Ben & Jacinda Lourie

Ben and Jacinda have been attending the 10am service at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul since January this year. While they are relatively new to Wellington, they felt right at home with the incredible warmth and hospitality that they encountered from the welcoming congregation.

Ben and Jacinda are recently married (November 2023), and are based out in Porirua with their dog Winston. While they met in Wellington, Ben is originally from Palmerston North, and Jacinda from Dunedin.

For work, Ben is a veterinary surgeon and leads a local vet clinic. Jacinda is a production manager at Wētā FX, working within the visual effects industry to help bring films to life.

In Ben’s spare time, you will find him swim training, tramping, deep-diving into all things history and theology, and improving his average running skills! Like Ben, Jacinda enjoys hiking and the outdoors, but also is passionate for all things creative, spending her time as a violinist in the Wellington City Orchestra, as well as teaching occasionally at Mana Music School. Jacinda’s musical highlight was performing on tour with singer-songwriter Sir Rod Stewart on his 2015 Australasia tour.

This year both Ben and Jacinda have felt a calling to share Christ’s love within the community and hence are both starting volunteer roles with Samaritan’s Purse - Jacinda with running ‘Operation Christmas Child’ in Wellington, and Ben with Samaritan’s online ministries.

Ben and Jacinda are loving the Cathedral community, and look forward to contributing further to the life of the church.