are still standing. They have been left there as an anti-war memorial – but only after massive protests by the people of Berlin, as the original architectural design did not include anything old, and the spire was planned to be demolished.

The fact that Father Ron Smith is only talking about the “simple beauty of that new structure” and does not say a word about the most important part of the complex, the spire and the foyer that attract all the tourists, just demonstrates how some members of the Anglican Diocese in Christchurch are twisting the truth or do not know what they are talking about. Not the new structure in Berlin but the damaged spire is a symbol of the city and a reminder of the horrors of the past."

I am always amazed what rubbish some people write in their Letters to the Editor, misrepresenting the facts of how things are overseas. I only wonder if they do it on purpose, thinking no-one really knows the truth, or if they are too stupid to know better.

One of these serial offenders is a priest or former priest who regularly writes in support of the demolition of Christchurch's Anglican Cathedral. He can surely have an opinion - but it is unacceptable to back his claims by fantasies instead of facts. Usually I just scream and then forget about it. Only when he crosses the line to insanity, I answer with a letter like the following one on 14 March 2015:

Church Letter Writers from Hell

14 March 2015

12 May 2015

Harry's Visit a Roaring Success

I had fun with my fluffies during Price Harry's visit to New Zealand. My photos from his walkabout in Christchurch in the German part of my website:

http://www.sissistein.com/home/herzlich-willkommen/neuigkeiten-2015/12-05

06 October 2015

More Po(o)llution

After observing a new act of environmental vandalism at Lake Ellesmere, I contacted Environment Canterbury, just like a few years earlier, and The Press.

Facts and photos on my page: http://www.sissistein.com/welcome/clean-and-green-new-zealand/new-cows-and-grey-sludge

An article about the latest po(o)llution, published in The Press on 02 October 2015:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/72377723/horrible-conditions-at-troubled-lake-as-restoration-project-begins

The remains of Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche and the new modern spire beside the "Hollow Tooth".

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche in Berlin. Nothing left of it?

Prince Harry was a crowd pleaser in New Zealand, not just in Christchurch.

More cows than Canada geese on the edge of Lake Ellesmere.