Weekly Record
 By the weekend the results of the local elections should be known. After the dust has settled it is down to those who are elected to put all the promises made into practise. Election promises are mere empty words unless those that support them work to make them a reality. The Feast of the Ascension celebrated this weekend is in some way about us being the witnesses responsible for making the words of the Gospel a reality in our lives and our world today. I was asked not to refer to the weather this weekend in case I caused a jinx for the Bank Holiday. But if you wish to be indoors there is the Organ Day on Monday with Tim Noon playing at 3.30pm. Also the Cathedral will be featured on ‘Songs of Praise’ on Sunday.
 The week ahead is both very busy and varied. On Tuesday evening we have our May Day Dinner at 60 Hope St. This was an instant sell-out and should be a really enjoyable evening which will continue the fund raising for the Lutyens Crypt Project. On Wednesday evening the Choir Association have arranged a ‘Fashion Show’ in the Gibberd Room. There will be some people doing a lot of dressing up for the first part of the week! Later in the week I have been invited to look around the JMU Arts Academy, which is the new building alongside the Cathedral and Duckinfield St, and is now almost complete. Also I will be looking around the Grosvenor Project Scheme with the Dean from Liverpool Cathedral. The only fashion required for these visits will be hard hats and luminous jackets.
The construction work is now at the stage of the internal adaptations and alterations to the Apse floor and staircase within the Apse to create the doorways and corridor leading out to the new lift and stairwell. This will be the noisiest phase within the Cathedral- you have been warned.
Next weekend is the celebration of Pentecost and the Anniversary of the Consecration of the Cathedral (41 years). Due to the live Radio Broadcast of the early morning Mass on Pentecost Sunday this will be at 8am – half an hour earlier than its normal scheduled time. The congregation will need to be in place before the Mass is live ‘on air’. The ‘Two Cathedrals’ Ecumenical Service and Walk will be at 3.00pm starting at our Cathedral and concluding in the Anglican Cathedral. The Sculpture in Commemoration of Bishop Sheppard and Archbishop Worlock, by Stephen Broadbent, will be unveiled and a prayer of dedication read half way along our processional route between the two Cathedrals.
I read this week of a Brazilian priest who attached himself to helium balloons in order to set a flight record and raise money for a charitable cause. Apparently he has not been found since setting off last Wednesday. That is why our latest attempts at fund-raising for the Crypt Project involve keeping our feet firmly on the ground with a sponsored walk the first Sunday in June. Sponsor forms are available from this weekend and we would like as many families as possible to support us and take part and keep fit at the same time.
Finally just a plug for the Dame Gillian Weir Concert which will be taking place on Wednesday 14th May from 7.00pm. She is a renowned organist and musician and it is quite a coup to be able to get her to perform here. Tickets are £10 and which can be bought at the Gift Shop or Cathedral House and any proceeds made on the night will go to the Crypt Project.
Canon Anthony O'Brien
Cathedral Dean |
