Moran Chapel set to close this week

The Catholic Church has done a U-turn on keeping a central Dunedin chapel and will close it for financial reasons.

The last Mass at Moran Chapel on the ground floor of the Moran building in the Octagon will be held this Friday, September 26.

The Catholic Bishop of Dunedin, the Most Rev Michael Dooley, said it was a "difficult and painful" decision to close a place of prayer that was loved by so many.

It had initially been decided to keep the chapel after a community consultation process that received 40 responses in September last year.

However, after a review of the Catholic Diocese’s buildings and ongoing financial commitments, Bishop Dooley and a College of Consultors revisited that decision and chose to close the Moran Chapel.

"We must be prudent stewards of our resources and ensure that our assets serve the greater good of the whole diocese," Bishop Dooley said.

The chapel opened in the 1960s and formerly housed a number of Diocesan offices.

Its original purpose was to provide Mass for people working inside the building and for local workers.

Bishop Dooley said the situation had changed significantly since then and the Moran Building was now a commercial office site.

Attendance at the chapel had declined and the revenue from donations at Mass no longer covered its operating costs which fell on the diocese instead.

The decision had been made to spend financial resources on other parishes with greater need.

Central Dunedin still had many places available for celebrating Mass, including St Joseph’s Cathedral, Holy Name, South Dunedin, and North East Valley.

The space occupied by the chapel would be leased to another organisation.