After lots of cleaning work, there’s only the faintest smell of fire smoke left in St Carthage’s Cathedral. It’s been two months since an arsonist set fire to the building and the cathedral was closed for repair and restoration work.

This weekend, Bishop Greg Homeming has finally opened the doors again to the public and invites the community to come and celebrate mass with him on Saturday and Sunday.

Bishop Greg Homeming.

While the building is not yet fully repaired, there’s no sign that construction work is still underway. A false wall has been installed, screening off the damaged sacristy where the fire began.

It doesn’t mar the grandeur and beauty of the108 year old cathedral, with its stained glass windows and 24 metre high ceilings.

Bishop Homeming said the repairers “have done a wonderful job” and suspects the costs to fully repair the building will be over one million dollars.

“Thank God the insurance covers it,” Bishop Homeming said.

Inside the sacristy.

“Since the fire, the minor repair work has been cleaning a lot of smoke and water damage, and fixing the flooded electricals.

“But the main damage was done in sacristy and the Sacred Heart Chapel.

The false wall.

Structural

“When the man lit the fire, he threw the petrol, or whatever it was, on the external door and the fire went straight up the cavity into the ceiling where there are significant, critical structural beams.

“They are aged timbers and it’s also a heritage building, so not simple to fix it up and has to be done according to strict guidelines. It will probably take another five months to fix.

“The very old slate tiles on the roof also had to be broken into so the firemen could get in and put out the fire in the ceiling cavity.”

The Bishop said the most challenging part of the repair work was that the community hadn’t been able to use the building.

Bishop Homeming inspects the repair work.

Heart of community

“This building is the heart of the community and after the fire, it was clear to me that all the community own it – just like the Sydney Opera House is owned by all Australians,” he said.

“We are proud of this building and as the Catholic bishop, I look after the building for the people of Lismore.

“It was built with the donations of struggling farmers in the area 108 years ago – and that’s why it belongs to the people.”

Forgiveness

When asked if he had forgiven the man - Stephen Luke - who set fire to the building, Bishop Homeming replied “there is nothing to forgive”.

“The man who set fire to the building has mental health issues. I have no idea what is going on inside him - I pray for that man,” he said.

“To hold something against someone would be to turn the problem on myself and destroy myself,” he said. “I have nothing to forgive.”

With the cathedral finally open for mass, the Bishop invites the community to attend a vigil mass today, Saturday, November 21 at 5.30pm. Mass will also be held on Sunday morning at 9am and 11am.

Bishop Homeming said that the filming and live streaming of masses during the covid closedown period would continue in the smaller church nearby, but that he didn’t intend to broadcast from inside the cathedral.

“This is a very big building,” he said. “I prefer the intimacy in a smaller space for filming.

“With social distancing since Covid 19, some people are afraid to come here, that’s why we have livestreamed masses.

“We’ll keep filming masses as long as the community of Lismore is not freely able to attend mass and covid restrictions are here.”

Read more news about the fire: The man arrested in the CBD yesterday is charged with Cathedral fire and other crimes in NSW

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